r/melahomies

Keep up the fight everyone I'm 45 have stage 4 metastatic melanoma in my spine lungs adrenal glands heart and brain and left testicle with braf mutation I was in my death bed back in January before getting diagnosed lost 40 pounds was down to 125 lbs from my normal weight of 165ish the target therapy saved my life and now Tuesday I'm switching to infusions immunotherapy I go to the James cancer center in Columbus just gotta stay strong and keep a positive attitude God bless everyone dealing with melanoma and have a great day

My derm just called to tell me Signatera approved me for testing. He was a bit surprised (but pleased) because I’m at pretty low risk for recurrence, I had a 1A excised with clear margins, only one other atypical mole also excised in the first year of follow up. A few other biopsies all negative.
To me, the more info I have, the better, so I am intrigued by knowing if I may have some microscopic cancer cells floating around in my bloodstream. But I also can understand not wanting to know.
Has anyone in this sub had the test? Thoughts on its usefulness?

Hi melahomies! I can't say I'm excited to join this club, but glad there is a community! I was recently diagnosed with an invasive melanoma, staged pT2a, so my next steps are a SLNB and WLE. I'm curious how long people waited before they were able to get their surgeries?

My dermatologist has a specific surgeon she wants me to have because of the difficult spot on my face where this melanoma decided to grow so I'm currently jumping through a bunch of hoops to get an initial appointment with him which made me curious what others' experiences were

First time posting here. Male 30s. After navigating my insurance and self advocation I finally had my WLE on my scalp earlier this year and SNLB. Large black mole first discovered late last year. Ended up with Stage 3A.
Had scans partitioned throughout the year, PET, MRI, and finally CT. Anyway surgery went well and I’m eligible for immunotherapy though my current Onc says the side effects are as likely as the full recurrence. So we are in a monitoring phase.

I have a good network of friends, and a therapist. I’m not currently in any cancer support groups.

However as scans approach and biopsies occur anxiety goes up. I had my most recent one last month, my fifth for an ornery looking neck lymph node, thankfully negative.

With all of that going on I was in a relationship and besides the surgery recovery I have thankfully never felt ill. Nor did I pressure my partner for direct support, I simply informed her when doctor’s appointments (scans, biopsies, follow ups) were occurring. Never asked her to go with me.

As much support as I have had, with more scans coming up I’m finding myself uniquely anger here.

I ended our relationship suddenly and recently as a lot of lying and ugly behavior came to a head from her end, including infidelity. Not sure to what extent but I know of one person and I doubt she was using protection.

Has anyone been cheated on while going through this? I find myself much more upset at this behavior than the fact that I have cancer. Again I have both professional and personal support but they do not get it as understanding as they try to be.

Thanks for being here everyone. I read in here often.