Plantar melanoma--has anyone personally dealt w/this type of cancer?!
Question: My best friend was diagnosed 7 yrs ago w/this. He had a toe amputated & several lymph nodes removed in the groin & abdominal cavity then went thru 1 yr of interferon treatment w/success. Now 6 yrs & 11mos later he had a recurrence in his chest & now is spread to the spine. Was told initially if there's a recurrence he would be terminal.
Started chemo & radiation on Xmas eve. Despite the outcome we know time duration is less than 6 mos if chemo & radiation take, but not more. Therefore what is the progression we can expect w/his quality of life. I know it varies from patient to patient. He has a super attitude, but he's a overweight (not morbidly) w/hi BP and wonder if these are important factors to considered.
Looking to know what to expect w/this type of cancer & what resources (websites) can be helpful when preparing for the stages. I wish I could find a specialist who could cure this cancer, but everywhere I researched so far says this cancer is fatal.
Answers: My best friend was diagnosed 7 yrs ago w/this. He had a toe amputated & several lymph nodes removed in the groin & abdominal cavity then went thru 1 yr of interferon treatment w/success. Now 6 yrs & 11mos later he had a recurrence in his chest & now is spread to the spine. Was told initially if there's a recurrence he would be terminal.
Started chemo & radiation on Xmas eve. Despite the outcome we know time duration is less than 6 mos if chemo & radiation take, but not more. Therefore what is the progression we can expect w/his quality of life. I know it varies from patient to patient. He has a super attitude, but he's a overweight (not morbidly) w/hi BP and wonder if these are important factors to considered.
Looking to know what to expect w/this type of cancer & what resources (websites) can be helpful when preparing for the stages. I wish I could find a specialist who could cure this cancer, but everywhere I researched so far says this cancer is fatal.
I am very sorry to hear about your friend. My cousin died of a melanoma this summer aged 29. It had recurred less than a year after she first had it treated. She was re-diagnosed in the February and had died by the end of July. Melanoma is VERY aggressive and attacks soft tissues, like lungs, guts etc. In the end, it spread to her brain (which is the case in more than 50% of people with melanomas that spread, it is the type of cancer most likely to spread to the brain), and the pressure eventually caused strokes, fits and killed her.
I am wondering for your friend's sake whether the chemo/radiotherapy is worth having. Melanoma is EXTREMELY resistant to both and chemotherapy really impacts quality of life, without showing any improvements to short-term survival and only 10-15% of cases show any response at all. My cousin spent a lot of her time in the last few months travelling to Israel to have expensive gene therapy (in addition to chemo) that did nothing and I can't help but feel it exhausted her in her last few months needlessly.
I'm afraid no matter what you do, this will be heart-breaking. Get him to do as much as he can now because in the last couple of months, if my cousin is anything to go by, he will be pretty bed bound and possibly in quite a lot of pain, particularly if the tumour is in the spine. My sympathies are with you all.