Today we visited the front-of-the-eye ophthalmologist for a test to see if Robert can keep driving. (He can. Yay!) He hadn’t been to an eye doctor in a while because his retinal specialist retired and we didn’t get around to finding a new one yet. But Dr. Ladas did a thorough exam and looked in there for anything that didn’t belong. All is OK in the eye department!

When we were at Johns Hopkins four weeks ago, Dr. Lipson told us there was no known connection between ocular melanoma and cutaneous melanoma. Today Dr. Ladas explained that both kinds usually present as primaries, and it would be unusual to find a metastasis from one to the other (skin to eye or eye to skin). He explained further that ocular melanoma generally begins with spots in the pigmented portion of the eye, sort of like freckles. Not only did he not find melanoma, he also didn’t find anything to watch. So, no eye freckles. This is good!

Now, of course when I said “all is OK in the eye department,” that is a relative statement. Robert’s eyes have not gotten any better – but then again, we didn’t expect them to. He still has little vision in his left eye, and it’s not correctible. We’ll replace his two-year-old contact lens for his right eye with a slightly stronger one. He can see well enough to drive, and the form is ready to go to the DMV.

Tomorrow we go to Hopkins for GVAX Cycle 4. I’ll try to write again on Wednesday.