Stage 4… 6cm brain tumour and other mets.

Hello Dorsetgirl, I'm so sorry to hear your dad's melanoma has returned. It really is such a terrible disease. It is very sneaky - hence the dandelion motif which represents it.

It's a huge shock for you all right now and your meeting with the oncologist will, I hope, get things clarified for you and give your dad a treatment plan to get on with. I was diagnosed in march '21 and ended treatment last year. I'm stage 3c. There are plenty of people on here who are stage 4 like your dad hon and many have been living with it for some years as the treatments can be so effective nowadays.  

I hope some people with stage 4 pop onto your thread and can give you some positive news. 

I'm in Dorset too, I'm under the very wonderful Rachel Plant at Poole but have obviously been bumped back to dermatology for now in Dorchester.    I hope your consultant meeting goes well for your dad hon x

So good to read your reply Alottment lover and hear some positivity. 
I’m pleased that you have completed your treatment and I hope you are feeling well. 
My Dad is also under Rachel Plant at Dorchester and having attended my Dad’s appointment with him, my Mum and my brother, I have to say I was so so impressed by her!
Big day tomorrow meeting with the neurosurgeon in Southampton, I really hope and pray he can help my Dad. 
Thank you for your good wishes, it helps to hear from someone else who has been through it. 
Wishing you well for the future. 

Hi Dorsetgirl!

Im sorry to hear about your Dad. Must have been a huge shock.

I’ve got a similar story. My partner is 38 (I’m 34) and he had a melanoma cut out of his calf 5 years ago with negative SNL. Last summer his dermatologist found a tiny lump in his groin which a biopsy confirmed as braf positive melanoma lymph node. A number of surveillance CT scans reassured us that it hadn’t spread anywhere & surgery was booked to removed the lymph node for this Feb (about 6 months after diagnoses). Surgery went fine he became incredibly unwell when we got home with intense headaches, vomiting and head spins. We went back to A&E & a head CT showed a largh cerebellar mass (2.5cm)  3 smaller ones (~1cm). He had neurosurgery the next day & the big one was successfully cut out. 
He had his first round of combination immunotherapy 2 weeks ago with almost no side effects (just a light neck rash) and is having 4 sessions of CyberKnife this week to zap them to oblivion. We’re lucky we’re at Barts in London so everything is there for us.

He‘s feeling fine overall. Our consultant said the immunotherapy has shown to have really promising results, even with brain mets. Hopefully your dad gets a similar regime going and he responds well. They can also consider targeted therapy if you know if he’s Braf+. 

Please reach out and let me know if you have any questions - I work in health myself so know a lot about the journey we’re on!