Treatment

I have decided to take the Interferon treatments for the next year. I went in for a PICC [peripherally inserted central catheter] line January 5th...then I will start IVs everyday for a month and shots for a year. Because my tumor went so deep my cancer was rated stage IIB Melanoma. Melanoma is a very aggressive cancer, so they have to take drastic measures. It doesn't respond to traditional chemo or radiation. Interferon works on speeding up your immune system. It is not as toxic as traditional chemo, but still has lots of side effects and lasts for a year.

I was hesitant to get the treatments since they only are 10% more effective and have a lot of side effects, but they convinced us I was too young not to get the treatments. They told us..."think about your daughters...how would you feel if a year from now the melanoma came back and you hadn't done all you could." They also said there was a genetic factor with Melanoma and now the girls are at high risk for getting it.

I had the first chemo treatment January 10th. They said the first week shouldn't be too bad and next week will hit like a brick wall. It is a long process, about 2 hours, of blood tests before they start... IV fluids and nausea medications... Tylenol for the pain... Then they mix up the chemo. That only takes about 20 minutes to drip. It made me really cold and gave me a terrible headache. It still made me nauseated and I threw up the first night. I can't imagine what next week will bring.