OT Terminal Melanoma

Fingers and toes crossed for you both!

According to this,
http://radiopaedia.org/articles/standard-uptake-value
the news sounds promising, and very hopeful;
but requiring additional monitoring.
(Cautiously doing a happy dance)

Thank you so much for that link, dear sweet Chunky. I did a lot of reading and searching to find out what 11 means. I just don't understand all of that. I know that his prognosis was terrible and they said it was growing very fast and now he is really improved. He will have a lot more treatments, but they are not too hard on him. He has a rash and diarrhea for a couple of days after a treatment. They are surprised that he is doing so well and not having more side effects. He is going to have a MRI to find out how his spine is doing.

I only read a little bit, but it appears that the number is a time-lapsed proportion between the radioactive tracer
in the cancerous area and elsewhere in the body. Since the tracer is drawn to active cancer,
the lower numbers are best; 2-2.5 being some sort of cutoff.
Apparently, the margin of error can be unpredictable, which is why they will want to recheck again later.

Your hubby and President Carter seem to both be doing well! Great to hear, hope his progress continues.

Thank you all for the good wishes and prayers. It is just so good to have hope.

I am praying for both you and your husband. Miracles do happen. Don't give up.

Stormy, so glad things are looking up!

My wife had a biopsy about a month ago for a dime-sized melanoma on top her head. It came back after ten very tense days as positive for skin cancer. She went in yesterday and had it removed using the Mohs surgery technique where they take out a thin layer of skin, one layer then another if necessary. They then look at each layer under the microscope to see if they removed all the cancerous cells... a one to four hour procedure with local anesthetic. Luckily the first pass got all the cancer and they stitched her up and sent her home. There are no guarantees but we are hoping that's the end of it since the success rates of this procedure (if caught early) are around 98% cure rate. Fingers crossed.

Good luck!
{{{I'm holding a coin in my mouth as I hit "ENTER"}}}

Sir NoddinOff wrote:Stormy, so glad things are looking up!

My wife had a biopsy about a month ago for a dime-sized melanoma on top her head. It came back after ten very tense days as positive for skin cancer. She went in yesterday and had it removed using the Mohs surgery technique where they take out a thin layer of skin, one layer then another if necessary. They then look at each layer under the microscope to see if they removed all the cancerous cells... a one to four hour procedure with local anesthetic. Luckily the first pass got all the cancer and they stitched her up and sent her home. There are no guarantees but we are hoping that's the end of it since the success rates of this procedure (if caught early) are around 98% cure rate. Fingers crossed.

Let me know how it all goes for her.

CF you are the best.

What's this about holding a coin in your mouth? I thought I was up on the list of superstitions, but hadn't heard this one.

Thanks so much CF and Stormy. She much calmer now that the procedure is over with and she's healing up nicely... she got to take her first shower and was allowed to get the area wet and use shampoo (gently, no direct spray). Regular preventive checkups are really important for one's health.

Sir NoddinOff wrote:.... Regular preventive checkups are really important for one's health.

I'm curious as to how it was discovered? Was it sore when brushing, combing?

poppi2 wrote:

Sir NoddinOff wrote:.... Regular preventive checkups are really important for one's health.

I'm curious as to how it was discovered? Was it sore when brushing, combing?

The top of a person's head is usually one of the first places looked at by a skin doctor (including most primary doctors), largely because that area can get exposed to a lot of sun, especially back in the old days when young people (like my wife and I) didn't wear hats and tended to sunbathe, surf, bike etc. Arms, legs, hands, faces and backs are also checked - it takes about five minutes for a complete visual exam of one's body.

As I recall, my wife's regular doctor spotted it on her head during a routine annual physical. A few years ago it was just a small white scaly pre-cancerous 1/4" patch, not really sore; it was frozen off with liquid nitrogen a few times (virtually painless) but always came back even tho my wife has worn a hat outside for at least two decades. Over the years it darkened, got bigger and had a raised appearance (still not sore)... that of course, led to a biopsy which is the definitive test for melanoma. I should add my wife's Mohs surgery was out-patient, painless and took 1.5 hrs.

My niece, a sun worshiper, let a melanoma go too long on her upper lip and they had to reconstruct part of her lip which wasn't pleasant. Luckily the cancer hasn't come back.

Thanks. Best wishes to your wife.