Treatment and monitoring for children with stage 3 melanoma

[Toniff]

I am a mother of a 13 year old boy diagnosed with stage 3 b melanoma just over one year ago. I would love to connect with other parents like me to understand treatment and monitoring protocols they are following for their children. My son did a year on interferon (just finished in April) and now we are doing an ultrasound in July and a pet scan 6 months from his last one.

[Vflowers]

Hi. My son 24, was stage 2-b, then stage 4. He went thru 10 months on taflinar and mekinist combo, then had 3 treatments of opdivo and yervoy.

[MaryMRF]

Welcome to the community! We have some moms here, so I'm sure you'll connect. Stephanie83 is one of our Ambassadors and her little guy was diagnosed when he was really young. She's had quite a bit of time being a pedi-mom.

[Toniff in reply to MaryMRF]

Great. I will reach out to her.

[stephanie83 Ambassador]

Good morning! My son was also diagnosed with stage 3b. Like you, we went through a year of interferon and are now in the monitoring phase. Please feel free to reach out anytime!

[Lilmama]

My 13 yr old daughter is stage 3a, currently doing Interferon. I'd love to chat❣️

[Toniff in reply to Lilmama]

Send me your contact info at [e-mail]. Would love to compare treatment plans.

[Crycleo]

It's important to remember that even if you have the exact same treatments each patient will have their own response which may be different from everyone else. It is important to stay on top of treatment and don't let the doctor put off any of your questions. ASK how your child is doing. If you don't ask they may not tell you. That's what happened to us. I wish I could go back and do the information gathering over. Ask questions until you get the answers you are seeking. If the doctor's response is vague ask him or her if they can be more specific.