Please Help!!! Understanding Test Results

You won't know staging until your father has the WLE (wide local excision) and the SNB (sentinel node biopsy).  That is standard protocol for anything over 1mm.  The mitosis rate would also make the doctors lean toward the SNB.  (I'm pretty sure the doctor will want to do the SNB and the re-excision at the same appontment.)

There is no way to tell if this has spread without going through the process.  I know the waiting is hard.

You won't know staging until your father has the WLE (wide local excision) and the SNB (sentinel node biopsy).  That is standard protocol for anything over 1mm.  The mitosis rate would also make the doctors lean toward the SNB.  (I'm pretty sure the doctor will want to do the SNB and the re-excision at the same appontment.)

There is no way to tell if this has spread without going through the process.  I know the waiting is hard.

You won't know staging until your father has the WLE (wide local excision) and the SNB (sentinel node biopsy).  That is standard protocol for anything over 1mm.  The mitosis rate would also make the doctors lean toward the SNB.  (I'm pretty sure the doctor will want to do the SNB and the re-excision at the same appontment.)

There is no way to tell if this has spread without going through the process.  I know the waiting is hard.

There is a staging calculator on this website you can use with the information you have on the biopsy to get where he is at this point.  There is no ulceration – good!  The mitotic rate is above 1 – not so good but currently won't upstage him.  Please note the calculator may be the old criteria prior to 2005 I think.  Ulceration if present will now upstage a patient, in the old version it wasn't mentioned.

You don't know his final staging at this time.  He needs a sentinal node biopsy at the same time as the wide excision, only then will you know.  There is enough risk at that depth to warrant the SNB which will let you know if he is stage III or not.  You can search medical research articles online asking that exact question "risk of spred to lymph nodes based on initial tumor depth".

You don't have enough information at this time to know the true extent of his melanoma, only further testing will let you know.  Until you have that information try not to let it mess with your head.  For some that means staying off line, for others it means researching worse case scenario so you can research availible treatments to discuss with your doctor should that happen.  If not, you at least have a game plan.

Don't let panic get in the way, it is a useless waste of time and energy.  It is time to dig in and educate yourself first, or at least wait until all the staging information comes back, then research.  Main thing is to have a good relationship with your docs.

It isn't the end of the world although it may seem like it right at this moment in time.  Been there, done that, now a stage IV NED survivor over 5 years.  Initially was stage 2A back in 2001.  My tumor was 2.06 mm.  Time makes things easier to deal with, the anxiety will pass and become more managable, but it is always there waiting for results.

KK

There is a staging calculator on this website you can use with the information you have on the biopsy to get where he is at this point.  There is no ulceration – good!  The mitotic rate is above 1 – not so good but currently won't upstage him.  Please note the calculator may be the old criteria prior to 2005 I think.  Ulceration if present will now upstage a patient, in the old version it wasn't mentioned.

You don't know his final staging at this time.  He needs a sentinal node biopsy at the same time as the wide excision, only then will you know.  There is enough risk at that depth to warrant the SNB which will let you know if he is stage III or not.  You can search medical research articles online asking that exact question "risk of spred to lymph nodes based on initial tumor depth".

You don't have enough information at this time to know the true extent of his melanoma, only further testing will let you know.  Until you have that information try not to let it mess with your head.  For some that means staying off line, for others it means researching worse case scenario so you can research availible treatments to discuss with your doctor should that happen.  If not, you at least have a game plan.

Don't let panic get in the way, it is a useless waste of time and energy.  It is time to dig in and educate yourself first, or at least wait until all the staging information comes back, then research.  Main thing is to have a good relationship with your docs.

It isn't the end of the world although it may seem like it right at this moment in time.  Been there, done that, now a stage IV NED survivor over 5 years.  Initially was stage 2A back in 2001.  My tumor was 2.06 mm.  Time makes things easier to deal with, the anxiety will pass and become more managable, but it is always there waiting for results.

KK

There is a staging calculator on this website you can use with the information you have on the biopsy to get where he is at this point.  There is no ulceration – good!  The mitotic rate is above 1 – not so good but currently won't upstage him.  Please note the calculator may be the old criteria prior to 2005 I think.  Ulceration if present will now upstage a patient, in the old version it wasn't mentioned.

You don't know his final staging at this time.  He needs a sentinal node biopsy at the same time as the wide excision, only then will you know.  There is enough risk at that depth to warrant the SNB which will let you know if he is stage III or not.  You can search medical research articles online asking that exact question "risk of spred to lymph nodes based on initial tumor depth".

You don't have enough information at this time to know the true extent of his melanoma, only further testing will let you know.  Until you have that information try not to let it mess with your head.  For some that means staying off line, for others it means researching worse case scenario so you can research availible treatments to discuss with your doctor should that happen.  If not, you at least have a game plan.

Don't let panic get in the way, it is a useless waste of time and energy.  It is time to dig in and educate yourself first, or at least wait until all the staging information comes back, then research.  Main thing is to have a good relationship with your docs.

It isn't the end of the world although it may seem like it right at this moment in time.  Been there, done that, now a stage IV NED survivor over 5 years.  Initially was stage 2A back in 2001.  My tumor was 2.06 mm.  Time makes things easier to deal with, the anxiety will pass and become more managable, but it is always there waiting for results.

KK

IMHO – Janner as always is spot on.

It is standard procedure with a 1.1 and mitosis of 4 to have the SNB done.  Seems like your doc is betting on stage IV right off the bat.  If the scans are negative, then what?!  He still needs a SNB Before the WLE!  Unless there is something else this doctor isn't explaining to you, you can't go back and have the SNB after the WLE.  Please please please don't rush into a WLE unless the SNB is done at the same time.

In my case we did becuase my moron "cancer specialist dermatologist" didn't get a wide enough WLE.  My tumor was 2.06 mm and he never mentioned an SNB!  He then sent me to a medical oncologist after his WLE who then sent me back to a surgical onc which is where I should have gone before he ever laid his scalpel on me a second time!  That doc even knew better because my surgical oncologist told me he spoke to him personally to not touch melanoma patients if they had a tumor deeper than 1.0 mm and send them directly to him for the SNB.  All water under the bridge and I am still here .

I didn't give him the chance to screw me up a third time.  He couldn't even do a good skin exam which is very very easy to do and should be the first course taught in derm residency.  *now off my soap box*.

I wish I had listened to the group here first but I was scared, and still didn't know if I could trust what I read online.  I was in the deer in the headlights stage.

Glad you are able to get a second opinion.  Now15 years after diagnosis I can say, waiting a bit more for proper care will be well worth it right now.  I am kind of scared of what your doctor recommended, not the standard of care from what you have posted so far.

In the end, I became stage IV, 8 years later and it was caught when I had a back x-ray for other issues.  My chiropractor sort of saved my life.  The found a tumor in my lung.  Amazing how treatments have changed for the better since first diagnosed in 2001.

IMHO – Janner as always is spot on.

It is standard procedure with a 1.1 and mitosis of 4 to have the SNB done.  Seems like your doc is betting on stage IV right off the bat.  If the scans are negative, then what?!  He still needs a SNB Before the WLE!  Unless there is something else this doctor isn't explaining to you, you can't go back and have the SNB after the WLE.  Please please please don't rush into a WLE unless the SNB is done at the same time.

In my case we did becuase my moron "cancer specialist dermatologist" didn't get a wide enough WLE.  My tumor was 2.06 mm and he never mentioned an SNB!  He then sent me to a medical oncologist after his WLE who then sent me back to a surgical onc which is where I should have gone before he ever laid his scalpel on me a second time!  That doc even knew better because my surgical oncologist told me he spoke to him personally to not touch melanoma patients if they had a tumor deeper than 1.0 mm and send them directly to him for the SNB.  All water under the bridge and I am still here .

I didn't give him the chance to screw me up a third time.  He couldn't even do a good skin exam which is very very easy to do and should be the first course taught in derm residency.  *now off my soap box*.

I wish I had listened to the group here first but I was scared, and still didn't know if I could trust what I read online.  I was in the deer in the headlights stage.

Glad you are able to get a second opinion.  Now15 years after diagnosis I can say, waiting a bit more for proper care will be well worth it right now.  I am kind of scared of what your doctor recommended, not the standard of care from what you have posted so far.

In the end, I became stage IV, 8 years later and it was caught when I had a back x-ray for other issues.  My chiropractor sort of saved my life.  The found a tumor in my lung.  Amazing how treatments have changed for the better since first diagnosed in 2001.

IMHO – Janner as always is spot on.

It is standard procedure with a 1.1 and mitosis of 4 to have the SNB done.  Seems like your doc is betting on stage IV right off the bat.  If the scans are negative, then what?!  He still needs a SNB Before the WLE!  Unless there is something else this doctor isn't explaining to you, you can't go back and have the SNB after the WLE.  Please please please don't rush into a WLE unless the SNB is done at the same time.

In my case we did becuase my moron "cancer specialist dermatologist" didn't get a wide enough WLE.  My tumor was 2.06 mm and he never mentioned an SNB!  He then sent me to a medical oncologist after his WLE who then sent me back to a surgical onc which is where I should have gone before he ever laid his scalpel on me a second time!  That doc even knew better because my surgical oncologist told me he spoke to him personally to not touch melanoma patients if they had a tumor deeper than 1.0 mm and send them directly to him for the SNB.  All water under the bridge and I am still here .

I didn't give him the chance to screw me up a third time.  He couldn't even do a good skin exam which is very very easy to do and should be the first course taught in derm residency.  *now off my soap box*.

I wish I had listened to the group here first but I was scared, and still didn't know if I could trust what I read online.  I was in the deer in the headlights stage.

Glad you are able to get a second opinion.  Now15 years after diagnosis I can say, waiting a bit more for proper care will be well worth it right now.  I am kind of scared of what your doctor recommended, not the standard of care from what you have posted so far.

In the end, I became stage IV, 8 years later and it was caught when I had a back x-ray for other issues.  My chiropractor sort of saved my life.  The found a tumor in my lung.  Amazing how treatments have changed for the better since first diagnosed in 2001.