A Cautionary Tale By Al K. January 17, 2002

I'm not sure how to do this or what to do or say. My purpose is to spread the word to all Melanoma patients. I am currently fighting a Brain Tumor in the central part of my brain. What I would like to get out to everybody with Malignant Melanoma is this. My Oncologist made a terrible mistake. I went for a Positron Emission test (P.E.T) at Loma Linda hospital in CA after a year of Interferon. The test came back with no cancer detected but the doctor did not order the "Brain" to be scanned. I asked the tech. about it and he said "It would usually travel down. (The mole was on my back and the underarm Lymph nodes) This was in April of 2001. When I asked the Doctor about it, he said, 'Oh, I thought I had ordered the Brain scan." Now, in December I was diagnosed with MET and am currently undergoing Full Brain radiation.

Please help me spread the word. The Brain needs to be tested as well as the rest of the body. Don't wait until you get headaches.

And of course, make it a monthly or at least quarterly habit to check your loved ones entire bodies for moles and get them removed and biop. Why wait until they turn cancerous? I did not realize they could get into the Lymph nodes in as little as Four months.

My wife discovered mine probably a month or two before I even made a doctor's appointment. I waited until it started to bleed (Stupid). It took 2 1/2 months to finally have surgery after my first doctor's vist.

1st doc - took 35 days to get an appointment and then she sends me to a Dermatologist instead of just taking it off and having Biop. 2nd Derm. 14 days later -says, "No big deal, come back next week and we will cut and Biop. 3rd Biop - 19 days later - comes back positive. 4th - Surgery, 10 days later. By the time testing was completed and surgery scheduled.

By that time it was in the Lymph nodes. All the articles I seem to read talk about what to look for but do not mention how fast it spreads. Anyway good luck to you and all "cancer" victims. We will overcome!