› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Yervoy didn’t work, next stop surgery for adrenal gland tumor
- This topic is empty.
- Post
-
- February 8, 2012 at 2:22 pm
I met with my oncologist yesterday to get the results to my second follow up scan after Yervoy. This scan again showed growth of the tumor in my adrenal gland. It now measures 9.1 x 7.1 cm. Last November Melanoma metastasized to my ovary and that was removed. Since then, I have had IL-2, been on the MDX-1106 trial, and completed Yervoy this past November. The adrenal tumor has been present since the ovary was removed and that is what they have been using as the basis of if the treatments were working for me.I met with my oncologist yesterday to get the results to my second follow up scan after Yervoy. This scan again showed growth of the tumor in my adrenal gland. It now measures 9.1 x 7.1 cm. Last November Melanoma metastasized to my ovary and that was removed. Since then, I have had IL-2, been on the MDX-1106 trial, and completed Yervoy this past November. The adrenal tumor has been present since the ovary was removed and that is what they have been using as the basis of if the treatments were working for me.Other than the adrenal tumor, I have a few spots in my lungs that are questionable. I've had two nodes in the hilar region before that were biopsied and were not Melanoma. The spots I currently have have never been biopsied, but the doctors have always just worked under the assumption that they are Melanoma. During the last year, while undergoing these immotherapies, the spots in the lungs have remained stable and some of them have shrunk. So, it's still hard to say if they are anything or not. But, it could also stand to reason that they are Melanoma and the treatments have been working on them, but not the adrenal tumor.The most recent scan also shows a 2.3 x 4 cm mass next to the pancreatic head, which is very suspicious for a met.I am BRAF negative. Since I have done all of the standard treatments, and I am experiencing side effects due to the size of the adrenal tumor, it has been decided that now is the time to remove it surgically. We meet with the surgical oncologist on Friday. We are also going to ask about having him remove the mass that is showing close to the pancreas.The plan after surgery will then be CT scans every 3 months. So, if the spots in my lungs aren't really Melanoma, there's a chance I could be NED after surgery, but we won't really know. I also had one brain met that was treated with SRS last August. The first MRI after that came back clear. The next one is a month from now. So, fingers crossed that the next brain MRI also is clear!Have any of you ever had your adrenal gland removed due to Melanoma? I've done some reading online and there are several ways that they can cut you open to remove the adrenal gland and sometimes it can be a rather large incision, especially when there is a large tumor they are removing. I'm not sure if mine would be considered large or not. I'm guessing that it would considering they say the size of a normal adrenal gland is about the size of a walnut, and mine is close to the size of an orange. Eek.~Angela
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.