jszeoli

Thanks for posting Ted, appreciate you sharing your experience. I just finished my third treatment on the every two weeks plan. No serious side effects yet, slight rash on my arms and chest, a little itching, nothing really. I have not been offered the once a month yet. 

Good luck with the second try at once per month!

-Jim

Praying for great news!

Congratulations on the wedding and twins! Wow!

I'm no expert and there are many here on this board that are more knowlegable than me, but I would say you are very treatable and should have an optimistic outlook! It is amazing to me how fast these treatments have progressed in terms of effectiveness in a short period of time. I am being treated as stage 3 with Nivo and have had two treatments so far and I feel good, no side effects. My outlook is great and my only issue right now is the slight inconvenience of treatments every two weeks for a year. I can deal with that given the effectiveness of the treatments.

While waiting for results my best advice is not to worry more than you need to. Wait for the results and then talk to your oncologist about your options and treatment plan. 

Hi, Congratulations on the engagement, that is awesome! So sorry you are both going through this horrible cancer thing. Hopefully he gets back to the point that you can get out of the hospital soon. Know that you are both in my prayers, stay strong!

I was diagnosed as having a metastatic melanoma in my upper arm and it was excised with wide margins. My PET-CT Scan was clean as was my brain MRI. So when it was recommended I do a year of Opdivo I went for a second opinion because I wanted to make sure it made sense to do a year of treatments when I had no evidence of tumors. My second opinion said it was the easiest he could do – a no brainer to have the treatments and decrease the chance of recurrence by 50%. I had my first treatment a week ago. I feel good. 25 to go.

I agree with the recommendations to see the specialist. Don't be afraid, be positive. All of the advice I am getting says keep your appointments for scans and treatments so you tilt everything in your favor.

Good luck!

Hi Ted,

Our stories are somewhat similar. In my case I had what appeared to be a pimple like bump on my upper right arm. In December my dermatologist did a punch biopsy and it was diagnosed as an angio sarcoma. When I went to see my oncologist he had the pathologists review it and it was determined to be a melanoma. However, there was no evidence it was a primary so it is being categorized as metastatic and treated as stage 3. My PET-CT Scan and Brain MRI were clean. I had surgery the first week of February and they did a wide excision and a sentinel node biopsy. My lymph nodes were clean too, so no evidence of cancer there. We don't know where the primary might have been. My lower right arm possibly? Somewhere else?

I started my Nivo treatment this past Friday and will continue every other week for the next year. I feel good after the first treatment which makes me optimistic for the rest of the treatment. I know that side effects can happen any time along the way but I am not focusing on that.

Also my wife had a sarcoma removed a year ago May so we also are a couple that shares a cancer journey. She is doing well and has check ups/scans every three months.

Hope you are doing well. I would love to hear how things are going for you.

-Jim

Boston, MA