Some of you may have read that my brother was recently diagnosed with stage III melanoma cancer. If you’re not familiar with the stages, here’s a Wiki explanation:
- Stage I cancers are localized to one part of the body.
- Stage II cancers are locally advanced.
- Stage III cancers are also locally advanced. Whether a cancer is designated as Stage II or Stage III can depend on the specific type of cancer; for example, in Hodgkin's Disease, Stage II indicates affected lymph nodes on only one side of the diaphragm, whereas Stage III indicates affected lymph nodes above and below the diaphragm. The specific criteria for Stages II and III therefore differ according to diagnosis.
- Stage IV cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body
Incidentally, my GIST cancer was considered stage II because of the size of that thing. My doctor said it was the size of a fist. He must not be very athletic because I thought all tumors were supposed to be compared to a ball, like a baseball in my case. Am I digressing? Sorry.
