Intro

My name is Lesley Moretti and I have stage 4 metastatic melanoma. I have had a total of 9 mets to the brain over the past 10 months. In August of 2012 I was diagnosed with a tumor measuring 4cm on my right frontal lobe that was removed surgically. Since then I have had 2 gamma knife treatments. The first Gamma Knife was in December to treat 2 growths and the second in March treated 6 new lesions.

My most recent PET Scan in February revealed 2 additional areas of concern (One in the lung and another on my spine at L5) and I had been having difficulty walking. If that were not enough, I was diagnosed with two rapidly growing extra cranial growths in early March. Surgery to remove the growths was not successful and 2 weeks later I had external beam radiation to my head and face that was particularly brutal. The burns in my mouth and on my tongue were excruciating painful.

As I recover from my facial trauma for the next several weeks my leg and lower back pain increased. After review of my films the radiation oncologist proposed radiation to my lower spine to help solve my mobility problems and treat the melanoma on the lower spine (now seen in two areas). Two weeks after this radiation cycle I was in severe pain. Still reeling from the face and head trauma and now starting to experience the effects of the radiation to my midsection, I find myself in the ER being catheterized and dis-impacted which was unpleasant to say the least. During this visit an MRI revealed 8 new nodules on my spine both in the radiation scope and outside. As radiation cannot be done to the same area twice I am left with no option other than chemotherapy.

I explored chemotherapy options early in my journey and Ipilimumab (Yervoy) seemed to be my only option and that had many side effects and low success rates. My medical oncologist recommended Afinitor as an alternative to Ipilimumab and said to come see him the following week. When I saw him he said Temodar…this is the drug for you and thus starts my Temodar journey