6 month lab-work

Well I just got back from my 6 month blood test and chest x-ray.  Now I just get to spend the next week biting my nails and praying that the tests are going to come back clear and that I am still melanoma free.  Next Thursday I will go to the doctor where he will check my lymph nodes, ask me if I have noticed any new moles or bumps, or changes in previous ones- I haven't, and tell me how the lab work turned out.  Hopefully everything is status quo and I'll just have to come back in another 6 months.

Ipilimumab

Ipilimumab  is a new drug that is expected to be approved by the FDA as early as this year.  It's use has almost doubled the average of the survival rate of people with stage III or IV melanoma.  It has many side effects which are mild in most people, but if it works they are probably worth it.

Anniversary

Today is the 1st anniversary of my diagnosis.  Has it only been a year?  Sometimes it seems like it was yesterday and others a lifetime ago.  I have to admit that there are very few days when I am not aware that I had melanoma and that I go to an oncologist (I don't even call him that, I usually just call him my surgeon).  It still seems so surreal.  Is this really my life?

So far so good.  I have another checkup at the end of the month, so hopefully nothing is going on in my body.  I haven't noticed any new suspicious lumps or changes in moles, so I'm expecting to get a good report.

There have been a few advances in treatment in advanced melanoma, so I keep looking at the new drugs with the view that if I even need them, knock on wood, they are drugs that seem to be working to fight melanoma.  It is comforting to know that researchers are actively working on finding a cure for this disease.