dentholla

Hi, my husband has been a patient of Dr. Cowey's since 2014.  He was part of a clinical trial and he completed it last summer and is stage 3b.  The folks at Texas Oncology have been very helpful on our journey and I feel we are getting excellent care.  Good luck to you!

Hi, my husband has been a patient of Dr. Cowey's since 2014.  He was part of a clinical trial and he completed it last summer and is stage 3b.  The folks at Texas Oncology have been very helpful on our journey and I feel we are getting excellent care.  Good luck to you!

Hi, my husband has been a patient of Dr. Cowey's since 2014.  He was part of a clinical trial and he completed it last summer and is stage 3b.  The folks at Texas Oncology have been very helpful on our journey and I feel we are getting excellent care.  Good luck to you!

Same here, I log in daily hoping to hear an update from him.  Josh, we are saying a prayer for you!

Same here, I log in daily hoping to hear an update from him.  Josh, we are saying a prayer for you!

Same here, I log in daily hoping to hear an update from him.  Josh, we are saying a prayer for you!

I like this idea Ed – my hubby wore his batman shirt/cape for all his treatments Josh and it can be a bit empowering.   🙂

Josh – just catching up here but glad you have a plan.  From what I've read Gamma can be a successful procedure and you can keep on keepin' on.

~Kristi

I like this idea Ed – my hubby wore his batman shirt/cape for all his treatments Josh and it can be a bit empowering.   🙂

Josh – just catching up here but glad you have a plan.  From what I've read Gamma can be a successful procedure and you can keep on keepin' on.

~Kristi

I like this idea Ed – my hubby wore his batman shirt/cape for all his treatments Josh and it can be a bit empowering.   🙂

Josh – just catching up here but glad you have a plan.  From what I've read Gamma can be a successful procedure and you can keep on keepin' on.

~Kristi

Great news – very glad to hear it.

Kristi

Great news – very glad to hear it.

Kristi

Great news – very glad to hear it.

Kristi

Hi Mark,

My husband was diagnosed last March after his mole on his temple started changing.  After WLE's and SNB's and the same procedure you are having he wound up stage 3B with his parotid lymph node showing to have melanoma.  A total of 29 lymph nodes were removed during the radical  neck dissection and they were clear of any disease. His journey then included a year long clinical trial at Baylor to test Ipilumimab or Nivolumab in an adjuvant setting.  What we know is that he received active medicine but what we don't know is which arm he was on.  He had little to no symptoms from the immunotherapy drug.  He completed the trial in June and is now being monitored and scanned every 3 months for this next year with additional monitoring in the years to come.  This is a journey and whether anyone on this board likes it or not it's now very much a part of our lives and our story.

My advice is to work the plan.  Lenny, who is also on this board, told me that once we had a plan that we would feel better and he was right.  Find a melanoma specialist and if you are ever uncomfortable with your diagnosis or your action plan go find a second opinion.  You are your own advocate and you know your body better than anyone.  Stay diligent and I wish you all the best in your recovery.  There is a lot of hope out there and the fight against melanoma is changing for the better.  Even in the past year additional therapies have been offerred and people are seeing results that years ago were not thought possible.  Also, statistics are a joke.  Don't get on the internet and start scaring yourself to death. What you read is largely outdated and do not have the most recent therapies in the data.  Good luck to you and a quick recovery from your surgery.  Let us know how you are doing in the coming weeks.

~Kristi