MissyT

I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis.  A cancer diagnosis is such a hard thing to get your mind around.  But please be encouraged, we were both very overwhelmed and grieving the first 3 months after my husband's Stage 3A diagnosis in June 2014, but now that we have made our treatment decision and are fully confident in our plan of action, we both feel like the fog has lifted and we are regaining some of our "pre-cancer" life back.  

Ben had a total LND under his right arm, his primary was on his chest.  Post surgery, he was given the option of Intron-A (interferon) or Sylatron.  Initially we thought Sylatron was the right answer due to the very sugar-coated info that medical staff gave us.  But after our extensive research, the side-effects do not seem to be significantly less than that of Intron-A, not to mention that it would have been a 5-year treatment.  Sure, its only 1 shot each week, but 5 years is a LONG time.  They even recommended taking the shot on Friday evening, and having the weekend to recover from the side effects…and by Monday you would feel well enough to return to work.  How depressing is it to think of being ill every single weekend for the next 5 years?!?  And the bottom line — the overall survival rate is not affected.  

After seeking consults from 2 oncologists, a surgical oncologist, and 2 alternative medical "doctors", plus hours of research, we decided to forgo treatment, and do periodic clinic monitoring.  Not to mention lots of diet changes, supplements, essential oils and lots of exercise.  Ben is in the bed shape of his life, heading to the Bahamas for a mission trip next week, and training for a 10K mud run in October.  Life is so precious, and unpredictable.  We would rather live life to its fullest than willingly succumb to potentially ineffective treatments that will most certainly deteriorate his quality of life.

I definitely recommend you get a second opinion prior to starting any treatment, or prior to forgoing treatment.  So many times, a fresh set of eyes can pick up on something that can change the course of action.  

Best of luck to you!

I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis.  A cancer diagnosis is such a hard thing to get your mind around.  But please be encouraged, we were both very overwhelmed and grieving the first 3 months after my husband's Stage 3A diagnosis in June 2014, but now that we have made our treatment decision and are fully confident in our plan of action, we both feel like the fog has lifted and we are regaining some of our "pre-cancer" life back.  

Ben had a total LND under his right arm, his primary was on his chest.  Post surgery, he was given the option of Intron-A (interferon) or Sylatron.  Initially we thought Sylatron was the right answer due to the very sugar-coated info that medical staff gave us.  But after our extensive research, the side-effects do not seem to be significantly less than that of Intron-A, not to mention that it would have been a 5-year treatment.  Sure, its only 1 shot each week, but 5 years is a LONG time.  They even recommended taking the shot on Friday evening, and having the weekend to recover from the side effects…and by Monday you would feel well enough to return to work.  How depressing is it to think of being ill every single weekend for the next 5 years?!?  And the bottom line — the overall survival rate is not affected.  

After seeking consults from 2 oncologists, a surgical oncologist, and 2 alternative medical "doctors", plus hours of research, we decided to forgo treatment, and do periodic clinic monitoring.  Not to mention lots of diet changes, supplements, essential oils and lots of exercise.  Ben is in the bed shape of his life, heading to the Bahamas for a mission trip next week, and training for a 10K mud run in October.  Life is so precious, and unpredictable.  We would rather live life to its fullest than willingly succumb to potentially ineffective treatments that will most certainly deteriorate his quality of life.

I definitely recommend you get a second opinion prior to starting any treatment, or prior to forgoing treatment.  So many times, a fresh set of eyes can pick up on something that can change the course of action.  

Best of luck to you!

I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis.  A cancer diagnosis is such a hard thing to get your mind around.  But please be encouraged, we were both very overwhelmed and grieving the first 3 months after my husband's Stage 3A diagnosis in June 2014, but now that we have made our treatment decision and are fully confident in our plan of action, we both feel like the fog has lifted and we are regaining some of our "pre-cancer" life back.  

Ben had a total LND under his right arm, his primary was on his chest.  Post surgery, he was given the option of Intron-A (interferon) or Sylatron.  Initially we thought Sylatron was the right answer due to the very sugar-coated info that medical staff gave us.  But after our extensive research, the side-effects do not seem to be significantly less than that of Intron-A, not to mention that it would have been a 5-year treatment.  Sure, its only 1 shot each week, but 5 years is a LONG time.  They even recommended taking the shot on Friday evening, and having the weekend to recover from the side effects…and by Monday you would feel well enough to return to work.  How depressing is it to think of being ill every single weekend for the next 5 years?!?  And the bottom line — the overall survival rate is not affected.  

After seeking consults from 2 oncologists, a surgical oncologist, and 2 alternative medical "doctors", plus hours of research, we decided to forgo treatment, and do periodic clinic monitoring.  Not to mention lots of diet changes, supplements, essential oils and lots of exercise.  Ben is in the bed shape of his life, heading to the Bahamas for a mission trip next week, and training for a 10K mud run in October.  Life is so precious, and unpredictable.  We would rather live life to its fullest than willingly succumb to potentially ineffective treatments that will most certainly deteriorate his quality of life.

I definitely recommend you get a second opinion prior to starting any treatment, or prior to forgoing treatment.  So many times, a fresh set of eyes can pick up on something that can change the course of action.  

Best of luck to you!

I was JUST starting to post a question about mitotic rate when yours popped up.  

My husband was diagnosed 3A in May 2014.  He had 2 positive SLN and had full disection, removing 42 lymph nodes under his right arm, all negative.  His primary was on his chest, 1.9mm depth, mitotic rate of 10. It has been hard to know what the mitotic rate indicates prognosis or reoccurance-wise, there is no resource that really explains how much worse a higher mitotic rate is than a lower one.

Ben's oncologist did say that anything over a 1 was a concern to him.  From what I have been able to find, it seems that 0 is ideal, <1 is not really bad, but anything 1 or greater was bad.  And it didn't seem that a rate of 2 versus a rate a 15 had much difference in terms of prognosis.  So if you are 1 or greater, they just consider it "high mitotic rate.

I'd love more advice on this, however.  It does seem quite vague.

We are in the process of deciding whether to do ITF or just watch & wait.  Did you do any treatments?

I was JUST starting to post a question about mitotic rate when yours popped up.  

My husband was diagnosed 3A in May 2014.  He had 2 positive SLN and had full disection, removing 42 lymph nodes under his right arm, all negative.  His primary was on his chest, 1.9mm depth, mitotic rate of 10. It has been hard to know what the mitotic rate indicates prognosis or reoccurance-wise, there is no resource that really explains how much worse a higher mitotic rate is than a lower one.

Ben's oncologist did say that anything over a 1 was a concern to him.  From what I have been able to find, it seems that 0 is ideal, <1 is not really bad, but anything 1 or greater was bad.  And it didn't seem that a rate of 2 versus a rate a 15 had much difference in terms of prognosis.  So if you are 1 or greater, they just consider it "high mitotic rate.

I'd love more advice on this, however.  It does seem quite vague.

We are in the process of deciding whether to do ITF or just watch & wait.  Did you do any treatments?

I was JUST starting to post a question about mitotic rate when yours popped up.  

My husband was diagnosed 3A in May 2014.  He had 2 positive SLN and had full disection, removing 42 lymph nodes under his right arm, all negative.  His primary was on his chest, 1.9mm depth, mitotic rate of 10. It has been hard to know what the mitotic rate indicates prognosis or reoccurance-wise, there is no resource that really explains how much worse a higher mitotic rate is than a lower one.

Ben's oncologist did say that anything over a 1 was a concern to him.  From what I have been able to find, it seems that 0 is ideal, <1 is not really bad, but anything 1 or greater was bad.  And it didn't seem that a rate of 2 versus a rate a 15 had much difference in terms of prognosis.  So if you are 1 or greater, they just consider it "high mitotic rate.

I'd love more advice on this, however.  It does seem quite vague.

We are in the process of deciding whether to do ITF or just watch & wait.  Did you do any treatments?

Any idea why they doctor's discouraged using frankincense?

Any idea why they doctor's discouraged using frankincense?

Any idea why they doctor's discouraged using frankincense?

Did you ever fin a specialist in Greenville? We are in Greenville and my husband was diagnosed with mm in May (stage 3A).  We go to GHS' Cancer Center of the Carolinas.  Surgical oncologist is Dr. Trocha (love him!). He has an extensive melanoma background and actually studied under the man who "invented" sentinel lymph node mapping. Our oncologist is Dr. O'Rourke, we've only met him once, as we are just now recoverin from surgery and deciding if treatment is right for us.

I do know that the Gibbs Cancer Center is heavily advertised, however from my research GHS' program was far superior (much larger, more research, more trials, teaching hospital, etc.). Our experience with our cancer center has been great, the doctors are part of the Multidiciplinary Program where they cross-communicate with surgeon, onc, radiology, path, etc and look at your case as a whole to develop a unified plan. A morning appointment yields meetings with multiple experts rather than many days of seperate appointments.  I'm curious as to how your experience in Clt is going. We are getting a second opinion prior to deciding on treatment, and planned to go to Duke or Emory, however Clt may be a good option. 

Did you ever fin a specialist in Greenville? We are in Greenville and my husband was diagnosed with mm in May (stage 3A).  We go to GHS' Cancer Center of the Carolinas.  Surgical oncologist is Dr. Trocha (love him!). He has an extensive melanoma background and actually studied under the man who "invented" sentinel lymph node mapping. Our oncologist is Dr. O'Rourke, we've only met him once, as we are just now recoverin from surgery and deciding if treatment is right for us.

I do know that the Gibbs Cancer Center is heavily advertised, however from my research GHS' program was far superior (much larger, more research, more trials, teaching hospital, etc.). Our experience with our cancer center has been great, the doctors are part of the Multidiciplinary Program where they cross-communicate with surgeon, onc, radiology, path, etc and look at your case as a whole to develop a unified plan. A morning appointment yields meetings with multiple experts rather than many days of seperate appointments.  I'm curious as to how your experience in Clt is going. We are getting a second opinion prior to deciding on treatment, and planned to go to Duke or Emory, however Clt may be a good option. 

Did you ever fin a specialist in Greenville? We are in Greenville and my husband was diagnosed with mm in May (stage 3A).  We go to GHS' Cancer Center of the Carolinas.  Surgical oncologist is Dr. Trocha (love him!). He has an extensive melanoma background and actually studied under the man who "invented" sentinel lymph node mapping. Our oncologist is Dr. O'Rourke, we've only met him once, as we are just now recoverin from surgery and deciding if treatment is right for us.

I do know that the Gibbs Cancer Center is heavily advertised, however from my research GHS' program was far superior (much larger, more research, more trials, teaching hospital, etc.). Our experience with our cancer center has been great, the doctors are part of the Multidiciplinary Program where they cross-communicate with surgeon, onc, radiology, path, etc and look at your case as a whole to develop a unified plan. A morning appointment yields meetings with multiple experts rather than many days of seperate appointments.  I'm curious as to how your experience in Clt is going. We are getting a second opinion prior to deciding on treatment, and planned to go to Duke or Emory, however Clt may be a good option.