Daughter just diagnosed with Stage 3c melanoma

Stage III melanoma
Hi, My prayers are with you. I am a SURVIVOR of 11 years of Stage III melanoma. I had no site of origin and 2 lymph nodes postive. I found mine as a lump under my arm and all lymph nodes were removed. I had a year of interferon- yes- not fun- hard but so worth it. I also was on a 6 year clinical trial.

You are on the right site. I am a full time volunteer with the American Cancer Society. Call 1 800 227 2354- and you can talk to a REAL person who can help you with lots of your questions. It is run by the ACS and it is open 24/7/365! It never closes.

I am here to listen if you need an ear. Pam

Another Survivor
Plenty of us survivors. Only a handful of options for treatment though and your daughters has me curious. If you've read some of our profiles & replies you'll see that those of us who chose Interferon typically had one of a couple of plans; 1) four weeks straight of high dose through an IV and then 6months three times a week of a lower dose through injection or 2) the one month high dose and 11months of the injections. I've not heard of someone stopping and starting like your daughter. Only persons I've known to add radiation to the treatments had tumors in deep areas of the body which it sounds like your daughter doesn't have.
Also curious about it being a cocktail. During the one month heavy dose infusions I was given a lot of fluids first through the IV then an anti-nausea drug and then the Interferon. The shots were not a cocktail it was 18u of pure Interferon.
Your daughter will probably not like eating much; food most likely does not taste or even smell like it should. I found cold foods to be best and I fell in love with Propel brand waters; hydration hydration hydration.
Just for clarity I would like to say that Interferon is a type of chemotherapy but is usually referred to as an Immunotherapy because our bodies produce many kinds of interferon.
If your daughter is not comfortable with what her doctor is telling her and assuming you have access to other oncologists go get another opinion. But keep in mind it will be just that, an opinion. Unfortunately there is no cure and hopefully her doctor is doing what is right for her.

thomasman said:

diagnosed stage 3c in may
diagnosed stage 3c in may 2006. still kickin!i went through 3 1/2 years of surgeries and chemos ( did the interferon, but stopped due to recurrance, then IL-2 twice). seemed like i was on the road to ann arbor every other day. the only way i made it this far is by not letting it beat me, one day at a time, and God. i never really knew how powerless i was over things til i was diagnosed, but very glad i got a relationship with God.

My daughter was diagnosed
My daughter was diagnosed clarks level 4 melanoma January 2006. Her story is on here. I just had to tell you that her relationship with God has grown so much in the past couple of months. And it has been the key to her heart and understanding in all this. And the powerlessness is the hardest thing to get past. But accepting that will give you all the peace in areas of your life that its needed> KEEP Kicking it!!

thomasman said:

diagnosed stage 3c in may
diagnosed stage 3c in may 2006. still kickin!i went through 3 1/2 years of surgeries and chemos ( did the interferon, but stopped due to recurrance, then IL-2 twice). seemed like i was on the road to ann arbor every other day. the only way i made it this far is by not letting it beat me, one day at a time, and God. i never really knew how powerless i was over things til i was diagnosed, but very glad i got a relationship with God.

That comment was to you? I
That comment was to you? I dont think I did it right.

bochemotherapy
another 3c'r here...4.8 extracapsular tumor, 7 pos nodes...your daughter is on biochemotherapy-wicked but i think effective...can i ask where she is getting treatment? i will be starting this next week if pet scan tells docs i am still 3c...

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter- have faith

I m so sorry to here about your daughter first of all. 

My brother actually, one year older than I am. 31 was diagnosed with stage 3 as well. They did a nuclear vlast and his whole side of his neck lit up. They are removing all lymph nodes on the left side.. and treating hI'm with inmunotherapy.. luckily the pet scan oddly: didn't show up anywhere else? 

However there is hope, I work in a Hospital and I have my degrees but sometimes we just need to sit back and realize that it can't be that complex, that's when I came across a dr. Burzynski. ( the DVD documentary from a scientific stand point is unbelievable. This doctor actually has spent his lifes work staring at the most aggressive cancer. anaplastic Astrocytoma- short terms: he believes that immunotherapy is a good thing, however there are so many ( to many cells in ones body to be able - to attack the specific genes) basically: Two catagoeiss of genes that allow cancer to grow::

Oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes 

Has cancer- higher level of oncogenes 

Higher level of suppessoe genes switched off 

Goal is: tell the body to switch back on the supressor genes and turn of the oxogenxes 

Which is brilliant and the doctor has cured ( even stage 4 brain tumors)  Problem is many of them can only target a single gene Antineoplastons work on close to one hundred different genes --this doctor and the doctimarby shows that he i fact has hope, because he has uncovered an actual cure. but the documenarh is called " what's scarier than cancer? The cure. " FDA even with so much evidentiary support people testfying they credited the doct and saw the results but wouldn't PASS it through FDA. The doctor still uses it and so many do. The problem is- it's to cheap ? Not as much as chemo is  ringk in!