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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Cancer / May 2008Sister - melanoma
Hi all, I'm trying to find out how bad my sisters situation is. She was diagnosed with melanoma several months ago. They removed a rather large area from her back. I guess it was rather deep. And when they tested her lymph nodes, they found a microscopic amount of the cancer. She has had about 13 lymph nodes removed. The last test was clean. But now she's doing an interveineous chemo (inferon? I think?) for a month, then will do self-injections for a while. Does anyone know of someone who has survived melanoma that got into some of the lymph nodes... ? I'm looking for some good news, but am quite worried. I would appreciate any information.... thanks.. (`*?.?(`*?.??.?*?)?.?*?) ??? `Janine ??`? (?.?'?`(?*?'?'?.*`)`'?. ?) San Clemente, CA, USA "O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us; to see oursels as oth'rs see us!" ~~ Robert Burns > Hi all, I'm trying to find out how bad my sisters situation is. She was > diagnosed with melanoma several months ago. They removed a rather large [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > good news, but am quite worried. I would appreciate any information.... > thanks.. Hello Janine and welcome to alt.support.cancer I'm sorry to read of your sister's diagnosis. Orping's wife has just been diagnosed with melanoma (awaiting surgery), so hope you'll update us, from time to time. I was just reading on mpip.org They say to start reading Section Stage III first. There, they suggest that we read cancerhelpuk website, where they say that interferon hasn't proven helpful (so far). Looks like that (lymph node involvement) makes your sister's melanoma Stage IV. So, despite only wanting good news, I think you should remain optimistically realistic. My cousin died of it, this past summer, two years after the initial surgery. It was on his arm/elbow. Other than the initial surgery, he only (later) had radiation therapy to the brain mets for symptomatic relief. It had spread to his liver too and other parts of his body. mpip mentions interferon and interleukin (IL-2) so since you have a question mark beside what your sister is taking, I thought I'd just mention that apparently both can be part of clinical trials. Actually, IL-2 has worse side effects and cancerhelpuk says hasn't shown much benefit so far either, so perhaps that's why my cousin didn't bother. There's a bulletin board there and I read some of the messages. Several (or more) mention low thyroid with interferon. (something to watch out for - if I recall they are females). The bulletin board seems to have quite a few participants. So if you'd like to join the melanoma community. http://www.mpip.org/ Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. We can be here for you. J > > Hi all, I'm trying to find out how bad my sisters situation is. She was > > diagnosed with melanoma several months ago. They removed a rather large [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Orping's wife has just been diagnosed with melanoma (awaiting surgery), so > hope you'll update us, from time to time. ~~~~~~ I will, and thank you for responding! > I was just reading on mpip.org They say to start reading Section Stage III > first. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > So, despite only wanting good news, I think you should remain optimistically > realistic. ~~~~~~~ Ok. I kinda thought that would be the case. It's so scary. > My cousin died of it, this past summer, two years after the initial surgery. > It was on his arm/elbow. > Other than the initial surgery, he only (later) had radiation therapy to the > brain mets for symptomatic relief. > It had spread to his liver too and other parts of his body. ~~~~~~~ My sister already had some problems with her liver, so this is an area of concern. > mpip mentions interferon and interleukin (IL-2) so since you have a question > mark beside what your sister is taking, I thought I'd just mention that > apparently both can be part of clinical trials. Actually, IL-2 has worse side > effects and cancerhelpuk says hasn't shown much benefit so far either, so > perhaps that's why my cousin didn't bother. ~~~~~~~~ yikes, not good. > There's a bulletin board there and I read some of the messages. > Several (or more) mention low thyroid with interferon. (something to watch out > for - if I recall they are females). > The bulletin board seems to have quite a few participants. > So if you'd like to join the melanoma community. > http://www.mpip.org/ ~~~~~~~ I will check this out. It helps to have people to talk to, and also for me, helps to be more "realistic" so I know what might happen. > Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. > We can be here for you. > J ~~~~~~~~ thank you so much! It's hard because my sister is on the other side of the country. She's in the Boston area, and I'm in Calif. We're going out there for Christmas. Thanks again for responding and I will keep in touch! > It's so scary. > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > out there for Christmas. Thanks again for responding and I will keep in > touch! hello Janine, Just a "housekeeping note". If you are inserting text, hit the Enter key, at the end of the line of the previous text, to insert your comment. It's so much easier to read. I was just researching interferon and it appears it (or a "cousin") is used for Hepatitis, http://www.liver.ca/english/liverdisease/hepatitis_c.html so I'm not sure what concern your sister has in her liver. Did you mean mets (spread of the melanoma) or uncertain lesions? Or another condition? This is a website that I prefer for medication descriptions http://www.cancerbacup.org.uk/Treatments/Biologicaltherapies/Interferon describes Inteferon as : It may do one or more of the following: * Slow down or stop cancer cells dividing * Reduce the ability of cancer cells to protect themselves from the immune system * Strengthen the body's immune system (some of the possible side effects are mentioned there also, in case that helps you to know what to possibly expect). "May" is a small but important word, and perhaps that's why my cousin didn't bother. It's hard to know. Maybe I'll call the other cousins. I'm due anyway soon. I know how hard it is being so far away, my parents were on the West Coast and I approximately due North of you in Canada, so thousands of miles away. We want to be in both places, eh? I'm pleased to read that a visit to your sister is in the works. Perhaps you'll have some quiet time where she'll open up or just have some "sister times" where you talk and share and update your lives. The www.mpip.org board is a pretty busy one (I've just been there trying to follow along with the various threads) and they seem to want to put a pretty positive spin on the treatments. Some seem to be doing "preventative" after surgeries, some are doing the "wait and watch" and some are going for the treatments. It's hard to keep track of each poster and their stage and what surgeries they had (before treatments) and time to progression (treatments or not), so if you have specific questions, you may want to ask directly. There's archives too (going back further). Anyway, I'm not sure if you're still reading here or absorbed in holiday issues or in that website. If you feel the need to vent or want to ask questions or stay with us, you're always welcome here. Best, J > Hi all, I'm trying to find out how bad my sisters situation is. She was > diagnosed with melanoma several months ago. They removed a rather large [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > "O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us; to see oursels as oth'rs see us!" > ~~ Robert Burns Hi Janine, Is it possible to get an update on the outcome of your sister's condition ? My wife is just about to undergo a very similar procedure, and it would be a great help to us if we knew how your situation turned out. Andy "Andy" <please@ask.com> wrote in alt.support.cancer: >> Hi all, I'm trying to find out how bad my sisters situation is. She >> was diagnosed with melanoma several months ago. They removed a [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > Andy Andy, I had 23 lymph nodes removed with melanoma. It all depends on where they were removed and how many of them had cancer in them, and where those that had cancer in them were located. I was told straight away I was in a bit of trouble, because 4 of the 23 removed had cancer, and they were at the extremities of the cluster removed, which meant there was a fair bit of spread. My experience with the interferon is it worked until I stopped injecting it. Within a month of stopping it I went from stage 3 to stage 4. That's obviously anecdotal so there's no reason that will apply to your wife. Currently doing carboplatin and taxol after the cancer spread to my lungs. One thing I can say is that Interferon is not easy for a lot of people and there are plenty of side-effects. There is a melanoma bulletin board at http://mpip.org/bb/index.html there are plenty of great people there who will give you all the information you'll ever need. John > "Andy" <please@ask.com> wrote in alt.support.cancer: > [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > > John Thanks John, I hoped you would peek in and reply so we would know you're still out there and get an update. Best, J
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