Writer’s block?

Not exactly… I’ve just really tried to put a sincere effort into resting this week.  I’m happy to report that the surgeries and the recovery have gone SO much better than I anticipated.  I’ve got some notes written from the last week and I plan on reporting on all of the “Hospital Hijinx” I experienced.  From the Arrival/Departure boards to the diabetic nurse to ‘TAYO’.  I’ll explain each of these and more in the coming days.  For now, I’ll just give the update.

ALL KNOWN CANCER IS GONE.  That’s the bottom line.  All margins have come back clean and the surgeons are happy.  Tuesday I was a little disappointed when I went to have the drain in my side removed.  Apparently, the nurse(s) forgot to show us how to operate it correctly, so it needed to stay in place a couple of extra days.  On the other hand, the staples on my scalp came out at least 4 days earlier than I thought they were to come out, so that was a total BONUS!  Yesterday, the drain, the stiches, and the staples came out! I am completely AMAZED at how much healing has already occurred. 

I’m heading back in for another biopsy on Wednesday.  There is still some debate over the spot on my liver so I’ve asked that the biopsy be repeated.  Until now, I’ve refused to make any surgical and/or treatment decsions regarding the liver because the tests have been less than definitive.  Hopefully, this round will be the winner.

Class started up again last night and what a thrill it was to be there! 

I’ve got plenty of pictures to share, as well.  I’ll start getting those up thoughout this week.  Tomorrow is the changing of the guard: Dad flies in around 4:30pm and Mom heads back to California just a little later on.  One airport trip, one swap.

The makings of a plan

Dr. B (dermatologist) just called this evening.  Lots of information.  The biopsy on the spot on my face reported as a melanoma-in-situ.  He did receive a copy of the biopsy results from 2 years ago confirming that it was previously non-cancerous.  His hope was that he could prove the spot on my face was the primary source of the cancer, but it’s very rare for an in-situ to cause the type of melanoma found in my head.  They will be removing the spot on my face entirely (I forgot to ask when this will be done but my assumption is they will do it at the same time they do the tumor removal).  They’ll do some further testing on it after it’s removed. 

 

He also somewhat laid out the timeline for the next couple of weeks.  The next new doctor I will see will be the oncologist (Dr. Z) on the 25th.  The head and neck surgeon/ ENT (Dr. R) is out of town next week and I will meet with him when he returns.  Until then I will be sent to get the other tests: liver, lungs, brain, and bone. If ALL of these come back negative then they will send me for the sentinel lymph node biopsy (Yes, Mom, he was thoroughly impressed you knew what this was).  The goal right now is to determine the source. 

 

I have to try to make contact with the first doctor who performed the first biopsy years ago in San Diego.  For some reason, the records that were sent didn’t include the 1st biopsy. 

 

I did ask about travelling next month and he said not to cancel anything just yet.  I’ll pop in to get the stitches out on Wednesday.