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pH I know this will be hard but just CALM down. Cancer by itself does not mean anything, you have cancer all over you body in the form of moles. Wait for a doctor to tell you how easy it is to treat before you go off the deep end and assumed you brother is a goner.
Keep a clear head, but your brother has my prayers.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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pH... oh my goodness. I don't know what I'd do if I got that kind of news about one of my brothers. Being scared would definitely be up there, though. You and your brother are in my thoughts.
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Oh pH, I'm so sorry and I'll say a prayer for your brother. Hope that his melanoma was caught in time and is easily treatable. (((pH)))
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I'm so sorry, pH. You and your brother have my very best wishes.
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: ... you have cancer all over you body in the form of moles.
(BB, I certainly appreciate the sentiment, and I think you give some excellent advice, but just for clarity -- most moles are not cancerous. They are benign growths of skin tissue. The ones that are cancerous are more rare and definitely do need to be removed. This is important because if someone does have a suspicious-looking mole or one that is changing, they really do need to get it assessed right away. But it usually can be dealt with just fine if caught early.
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I was hoping CT or Theca would clarify the mole issue, I was curious. Thanks for doing that, CT.
pH, I echo the "stay calm" sentiment. Wait until you here what is going on and what the doctors think before you panic, hard as that may be to do. I will definitely be praying for you and your brother and your family. Cancer is not an automatic death sentence - I'm proof of that!
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: I'm so sorry, pH. You and your brother have my very best wishes.
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: ... you have cancer all over you body in the form of moles.
(BB, I certainly appreciate the sentiment, and I think you give some excellent advice, but just for clarity -- most moles are not cancerous. They are benign growths of skin tissue. The ones that are cancerous are more rare and definitely do need to be removed. This is important because if someone does have a suspicious-looking mole or one that is changing, they really do need to get it assessed right away. But it usually can be dealt with just fine if caught early.
Oh totally agree, but alot of people fall into murky territory when it comes to cancer especially when they hear its definition as "The uncontrolled reproduction of cells."
By that definition moles ARE cancer, but not really.
There is the Benign/Malignant part, but that does not really cover everything.
But thanks for your correction.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The only brush I've ever had with cancer was with melanoma... Doesn't run in my family, I'm pretty young, I was never a 'sun-worshipper'... Even though it was pretty scary PERIOD, once the moles were removed I was A-OK. I think the scariest part was when my doc first told me and I was sort of sitting there like - Um, what? It's what? Stage what?, while my mind was racing towards horrible images of what I'd have to go through next... Like I said, for me, once they were removed I was totally okay. I just have to go to the dermatologist every three months for check-ups.
I'm hoping for an 'easy' remedy for your brother and thinking of you while all this is working itself out.
Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006
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I saw a lady with a history of melanoma of the eye this very week. She was telling me all about her treatment. She's doing just fine.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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My brother is forty-one. He only found out because his new girlfriend dragged him to the VA hospital. He's been bad about taking care of himself. I'm going to call him tonight, I think. Maybe I'll just text him and ask him to email me. But apparently this new girlfriend has been great for him, and I think my mother said she's great with his son as well. He does spend a lot of time in the sun, or he used to..he worked outside a lot. Theca, what do they do to treat it? I'm picturing horrible eye-things.
So I'll try to find out more tonight. I guess they're spending all day at the hospital.
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Well, depends on where it is--it could be a very tiny spot in the eye. Sometimes these can be found very early, if it interferes with vision. I'm picturing laser surgery and radiation for a small spot, and removal of the eye for a larger lesion, with thorough testing to be sure there has not been any metastatic disease yet to any other part of the body.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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pH, we went through a cancer diagnosis with my sister's only child about a year and a half ago. He is out of treatment now, though that type of leukemia does have a tendency to come back. It was really... no words for how I felt about it. You see a little bit of what you're like underneath, I suppose.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Sorry to hear this Pearce. What prayers I have are with your family.
Don't fret immediately though, treating cancer isn't what it used to be. Every day we all hear something new about a cancer treatment with hope and promise in the near future. My mom's best friend has been getting worse and worse cancer news for the past month, and they're going to set her up with an experimental treatment in New York. There seems to be a plethora of options these days, and hope is all around us for solutions.
Good luck to your brother.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Do you guys think the VA hospital will take good care of him? I've been worrying about that all day. I mean, he's obviously still under their care if he could go to them today....he was honorably discharged from the army because he broke he knee while serving, I think. And he got a really bad blood clot from his knee up his thigh, and from what I understand it was acting up again. I'm not sure. I never called him tonight; I chickened out and invited one of my friends over for drinks instead. I'll call him tomorrow. Saturday is psychiatry day; maybe one of them will give me an idea of what to say.
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Ouch. I'll be thinking about you and your family and hoping for an easy treatment and a good outcome.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Well, the VA has a good side and a bad side. I would comment that melanoma of the eye is rare enough that they either have in place an eye superspecialist and an oncologist and or radiation oncologist who can deal very appropriately with this, OR, they will arrange for him to see specialists who are not in the VA system for no extra cost. That's just my guess.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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While I'm sure this is very scary for everyone involved, I agree with what everyone has been telling you. Be calm and don't assume the worst. Wait until the doctors have done a full diagnosis and have a treatment plan.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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My mom called today and told me that my brother's test results came out really well, and it looks like they can just remove the thingy from his eye.
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I'm glad that your waiting for information is over and that the test results were so promising. Strength to you and your family.
Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Well, it turns out that he really did have melanoma on his eye. And they had to remove his eye. And no one told me about it until they already removed it (today - everything is okay, and he is doing well) because "I didn't want you to worry because there was nothing you could do about it."
So now I'm:
1. Worried about my brother. 2. Squicked out by this whole eye thing. 3. Ticked off that they sprung this on me all of a sudden.
Pray that they got all of the badness. My mom said the doctor said he thinks he did.
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I think I might be ticked off had I been left in the dark, too. Sorry to hear he had to lose his eye. My prayers in his/your behalf for comfort and that this is the extent of it.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Sep 2006
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Wow - awfully crummy of them to not tell you! That is really unfortunate that he lost his eye, but if they got all the cancer, then that's good! Melanoma typically doesn't need any further treatment than removal if it's in the early stages, which it sounds like it was, right?
Families often think they're doing the nicest thing for us, but they end up doing the thing we'd want least. Love stinks!
Hugs to you and your brother - I hope he's coping well, and that you are, too!
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Here's hoping he recovers well. At least it's good news that they think they got it all. Will he have a glass eye? My shop teacher had one, and he said it wasn't too hard to adjust to when he first got it, so hopefully your brother will find the same if he goes that route.
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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