OT-- The beast is back

[J.4knee]

Bruce please know you and you wife are in our thoughts and prayers. This place willl be here when ever you decide to drop in but unitl then be strong and God bless.

[3dzapper]

Bruce, My hopes and prayers are with you and your family.

Keep stromg.

Rick

[nuclearay]

Bruce, my heart goes out to you.

Having worked in diagnostic radiology for the last ten years I know what you are facing. Having lost one of my best friends (who was also my boss) to metastatic melanoma two years ago, I know where you are coming from: being in the medical industry I felt that I had a 'leg up' over most people as to what to do and how to do things when it came to diagnosis and treatment of illness and God showed me how powerless I really was. On the flip side, I work with a physician whose wife is status post pancreatic cancer two years (pancreatic and melanoma ca are equally evil) and is doing well. Have faith,and I will pray for you and yours.

God bless,

Ray

[Tom Adams]

Hey Bruce -

First and foremost....my prayers go out to your wife and your family in having to tread the path you are about to go down. Although no where near the severity of what your wife has, hearing a Doctor mention to me the "Cancer" word when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, sent me to an emotional place that was completely foreign to me. I can't imagine the emotional roller coaster she must be going through.

Secondly, I sincerely appreciate you letting us here know.

Take care and God bless.

Tom

[Marvel]

Tom.

A roller coaster? Yup, you can probably imagine. Thanks for the responses from all of you fine folks.

We go to Vanderbilt on Monday to meet with another doctor. We could possibly make a trip to MDAnderson in Houston, but aren't that far along yet.

Wife has been very diligent to be checked and to check herself since the first go 'round 4 1/2 yrs ago. At that time it was a single spot, and the lymph nodes were clear.

Melanoma doesn't want to play by the rules that most other cancers play by. While success rates for many are in the 90% plus range, melanoma is usually 10% or less still being alive after 5 yrs. This hasn't changed over the last 15 yrs or so. This doesn't mean we won't fight it. We will/are fighting it.

My wife is intelligent and has learned a lot over the past 4 1/2 yrs. She knows the right questions to ask, and is stubborn enough to keep at it until they give her answers.

As I put in my first post, the victory has already been won and we know Whose care we are in.

I'll be checking in here on occasion. Life hasn't totally stopped here yet. We are laughing a lot. The beast hates it!

Bruce

[edwinr]

Good luck, buddy.

[Joe Shmoe]

Man... I really feel for you & your family! I have been there & all I can say is keep up the fight! My prayers are with you also! Just remember.. anything's possible, Lance Armstrong only had about a 2% chance & look what became of him!

-Joe

[Deang]

We love you Bruce.

[sputnik]

Even though these can be the saddest and most gut wrenching times in anyones life, they can also provide the most precious and rewarding moments of your relationship with your wife. With all humanity, sooner or hopefully later, we share our inevitible mortality and the sadness of the loss (or fear of loss) of our loved ones. In that sense we're not strangers nor are we alone.

[dgb]

Sorry to hear this, but there is hope. One of the ladies that works for me has fought off the inevitable for 20+ years now, breast and bone cancer. It is indeed a battle, but it can be won. More important than anything is the will to fight and live and to go the extra mile in finding options for treatment.

My best wishes to both of you.

[Marvel]

Thanks for all the responses. We are having some meltdown days and still managing to get in a lot of laughs. I know this forum isn't here for therapy, but quite a few of us use it that way. Griffinator, I'll be praying for you!

Made the trip to Vanderbilt yesterday. First off, I should point out that all cancers are not the same. Some are worse than others, and Malignant Melanoma is one of the worst. Most tend to think of all skin cancers as the same. They are not.

Next thing is that statistics are just that -- statistics. History of a certain group.

The choices for treament are these:

1)Dacarbazine : standard treatment, total response in the range of 15%, overall long term survival not high. One study mentions 3% long term survival. We could get this administered at one of our local hospitals in Chattanooga.

2) IL-2: very dangerous side effects, must be administered in special ward or ICU. Total overall response rate about the same, long term survival is a bit better. One study shows up to 11% still alive at 7 years after treatment. Must be administered at Vandy; or perhaps Emory in Atlanta to have it administered there. Some patients do not survive the treatment . No one is allowed to do IL-2 until after thorough testing to rule out latent heart disease, etc. You have to be relatively healthy to begin with, or you're not allowed to take the treatment. If it fails, you may find yourself disqualified for most other trials.

3) Clinical trial: Vandy expects to have one open "next week" that would have treatment for both arms. One arm would be dacarbazine, the other arm would be dacarbazine plus something that we have to invetigate further. We would not know which arm my wife was in, but she would at least have dacarbazine. She would not be left with no treatment. This would have to be at Vandy, every three weeks, to drive up for the infusion. She may not qualify: her disease is not "measurable," except for the number of my skin lesions, which the dr. believes would total more than the 10 mm required . They are checking on eligibility.

We are checking with meeting doctor/s at Emory (Atlanta) to see what they would say.

Obviously, with number 2, there are quality of life issues to deal with. We want to fight, are going to fight, but the treament is pure he11. We don't even know for sure she can do the treatment. We know some who have gone through it with no response at all. You expect to be one of the ones who goes through it and it makes a big difference.

And yet, life is good, very good. There is NO pain at all yet. We are enjoying our time together as much as we can. Lots to do, planning a week trip to visit my mom, who hasn't seen my wife in a number of years. Want to do that before treatment starts. Be nice, just to two of us off by ourselves for a little while. Some friends to see.

Just checkin' in. Love you guys (that's male and female -- I used to live up North )

[PrestonTom]

This is such awful news.

My thoughts are with you and Barbara.

Stay stubborn!!!!!

Good luck,

-Tom

[wheelman]

Bruce I am sorry to hear it came back, but the fat lady hasn't sang yet. Glad you guys are still enjoying yourselfs. That's the best you can do. Keep the faith.