Cancer Diagnosis

Well, I kind of want people to know what my family is dealing with.  Part of me doesn't want people to know so that we don't get treated differently.  Our kids know the struggles I am dealing with but we don't currently talk much about it with them because I am able to function as normal and hope to continue that for a very long time.  When people find out they are always asking me why I didn't say something sooner or why didn't you tell more people.  Truth is, it isn't fun to talk about.  It is terrifying to discuss and the unknown nature of what we are dealing with.  People want answers but what many don't realize is we want those same answers.  They are not currently available and as we work to find the answers we will try to keep you posted.  I felt maybe this is a way to inform people of what is going on without having to personally tell them cause I will probably cry and I don't like to cry.

So, what are we dealing with?  I have been diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic melanoma.  The history behind the diagnosis is this.  In October of 2017 I had some abdominal pains (I blamed those pains on the food from Las Vegas) and so we went to the Davis Hospital where they did a CT scan.  In that scan they found a large tumor on my adrenal gland.  The following week we met with Dr. O'Neil at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.  He gave us hope that this might not be anything.  We agreed to have this tumor removed.  In November I went in for surgery to have it taken out.  During the surgery they found out the tumor had attached to my kidney and a piece of my pancreas.  They had to take out the kidney but were able to salvage the pancreas.  The recovery was miserable from that surgery.  A couple of weeks later we still didn't have answers on what the tumor held.  We finally found out in the middle of December that it was melanoma that had metastasized to the adrenal gland.  We took this as promising news because of all the medical advances around melanoma in the last 5 years.  The other was it could have been adrenal carcenoma which has a survival rate of 0% past 5 years.  Most of the time people say your melanoma was internal?  I thought it was skin cancer?  We have been told that it originated on the skin but have never seen anything on the skin that would prove this.

When we found this out we were referred to our oncologist Dr. Voorhies.  When we met with him he told us I would be put on an immunotherapy called Pembro (Keytruda) and be monitored.  Immunotherapy is administered every 3 weeks through an infusion in the arm that takes about 30 minutes.  For 6 months there were no issues and no side effects from the drug.  The last visit with him I had a CT scan where they found lesions on my liver.  Obviously for cancer patients this is concerning.  We have currently stopped the immunotherapy and are trying to find other options.  Things like clinical trials, targeted therapies and possibly chemo.  I have reached out to the Melanoma Research Foundation and they are helping us through the myriad of clinical trials.  The great thing about Melanoma is there are literally hundreds of clinical trials that are available.  Trying to find the right one is difficult though.

We have a lot of faith and hope that everything is going to work out.  People ask what they can do to help, prayers are always appreciated and well wishes would be great too.  I am grateful for those things and feel the blessings from them everyday.  It would also be great if you can keep an ear out for things you hear about melanoma.  New treatments or trials that might benefit me and my family.

Currently the insurance has covered the majority of the costs so we are doing fine financially (no needs or worries there).

If you want to reach out, Facebook messenger is a great way to get a hold of me (unless you have my cell number that is always the best option).  I don't get on the actual Facebook site much anymore.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers,
The Spilker Family
#cancersucks #fightlikehell