Jennifer’s personal skin cancer story
My husband, Steven, was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma on January 12, 2012, at age 34. Steven had no signs or symptoms that anything was wrong. One day in December 2011, he found a swollen right supraclavicular gland. We gave it a couple of days and went to the ENT, who sent him for a biopsy.
We were obviously beyond shocked when we got the results of stage IV melanoma. We immediately set up an appointment with the doctor. PET scans showed the melanoma had metastasized to his lymph node, a small spot on his lung, and a very large tumor on his adrenal gland. Steven went through four very tough rounds of bio-chemotherapy. The new scans showed that the cancer had not spread but it also did not shrink the large adrenal tumor. My husband, Steven, was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma at age 34.
Steven's body had enough of the bio-chemo and he was forced to stop that treatment. The doctor met with the surgery team and they agreed to have surgery to remove the adrenal gland and the grapefruit-sized tumor attached to it. The surgery was very painful for him. We are only five days post-surgery at the time of this writing. After he heals from the surgery, he should be starting a new treatment.