Mel called us today with our 'proper' staging. T3N1M0. That's fully understandable to us, but allow me to break it down. Tumor staging is a system used by doctors to describe the size of a cancerous tumor and how far it has spread in the body. It helps determine the severity of the disease, guide treatment decisions, and predict patient outcomes. The most common staging system is the TNM system, which classifies cancer based on tumor size (T), involvement of nearby lymph nodes (N), and metastasis (M), or the spread to distant organs. Staging ranges from Stage 0 (localized, non-invasive) to Stage 4 (advanced, widespread cancer). T - Tumor. What stage is the tumor. For us, stage 3. N - Lymph nodes. How many lymph nodes are affected. For us, just 1. This number can go up to number 4. There are 4 main N stages. N0 means there are no melanoma cells in the nearby lymph nodes. N1 means one of the following: one lymph node N2 : 2 or 3 lymph nodes one lymph node and there are a...
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