› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Help For Father with Melanoma
- This topic has 3 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 12 years, 11 months ago by
Janner.
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- March 5, 2013 at 6:53 pm
Hi everyone. I am looking for some first hand information and advice about my fathers battle with melanoma. Im an only child and he is divorced so I am the primary care giver and want as much information to help him as possible. If you guys could offer any insight it would be greatly appreciated! Here is his backstory… My father has had several small melanomas removed throughout his life most likely due to being a rancher and oil man and out in the sun way too much.
Hi everyone. I am looking for some first hand information and advice about my fathers battle with melanoma. Im an only child and he is divorced so I am the primary care giver and want as much information to help him as possible. If you guys could offer any insight it would be greatly appreciated! Here is his backstory… My father has had several small melanomas removed throughout his life most likely due to being a rancher and oil man and out in the sun way too much. However in September of 2011 a small black and ulcerated melanoma with a thickness between 2 and 4 millimeters that was ulcerated and spread into the top two layers of tissue but not the muscle. He had a PET scan that was suprisngly clear and they did a wide excision with clear margins leaving a large dent and a 5 inch scar. He went for his regular check ups and everything was ok. Then this week March 4 2013 he called me and said his back hurt where his surgery site was and asked me to look at it. Its in a spot you cannot see yourself. What I saw was very alarming. At the site of the wide excision is one lump the size of a ping pong ball and another above it but attached to it the size of a quarter. They both protrude from the skin and are red and the largest one is ulcerated. He says it is very painful and he cannot lay on it or stretch his arms and pull on that area.I made an appt with the dermatologist right away and he will be seen this afternoon. This seems to have happened very quickly yet they are so big. This disease is nasty and quick I guess. Has anyone had a larger reoccurence at the orginal site and does this most likely mean we will find it spread to other places. Another thing to note is his health is not good in the first place and it makes it hard to notice things that could be caused by a spread of the meanoma to an organ. He has severe COPD and developing early memory problems which have been worse the last several months. He does have a family history of alzheimers and is about to turn 69. Any help or insight is appreciated. I know we will not know anything for certain until the dr sees him and we get more tests, but does this sounds pretty bad? It sure looks awful and Im scared but able to face the harsh reality that we could be in for a fight here. Thanks again!
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- March 5, 2013 at 10:27 pm
Unfortunately, there is no way to know by just looking. There are people who have local recurrences on a limb and it invades the entire limb tissue, but takes a long time to go elsewhere. Being on the back, it's a little more problematic. Melanoma is one of those diseases where appearances can be deceiving — in both directions. Any obvious signs of melanoma is never good, but the impact about if/when/where it has spread if just an unknown. I'm curious, when they removed the 2-4mm lesion, did they do a sentinel node biopsy? Did they check for spread to the lymph nodes at that time? Or did they just do a PET scan? My other question is he being seen by a melanoma specialist. They will have better knowledge and access to more options than a general oncologist would.
My father is stage IV and 88 years old. He's doing no treatment so things are just progressing – but he doesn't have any debilitating symptoms at this time. It's tough to deal with and watch.
Best wishes,
Janner
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- March 5, 2013 at 10:27 pm
Unfortunately, there is no way to know by just looking. There are people who have local recurrences on a limb and it invades the entire limb tissue, but takes a long time to go elsewhere. Being on the back, it's a little more problematic. Melanoma is one of those diseases where appearances can be deceiving — in both directions. Any obvious signs of melanoma is never good, but the impact about if/when/where it has spread if just an unknown. I'm curious, when they removed the 2-4mm lesion, did they do a sentinel node biopsy? Did they check for spread to the lymph nodes at that time? Or did they just do a PET scan? My other question is he being seen by a melanoma specialist. They will have better knowledge and access to more options than a general oncologist would.
My father is stage IV and 88 years old. He's doing no treatment so things are just progressing – but he doesn't have any debilitating symptoms at this time. It's tough to deal with and watch.
Best wishes,
Janner
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- March 5, 2013 at 10:27 pm
Unfortunately, there is no way to know by just looking. There are people who have local recurrences on a limb and it invades the entire limb tissue, but takes a long time to go elsewhere. Being on the back, it's a little more problematic. Melanoma is one of those diseases where appearances can be deceiving — in both directions. Any obvious signs of melanoma is never good, but the impact about if/when/where it has spread if just an unknown. I'm curious, when they removed the 2-4mm lesion, did they do a sentinel node biopsy? Did they check for spread to the lymph nodes at that time? Or did they just do a PET scan? My other question is he being seen by a melanoma specialist. They will have better knowledge and access to more options than a general oncologist would.
My father is stage IV and 88 years old. He's doing no treatment so things are just progressing – but he doesn't have any debilitating symptoms at this time. It's tough to deal with and watch.
Best wishes,
Janner
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