Thank you all so much for your messages. It is very lonely with melanoma as it is so widely misunderstood and can feel like there is such limited information. Oh mom is mum in New Zealand 😉
We had a meeting with our specialist again yesterday. We are lucky he specializes in Melanoma and lungs but unfortunately the tumor is not able to be removed or completely radiated as it is so large it has occupied nearly the lung complete and they do not see it viable to have such large surgery (probably alot bigger than 10cm). I could see the displacement of organs on the PET scan was significant and likely the reason for so much pain.
We are located in New Zealand, we do not have gamma knife here but would imagine it would be in the same boat as radiation so looks like we are stuck on our current course of action.
As mum’s symptoms are quite dominating (fatigue, lack of appetite and a significant amount of pain) that keeps her mostly in bed, the doctor has recommended a week of steroids to reduce inflammation and to improve her general condition to continue Nivolumab next week. It is also due to how symptomatic she is that we can not add a combined therapy.
Currently Mum is in hospice where pain management and ready nurse assistance is available. I am incredibly Thankful for such a wonderfully free service keeping her comfortable at such a challenging time. We could not provide the level of care she needs or deserves without it. Cancer sure does its best to rob people of their dignity! It can be hard to not feel anger.
We have spoken candidly as a family as to what Mum wants and we will support her wishes till the end of the world. She is an incredibly strong woman and is adamant that she does not want to die. Therefore we will do everything we can to fight this horrible disease together.
