Hey everyone,
Most of you all are just so wonderful and optimistic.
Real fighters—and honestly, until just three months ago, I couldn't have even imagined the kind of battle you have to fight against these illnesses.
Full three months ago, my dad was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, nodular type,
Clark V, Breslow 4.
Right from the jump, we were warned about how aggressive and unpredictable this tumor could be.
After a sentinel biopsy showed metastases in one of the axillary lymph nodes that was removed, Dad went to Germany for a PET-CT, which came back clean.
Then he had a second surgical procedure where they removed the rest of the lymph nodes in that area (since, as far as I know, a PET-CT isn't always reliable for lymph nodes), and they found metastases there too (we don't have the actual report in our hands yet, so we don't know the exact results). In the surgeon's opinion, the operation is done—whatever needed to be taken out has been taken out—so now we're just waiting on a consultation with the oncologist regarding the next steps for treatment.
I should mention that my dad hasn't had any side effects from the surgery at all; he’s in excellent physical health, and you absolutely cannot tell he's sick.
How many of you have experience with the PET-CT and how much can we actually trust it?
And how many of you have dealt with malignant melanoma and its treatment?
Is chemotherapy generally not recommended? What about Interferon?
