Penile melanoma --Melanoma is NOT just skin cancer!

Friday morning, when Jerry showered, he coughed---not a hard cough, just normal clearing of throat. He felt a pain in his back. As the day progressed, the pain increased and got severe and was not relieved by tylenol nor Tramadol. Saturday morning he could hardly walk because of the pain. I took him to the ER. They did an x-ray and it did not show any thing. The doc just said it must be a pulled muscle an d sent him home. He gave him some hydrocodone, but would not prescribe it. Fortunately, I remembered some left from a recent surgery! The pain is along the lower rib area. The last PET showed some bone mets along the 11th rib and sacral area. I had to go buy a walker to support him when he had to walk.

My question--does bone cancer pain start this suddenly??? I would have thought it would come on gradually. He also has lung mets---and yesterday for the first time there was a lot of wheezing. The doc prescribed an inhaler and told him to take deep breaths!

He has his first immunotherapy on Tuesday.

Any comments appreciated.

@texastribble I can only imagine that this has been frightening for both of you. Have you checked in with the doctor he sees for the cancer? Fortunately the treatment is happening soon. While none of us can afford to assume anything, I want to tell you that three times I pulled a muscle in my back. All three times I was barely able to move for several days, and even shallow breathing hurt. One time I woke up with that pain from the spasm first thing in the morning. It was caused by a simple turn in my sleep. If the ER doctor felt a muscle spasm his opinion makes sense. But there was more he could have offered him so it would still make sense to check in with his treating physician. I hope you will check back here after he has been seen or has treatment. Meanwhile, please take care of yourself. Nancy

Thanks so much for he reply Nancy. It has been a difficult weekend! This guy has had back surgery, shoulder surgery, broken shoulder and open heart surgery---and never needed pain medication after he came home!!!!!!!!!!! So, for him to be hurting this badly is unusual for sure. Saturday I called the doc on call but with us being new in their system and not even staring treatment, he did not offer any help--just said if it hurts that badly to go to the ER--which we did. Jerry said he slept better than usual last night (YEA) but when he rolled over to get up the pain kicked back in. I will wait for a while to see if he wants me to call or just wait until tomorrow. Supposedly, we will see the doc before his first infusion. This is going to be a difficult process--on my part because I don't have confidence in this doc or the practice--but is where Jerry wants to be since it is close to home rather than driving to Dallas for the best doc!

@texastribble Maybe some gentle massage would help, if he is up for it? If it is muscle spasms, manipulating the area with "soft hands" will bring some blood flow and release the tension. A warm heating pad might feel pretty good, also!
Ginger

We saw the oncologist yesterday. He feels that the severe pain and wheezing are both from the cancer advancing. He prescribed pain medication for 30 days---when I went to get it, the pharmacy said that since it was a new prescription, that insurance would only allow 7 days!!!!!!!!! Now, I have to call the doc and him call it in again in a week--a lot of extra hassle and paperwork for him since it it a controlled drug. Jerry had his first Keytruda infusion yesterday with no reaction. This doc still presents what I feel is an unrealistic picture of the infusion. He insists that people don't have any reaction to Keytruda and that the cancer will be reversed. Jerry just said that the medication helps but does not completely take away the pain. This doc has never examined him in any way--just sits several feet away and talks. Jerry thinks he should have some sort of physical examine--I explained that "if" (and we feel sure it is) the pain is the cancer that the pain will not be going away.

Hi Texasribble, How is Jerry doing? Is the pain medication helping? Any side effects of Keytruda?

Hi Colleen---The doc increased the pain med to every 4 hours---after a couple of days on it, he was able to cut back to every 6 hours to maintain. So far-so good on the Keytruda. No side effects! He is having a problem with nausea, but that was going on before the treatment. He is afraid to go out anywhere to eat because he is afraid of getting sick--and he loves to eat out!!!!! He does not seem to feel good today--just very quiet.

@texastribble As you know, there will be "up" days and "down" days. Getting the hang of what each day or hour may bring, seems to be the hardest part. Can he take the Keytruda at night so the nausea can be slept through? That how I do my chemo, but I have not had any nausea. I was told to keep ahead of the nausea, not wait until it's there. Can he do that? And if I remember, there are certain smells of sights of food that are not appealing right now, or don't taste "right" due to the assault on our system. It's a guessing game each day how we might be affected.
Ginger

We are grateful for the "up"days . Everything was fine until last Friday when the pain hit---and it hit hard all at once. I am not sure that the Keytruda has had any effect on the nausea as it started before the treatment. I don't know that it has made it worse. He has always had a big appetite so it is difficult for him to just eat a few bites and be done. I have been able to get in extra calories along the way so that he has not lost weight. He has no option as to when he has the Keytruda---next time (2 1/2 weeks) it will be in the AM. We live in a 55+ community and this evening there was a "Taco truck" for a Labor Day celebration. He felt like walking down--about a block--the tacos were awful, but the point of the event is getting out of the house and seeing some neighbors. We stayed about 1 1/2 hours and he was ready to come home and went to bed exhausted. But, it was great to get him out of the house for a while.

@texastribble It must have done you and him both a ton of good to get out and wander to the Taco Truck event. Even if he was exhausted, it could have been the physical output, and the energy it took to be out and seeing some neighbors. I bet many are supportive of you and your situation. Perhaps this can be a step to taking a short walk each day, get out in the fresh air?
Ginger