absolutely.........the first place melanoma travels to from the lessions or moles on the skin is to the closest Lymph Nodes.....the axial LN ,or armpit , is usually the first stop. U should get both a petscan and CT scan. Petscan will show intensity of activity of cells, Cancer cells burn more sugar because they metabolize faster than ordinary cells...so cancerous cells will show in a Petscan. CT reveals size...but even the most microscopic melanoma needs to be surgically removed by removing LN.....then they give u immo for a year.

Hi Tracy, YES for sure. When I was diagnosed with Melanoma (2022), I've had PET scans every 6 months. After my first surgery for melanoma... I had a year of treatment with immunotherapy. On my PET scan several months ago, they saw another lesion, diagnosed as another melanoma / treated with 3 treatments of Ipi/Nivo combination immunotherapy. New PET shows it GONE but doing another year of Immunotherapy with single immunotherapy drug Nivimulab for 1 year.

Now I am NOT saying you will have a recurrence, but once diagnosed we ARE at increased odds to develop another. Getting treatment ASAP is very important.
Barb M

My experience with melanoma is IIIC on my left upper arm posterior side. During the wide deep excision they took out three positive arm pit nodes which were injected with isotope before surgery started. Two incisions for one anesthesia and fast healing. Starting my third year and scans are scheduled for early December. Looking at a quickly growing lymph tissue is my chest to compare from the last scan so waiting for that month to go by will be a little nervous for me. Staying busy with creative arts and garden cleanup for winter will help.

Thank you for the information.