tmlovett's Journey with Skin Cancer - Melanoma
- 1 Procedure or Surgery Icon Procedure or Surgery
- 2 Oh No Icon Oh No
- 3 Procedure or Surgery Icon Procedure or Surgery
- 4 Celebration Icon Celebration
- 5 Oh No Icon Oh No
- 6 Procedure or Surgery Icon Procedure or Surgery
- 7 Celebration Icon Celebration
- 8 Drug or Chemo Therapy Icon Drug or Chemo Therapy
- 9 Radiation Icon Radiation
- 10 Celebration Icon Celebration
- 11 Procedure or Surgery Icon Procedure or Surgery
- 12 Drug or Chemo Therapy Icon Drug or Chemo Therapy
- 13 Decision Point Icon Decision Point
- 14 Procedure or Surgery Icon Procedure or Surgery
- 15 Clinical Trial Icon Clinical Trial
- 16 Procedure or Surgery Icon Procedure or Surgery
Patient: Skin Cancer - Melanoma
Patient Info: Currently in active treatment (initial surgery, receiving chemo rounds/radiation), Diagnosed: over 17 years ago, Female, Age: 40, Stage IV, BRAF mutation positive: No, c-kit positive: No
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Experience Icon Descriptions
Procedure: Drag this icon to show a procedure.
Radiation: Drag this icon to show a specific radiation therapy experience.
Drug Therapy: Drag this icon to show a specific drug therapy experience.
Clinical Trial: Drag this icon to show a clinical trial experience.
Side Effect: Drag this icon to show experience with a specific side effect.
Oh No: Drag this icon to show when something bad happened (e.g., cancer’s back, lost job).
Celebration: Drag this icon to show when something good happened (e.g., last treatment, hair is back).
Loss: Drag this icon to show a time of loss (e.g., lost hair, lost loved one).
Decision Point: Drag this icon to show a time when you had to make a tough decision.
Other Care: Draft this icon to show a time when you needed other care (e.g., hospice, psychotherapy).
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Sentinel lymph node biopsy
Procedure or Surgery
Sept. 2003 - Original melanoma removed w/ node biopsy. Learned the hard way that I do not tolerate anesthesia or pain medication.
Cancer has spread/Metastasized
Oh No
January 2011 - I found a small "lump" on my back/shoulder blade and knew it wasn't normal. Come to find out it was my Melanoma, spread to my lymph from my original site on my R leg
Surgery to remove cancer that has spread
Procedure or Surgery
March 2011 - Melanoma returns to Lymph node in R axilla. Undergo 4 different procedures during the month of March in order to remove all cancer in the area.
Pregnant!
Celebration
May 2011 - Found out we were expecting baby #2!!
Cancer is back/Recurred
Oh No
October 2011 - 6 months into my 2nd pregnancy I find 4 more tumors
Surgery
Procedure or Surgery
October 2011 - after finding 4 new cancerous tumors (while prenant), I undergo surgery for resection. End up in the ER that night due to severe dehydration that acted like pre-term labor.
Birth
Celebration
December 31, 2011 - We welcome our 2nd child!
Immunotherapy
Drug or Chemo Therapy
Feb 2012 - 5 weeks after the birth of my 2nd child, I started my 4 treatments of Ipilimumab. Minimal side effects for me, only increased fatigue the day of infusion.
External radiation
Radiation
July 2012 - Do one round of 5 radiation treatments focused on 1 tumor. Very frustrating because of the time commitment to be there and lack of results.
Chicago Marathon!
Celebration
Oct. 7 2012 - Right after having Baby #2 and just starting my infusion treatments, I decided to sign up for the Chicago Marathon. It was a great way to focus my stress and energy during treatment (and lose the baby weight!). My sister ran with me and we ran for the American Cancer Society! We were the #1 fundraising team too! This was a HUGE accomplishment and a wonderful experience!
Right Ovary and Tube excision
Procedure or Surgery
Nov. 1, 2012 - After getting a better report on my latest PET/CT, there was one thing lingering in my Uterus, or so they thought. Upon further imaging it turned out to be a mass in/on my right ovary. That US was on a Monday, surgery was that Thursday. The mass was Melanoma and there was another spot on my Left ovary that was also Melanoma.
Immunotherapy
Drug or Chemo Therapy
Dec 17 2012 - Started my second round of Ipi (Yervoy) for the course of 4 infusions, 1 every 3 weeks.
To continue with treament or not
Decision Point
Time to decide if I sign up for the PD-1 clinical trial or just be done with treatment.
Port Placement
Procedure or Surgery
March 16, 2013: Port placed to receive more treatment and blood draws
Merk PD-1
Clinical Trial
Start May 20, 2013
complete hysterectomy
Procedure or Surgery
September 2013 - After months of issues with my cycle and chronic pain, it was finally decided that a hysterectomy was the best option. They encountered more bleeding than expected during the procedure and so I ended up with 3 scope incisions as well as a 4-5inch incision on my abdomen.