First Meeting with Oncology

We met with the radiation oncologist on December 17th. Her name is Dr. Wang (pronounced Wong). She said that because the melanoma had spread from the initial location on Dad’s cheek into the neck, it was definitely Stage 3 melanoma, at a minimum. Dad has to have a full body PET scan to see if it has spread more and so we know exactly what stage we are dealing with and what plan of action to take.


If it hasn’t spread, we can determine a plan of action about whether we do more surgery first or radiation first. The reason for more surgery is because they didn’t know when he had the lump in his neck removed that it was melanoma. If they had known, they would have removed additional tissue from that area. So, there’s a high likelihood that he will have to have another surgery to remove additional tissue and lymph nodes in that area.

If we are able to have radiation, it will only be 5 sessions and then we’d do either surgery or chemo, immunotherapy, clinical trials, etc. If the melanoma has spread to other areas, radiation will be skipped as it is designed to stop the spread. We would then discuss chemo, immunotherapy, clinical trials, etc.

The PET scan is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 1:00. They will also fit him for his radiation mask in preparation for guided radiation. We should get the results of the PET scan when we meet with Dr. Bienvenu (the medical oncologist) on December 26th at 3:30.

Angel