Still trying to stage

I've been trying to put this post off for a while now. We still have some questions left to answer. Cleve had his PET scan on wednesday, and unlike most people, we are able to look at the scans even before the radiologist has had a chance to dictate the findings. So, of course we looked on wednesday night. We saw the tumor under his arm which we expected to see, but we also saw a spot light up on his sacrum that we did not expect to see. Cleve had another MRI of the sacrum done on Friday morning in time for our appointment with the oncologist in the afternoon. It showed a small spot off to the left of his spinal column.

During his appointment with the oncologist it was unanimously decided that we need to see just what this "spot" is. It could be a metastasis of the melanoma, or it could be some other pathology...we're hoping for the latter. So before we can remove the tumor we need to know if it truly is a metastasis. Cleve will be having a biopsy early next week. It is from this point that it gets confusing and complicated.

If it is not a metastasis Cleve will be classified as a stage three. We can remove the tumor and continue with therapy for the next year. If it is a metastasis we cannot remove the tumor. In either case Cleve's oncologist wants him to be part of the up and coming trial studies up in Portland, so we will be making several trips up north. If it is a stage IV cancer we need to keep the tumor inside of him to see if the trial medications are working to shrink the tumor and the one in the sacrum would be too small to monitor.

It's not exactly the news we were hoping for but we at least have something to go on; we have a plan to pursue. Cleve and I are trying our hardest to stay positive and to not think about the statistics. The truth is, the statistics aren't great, but if he is lucky enough to respond to any of the treatments, as his oncologist put it, "it's a home run". So lets keep our fingers crossed for a homerun