GordsMate

Thank you Tony for your thoughtful and helpful response to my query. You certainly are doing all the research you can before you make your decision.

I am still struggling with my decision – but the deadline is looming. At the outset, when the therapy was described by my oncologist, I could not justfiy the cost vs the benefits. I still have trouble with that. Only recently did I read that the response is more positive for microscopic disease in 1 sentinel lymph node – my scenario – which makes me think "ok maybe I could tolerate a month of this to derive some benefit". Meanwhile the clock is ticking and it is more than 56 days (the Greek study parameter) since my CLND.  My oncologist doesn't seem concerned about my starting 70 days out. She will not make a recommendation for me. Her approach is to only tell me what is available and let me make an informed decision.

I will look at the lifestyle and diet changes. It seems like they could be almost as effective and would put me in a better health position to deal with any recurrence.

Diane

Thank you Tony for your thoughtful and helpful response to my query. You certainly are doing all the research you can before you make your decision.

I am still struggling with my decision – but the deadline is looming. At the outset, when the therapy was described by my oncologist, I could not justfiy the cost vs the benefits. I still have trouble with that. Only recently did I read that the response is more positive for microscopic disease in 1 sentinel lymph node – my scenario – which makes me think "ok maybe I could tolerate a month of this to derive some benefit". Meanwhile the clock is ticking and it is more than 56 days (the Greek study parameter) since my CLND.  My oncologist doesn't seem concerned about my starting 70 days out. She will not make a recommendation for me. Her approach is to only tell me what is available and let me make an informed decision.

I will look at the lifestyle and diet changes. It seems like they could be almost as effective and would put me in a better health position to deal with any recurrence.

Diane

Thank you Tony for your thoughtful and helpful response to my query. You certainly are doing all the research you can before you make your decision.

I am still struggling with my decision – but the deadline is looming. At the outset, when the therapy was described by my oncologist, I could not justfiy the cost vs the benefits. I still have trouble with that. Only recently did I read that the response is more positive for microscopic disease in 1 sentinel lymph node – my scenario – which makes me think "ok maybe I could tolerate a month of this to derive some benefit". Meanwhile the clock is ticking and it is more than 56 days (the Greek study parameter) since my CLND.  My oncologist doesn't seem concerned about my starting 70 days out. She will not make a recommendation for me. Her approach is to only tell me what is available and let me make an informed decision.

I will look at the lifestyle and diet changes. It seems like they could be almost as effective and would put me in a better health position to deal with any recurrence.

Diane

I am also stage iiia. I had a CLND of my left axilla late November. Now I'm struggling with the decision of whether to take interferon or not.  I had hoped to participate in a clinical trial that is looking at Vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in patients with resected BRAF mutant melanoma. (Clincal trial NCT01667419). Unfortunately the trial is not yet open at the cancer centre where I'm being treated but I see that patients are being recruited in other geographies/locations. At this point I do not know if I even have the BRAF mutation – I understood that my tissue would be tested as part of the trial. One has to start within 70 days of their last surgery and I am almost out of time.

So I am back to interferon or "watch and wait". I had micropscopic disease in 1 sentinel lymph node. In total 30 were removed and tested – 6 in the SLN biopsy and 24 in the CLND.

I am leaning towards the "watch and wait" but am toying with the idea of 1 month high dosage interferon. Has anyone read/been told anything about the effectiveness of this course ?

Thank you

I am also stage iiia. I had a CLND of my left axilla late November. Now I'm struggling with the decision of whether to take interferon or not.  I had hoped to participate in a clinical trial that is looking at Vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in patients with resected BRAF mutant melanoma. (Clincal trial NCT01667419). Unfortunately the trial is not yet open at the cancer centre where I'm being treated but I see that patients are being recruited in other geographies/locations. At this point I do not know if I even have the BRAF mutation – I understood that my tissue would be tested as part of the trial. One has to start within 70 days of their last surgery and I am almost out of time.

So I am back to interferon or "watch and wait". I had micropscopic disease in 1 sentinel lymph node. In total 30 were removed and tested – 6 in the SLN biopsy and 24 in the CLND.

I am leaning towards the "watch and wait" but am toying with the idea of 1 month high dosage interferon. Has anyone read/been told anything about the effectiveness of this course ?

Thank you

I am also stage iiia. I had a CLND of my left axilla late November. Now I'm struggling with the decision of whether to take interferon or not.  I had hoped to participate in a clinical trial that is looking at Vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in patients with resected BRAF mutant melanoma. (Clincal trial NCT01667419). Unfortunately the trial is not yet open at the cancer centre where I'm being treated but I see that patients are being recruited in other geographies/locations. At this point I do not know if I even have the BRAF mutation – I understood that my tissue would be tested as part of the trial. One has to start within 70 days of their last surgery and I am almost out of time.

So I am back to interferon or "watch and wait". I had micropscopic disease in 1 sentinel lymph node. In total 30 were removed and tested – 6 in the SLN biopsy and 24 in the CLND.

I am leaning towards the "watch and wait" but am toying with the idea of 1 month high dosage interferon. Has anyone read/been told anything about the effectiveness of this course ?

Thank you