My 28 year old daughter, Heather, called a few minutes ago. She gave me the latest news on my son in law, Joe, who is only 34 years old. The place on his back is Stage 4 Melanoma. I am sure we all suspected as much, but it still comes as a shock to the system. I think there is about a 10 to 15 percent survival rate with it. He is anemic, which made his arm ache after all the blood was drawn. He has also been diagnosed with COPD; and we are not going to know the level on the Lymphoma for a while. First they are doing an MRI of his brain, an x-ray of his chest, and the blood workup to see what the big picture was. The reason he was not happy with the internist, was that he thought he was seeing an Oncologist, and he feels that being sent by the Dermatologist to an Internist was a wasted week, when his life and his treatment might well be measured in weeks...
It makes no sense to send him to the Internist, but the internist will get a hefty fee for ordering the tests, and for seeing Joe, anyway. That is the doc that the Dermatologist office set up for him, telling him it was an Oncologist. I know some people...who will remain nameless...will get mad that I think he should have gone directly to an Oncologist, but what would you want for your family member? Certainly not a wasted week...
He is researching his own Oncologist, not a referral from the other two. He is looking at a group in Gainesville, Fl, about 5 hours away by car. I do have a cousin who works in the Research Department at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and I am in contact with her to get a good recommendation.