Similar story: mom had a melanoma removed from her foot. multiple lymph node biopsies and other tests said it had been successfully removed.
She went back once a year for checks for 4-5 years. It was only when she was called into see an oncologist and told an unrelated x-ray lead them to discover she had stage 4 metastatic melanoma (brain, liver, spine, femur, lungs and i’m sure i’m forgetting something) that we found out that they’d only been giving her visual checkups each year, no PET scans or anything else. The oncologist was shocked that the checks were so basic, mom didn’t know she was supposed to have anything else and she was dead in about 8 weeks.
We were told that the form of melanoma only came back like that in 1% of patients and usually simple visual checkups were enough. I have no idea how true that is.
My wife had a similar experience, except it was her shoulder. They took a margin, looked at lymph nodes, and did a nuclear test that traced something that I can’t recall.
Another lesson learned is that if at all possible, go to a national cancer center. Even if for a second opinion analysis. The level of care is different and better than what you find in community oncology or hospital practices.
She went back once a year for checks for 4-5 years. It was only when she was called into see an oncologist and told an unrelated x-ray lead them to discover she had stage 4 metastatic melanoma (brain, liver, spine, femur, lungs and i’m sure i’m forgetting something) that we found out that they’d only been giving her visual checkups each year, no PET scans or anything else. The oncologist was shocked that the checks were so basic, mom didn’t know she was supposed to have anything else and she was dead in about 8 weeks.
We were told that the form of melanoma only came back like that in 1% of patients and usually simple visual checkups were enough. I have no idea how true that is.