Appointment Follow Up / Starting Treatment Today

The appointment went well. Dad switched back to Dr. Linette finally - he was very patient and thorough in meeting with us. He said Dad's condition looks good, considering when most people have had melanoma in their brain, they also typically have it all over their body. He said Dad has a defined small lesion in his chest and another in his upper back, but at this point they don't see any further development in the brain. Dr. Linette also does not feel confident that Dad's leg pain is from the melanoma at this point - the tests just don't show strong enough signs of any melanoma in the spine/tailbone area where the pain is stemming from. He said people develop chronic leg/back pain for all sorts of reasons and although their may be small melanoma lesions causing the pain, they are not clearly showing on scans yet at this point.

SO he gave 3 options, 1. to sit back and wait for further growth, to surgically remove the two currently present lesions or 3. to treat with the BRAF drug, Zelboraf, which would likely kill the two current lesions, help maintain/kill cancer cells just floating in the body and could possibly help the leg pain, if the pain is stemming from melanoma. We chose option 3. Dad had planned to start the medication in a few weeks after going on a hunting trip, but he has since had increased pain in his legs, so decided to start today instead... He will start on the highest dose of the med and pending how he can handle the side effects, the Dr. will step the dose down. Pray that the med also helps his leg pain and also pray that the side effects are manageable.

I was wrong on the date of his next MRI. He will go in on December 7th for all of his scans and his next appointment with Dr. Linette and the neuro surgeons.

Thanks again for all of the prayers and well wishes - please keep them coming ...we could really use them to keep everyone going and in good spirits.