PlantLady

If you have melanoma in situ, you may be fine.  Most are, statistically speaking.  My husband had one In Situ mole removed in 2008, and in 2010 was diagnosed w/ metastatic melanoma of the lung, bone, lymph, and adrenal.  He had a family doctor who said, and I quote, "melanoma is funny stuff.  I'm going to order a lung x-ray every year for you"   So, from 2008 on, he did.  Come 2010….Sure enough.  The lung was riddled with it before he had any symptoms at all.  It is definitely not protocol to check after an In Situ removal, he just had a paranoid doctor.  The odds were 99% against having any further problem.  He was just unlucky, as it is rare.

It never hurts to get second opinions.  Getting to it early is the best way to go, in any case.

 Good luck.

If you have melanoma in situ, you may be fine.  Most are, statistically speaking.  My husband had one In Situ mole removed in 2008, and in 2010 was diagnosed w/ metastatic melanoma of the lung, bone, lymph, and adrenal.  He had a family doctor who said, and I quote, "melanoma is funny stuff.  I'm going to order a lung x-ray every year for you"   So, from 2008 on, he did.  Come 2010….Sure enough.  The lung was riddled with it before he had any symptoms at all.  It is definitely not protocol to check after an In Situ removal, he just had a paranoid doctor.  The odds were 99% against having any further problem.  He was just unlucky, as it is rare.

It never hurts to get second opinions.  Getting to it early is the best way to go, in any case.

 Good luck.

If you have melanoma in situ, you may be fine.  Most are, statistically speaking.  My husband had one In Situ mole removed in 2008, and in 2010 was diagnosed w/ metastatic melanoma of the lung, bone, lymph, and adrenal.  He had a family doctor who said, and I quote, "melanoma is funny stuff.  I'm going to order a lung x-ray every year for you"   So, from 2008 on, he did.  Come 2010….Sure enough.  The lung was riddled with it before he had any symptoms at all.  It is definitely not protocol to check after an In Situ removal, he just had a paranoid doctor.  The odds were 99% against having any further problem.  He was just unlucky, as it is rare.

It never hurts to get second opinions.  Getting to it early is the best way to go, in any case.

 Good luck.

My husband, Ron, also had the Yervoy suspended after 2 treatments.  He lost his voice, lost a lot of weight and muscle, lost the ability to walk normally due to neuropathy/drop foot and of course diarrhea.   He finished his last dose of steroid, dexamethasone, yesterday.

We went in for MRI and PET scans 2 days ago, and will find out next week if anything positive came of the Yervoy.

If you look through these boards you will find others who had an abbreviated treatment and did benefit.  Keep your chin up.

We have till Wed to wait for the results and then find out what the next course of action will be.

Good luck.

CJ, wife of Ron  Stage IV, mets lung, bone, adrenal.  No known primary.

My husband, Ron, also had the Yervoy suspended after 2 treatments.  He lost his voice, lost a lot of weight and muscle, lost the ability to walk normally due to neuropathy/drop foot and of course diarrhea.   He finished his last dose of steroid, dexamethasone, yesterday.

We went in for MRI and PET scans 2 days ago, and will find out next week if anything positive came of the Yervoy.

If you look through these boards you will find others who had an abbreviated treatment and did benefit.  Keep your chin up.

We have till Wed to wait for the results and then find out what the next course of action will be.

Good luck.

CJ, wife of Ron  Stage IV, mets lung, bone, adrenal.  No known primary.

My husband, Ron, also had the Yervoy suspended after 2 treatments.  He lost his voice, lost a lot of weight and muscle, lost the ability to walk normally due to neuropathy/drop foot and of course diarrhea.   He finished his last dose of steroid, dexamethasone, yesterday.

We went in for MRI and PET scans 2 days ago, and will find out next week if anything positive came of the Yervoy.

If you look through these boards you will find others who had an abbreviated treatment and did benefit.  Keep your chin up.

We have till Wed to wait for the results and then find out what the next course of action will be.

Good luck.

CJ, wife of Ron  Stage IV, mets lung, bone, adrenal.  No known primary.

Pathology was in situ, stage 0, clear margins, the whole 9 yards of good results.  The slides were re-examined by University of Michigan.  First path was done at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo. 

It doesn't matter now, does it?  Past is gone.  Sometimes things that "shouldn't be" , Are.

IF we'd known the eventual outcome, we would never have taken 2 long trips to Europe, living in apartments, shopping with locals.  We would have spent years consumed with the anxiety that envelops us now. 

Sometimes things just happen.  Ron accepts that he is a freak of nature.  A Oner.  And he'll fight the good fight.

Pathology was in situ, stage 0, clear margins, the whole 9 yards of good results.  The slides were re-examined by University of Michigan.  First path was done at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo. 

It doesn't matter now, does it?  Past is gone.  Sometimes things that "shouldn't be" , Are.

IF we'd known the eventual outcome, we would never have taken 2 long trips to Europe, living in apartments, shopping with locals.  We would have spent years consumed with the anxiety that envelops us now. 

Sometimes things just happen.  Ron accepts that he is a freak of nature.  A Oner.  And he'll fight the good fight.

Pathology was in situ, stage 0, clear margins, the whole 9 yards of good results.  The slides were re-examined by University of Michigan.  First path was done at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo. 

It doesn't matter now, does it?  Past is gone.  Sometimes things that "shouldn't be" , Are.

IF we'd known the eventual outcome, we would never have taken 2 long trips to Europe, living in apartments, shopping with locals.  We would have spent years consumed with the anxiety that envelops us now. 

Sometimes things just happen.  Ron accepts that he is a freak of nature.  A Oner.  And he'll fight the good fight.

Yes, of course it was rechecked.  The University of Michigan is pretty good at pathology.

Yes, of course it was rechecked.  The University of Michigan is pretty good at pathology.

Yes, of course it was rechecked.  The University of Michigan is pretty good at pathology.

 That One Mole.  Melanoma In Situ with clean margins, found on his temple was all there was to it., that was in 2006 or 2007, I forget.  No other primary.  No lesions on the skin anywhere to this date. 

We lived our lives knowing that In Situ was nothing to worry about, until the 2011 xray showed mets on the lung, and subsequent PET, MRI, and CT scans showed it in the lungs, adrenal, and bone.

It is "rare".  I wonder if "rare" is becoming the norm, as I see more and more children who've grown up covered in sunscreen getting it.  Babies getting it.  Asians getting it (rare in their skin type).  What is going on w/our world.  I digress.

Note: I think I had the dates wrong on the diagnosis in my previous post.  He was diagnosed metastatic stage IV when the mets were found in April 2011.  It has been a year now, living in Melanomaville and in treatment, and it was around 5 years after the removal of the In Situ melanoma that the metastases were found.

We really lived a lot in those years between the "in situ" and the Stage IV discovery.  This past year we have been in constant treatment, Ipi, and LGK phase I trial, (washed out of both) and now yet another Phase I chemo combo.

Moral is….  Keep getting checked.  Keep getting the exams and tests and diagnostics, get other opinions, but for pete's sake, live your life.  You are feeling good enough to do stuff, so do stuff!!!!!

On bad days, when you can't help but have your mind wander into scary territory, put on old videos of episodes of "Friends" or whatever makes you laugh (or get distracted).  We've never watched as much "escapist" TV in our lives as we have since the diagnosis, but it does take the mind off things.

 That One Mole.  Melanoma In Situ with clean margins, found on his temple was all there was to it., that was in 2006 or 2007, I forget.  No other primary.  No lesions on the skin anywhere to this date. 

We lived our lives knowing that In Situ was nothing to worry about, until the 2011 xray showed mets on the lung, and subsequent PET, MRI, and CT scans showed it in the lungs, adrenal, and bone.

It is "rare".  I wonder if "rare" is becoming the norm, as I see more and more children who've grown up covered in sunscreen getting it.  Babies getting it.  Asians getting it (rare in their skin type).  What is going on w/our world.  I digress.

Note: I think I had the dates wrong on the diagnosis in my previous post.  He was diagnosed metastatic stage IV when the mets were found in April 2011.  It has been a year now, living in Melanomaville and in treatment, and it was around 5 years after the removal of the In Situ melanoma that the metastases were found.

We really lived a lot in those years between the "in situ" and the Stage IV discovery.  This past year we have been in constant treatment, Ipi, and LGK phase I trial, (washed out of both) and now yet another Phase I chemo combo.

Moral is….  Keep getting checked.  Keep getting the exams and tests and diagnostics, get other opinions, but for pete's sake, live your life.  You are feeling good enough to do stuff, so do stuff!!!!!

On bad days, when you can't help but have your mind wander into scary territory, put on old videos of episodes of "Friends" or whatever makes you laugh (or get distracted).  We've never watched as much "escapist" TV in our lives as we have since the diagnosis, but it does take the mind off things.

 That One Mole.  Melanoma In Situ with clean margins, found on his temple was all there was to it., that was in 2006 or 2007, I forget.  No other primary.  No lesions on the skin anywhere to this date. 

We lived our lives knowing that In Situ was nothing to worry about, until the 2011 xray showed mets on the lung, and subsequent PET, MRI, and CT scans showed it in the lungs, adrenal, and bone.

It is "rare".  I wonder if "rare" is becoming the norm, as I see more and more children who've grown up covered in sunscreen getting it.  Babies getting it.  Asians getting it (rare in their skin type).  What is going on w/our world.  I digress.

Note: I think I had the dates wrong on the diagnosis in my previous post.  He was diagnosed metastatic stage IV when the mets were found in April 2011.  It has been a year now, living in Melanomaville and in treatment, and it was around 5 years after the removal of the In Situ melanoma that the metastases were found.

We really lived a lot in those years between the "in situ" and the Stage IV discovery.  This past year we have been in constant treatment, Ipi, and LGK phase I trial, (washed out of both) and now yet another Phase I chemo combo.

Moral is….  Keep getting checked.  Keep getting the exams and tests and diagnostics, get other opinions, but for pete's sake, live your life.  You are feeling good enough to do stuff, so do stuff!!!!!

On bad days, when you can't help but have your mind wander into scary territory, put on old videos of episodes of "Friends" or whatever makes you laugh (or get distracted).  We've never watched as much "escapist" TV in our lives as we have since the diagnosis, but it does take the mind off things.