newly diagnosed

So sorry you've had to join this club, but this is a great place for support and knowledge. The people you know that were diagnosed many years ago probably had a very low stage melanoma. Stage really isn't written down anywhere, it's more something we can gather ourselves based on some information from pathology reports. It all depends on the depth of your primary tumor, the one they biopsied, and some other factors. If your lesion was more than .75mm then typically a sentinel lymph node biopsy would be performed in order to check lymph nodes, which would also be a staging surgery. If it was less than that depth, then it's a low stage lesion and lymph nodes don't get checked. If you give your pathology report details we can answer, or at least partially answer, the staging question for you. 

Treament depends on staging, if it is a low stage (stage 0-2) then treatment is surgery, just the wide local excision which is the skin and tissue removal of the area around the biopsy site. If it is stage 3 then adjuvant treatment is available, the immunotherapy Yervoy (Ipi) is approved for that stage. If stage 4 (would need full body scan to rule out stage 4) then there are a lot of treament options available.

Depending on what stage you end up in, and I hope you don't need this, but if you do need an oncologist (stage 3 and 4 folks see one) it is highly recommended to find a melanoma oncologist. General oncologists are not as familiar with the immunotherapy drugs and are generally not as knowledgeable about melanoma. Close to the Irvine area for good melanoma docs would be UCLA and Angeles Clinic. Again, I hope you don't need to get to that point, but it's good to know now just in case.

Sorry you had to join, but this is one of the best sites over.  I can now officially say I am an "old timer" here.

1.  Get copies of all your path reports, labs, x-rays etc.  This makes it easier to ask questions here so we can better help you.  Post your initial path report here so we can help you with initial staging etc.  We are not doctors though some of us here are.  We have all educated ourselves fairly well and can help you to ask the right questions.

2.  The waiting always sucks.  Life does come back to normal, even with advanced stages.  It just may be a new normal.  Basically the anxiety gets better but still comes and goes.  This will be a roller coaster ride you never intended on riding, we can make it easier though.

3. Your first step is to complete staging.  Do you need a sentinel node biopsy or not?  Early stages ex. 2A at best get a chest x-ray and some blood work.  Earlier stages don't usually get PET/CT scans etc.

4.  Your nodule may be totally unrelated as they are common as well.  Don't panic until you know what you are dealing with.  If is too much, then stay offline.  If research gives you a sense of control over something you really don't, then learn as much as you can.

5.  Learn the lingo.  Much has happened in a short period of time for melanoma.  Also why you don't need to look at older survival curves.  You are not a statistic and they are depressing.  The newer drugs have changed that for many.  B-raf inhibitors, genetic markers, immune system modulators, clinical trials etc. will become part of your vocabulary.

6. Much of what I said applies to adavanced melanoma, not early.  Until you are staged, you just don't know.

7.  I am alive and should be dead, at least from melanoma, but I am still here kicking A$$ and taking names.  I have been NED for almost 7 years from stage IV melanoma, and 15 years from my initial diagnosis at the age of 34.

8. You are not alone, others may not understand you ex. assume you have breast cancer and "chemo" will cure you.  Afterall, its only skin cancer right?  Those are good times to come here to vent.

Kim

Just checking on your prognosis since March 9??  I live in your area and would also appreciate a support group. Let me know.  Rae