I had my follow-up appointment with my surgeon today. (well, first I had a visit with another doctor and a med student, but he was pleasant and had a wicked cool accent – and he was young, so he was concerned for my modesty – HAHA!).
Anyway.. Dr. C. checked me out, asked how I was doing, poked and prodded - the usual. I don’t have many complaints – you know, aside from the numbness, tingling, electrical pulses, general pain that comes and goes – but they were more concerned with my scars. Oddly, they don’t bother me. The boys ask how my scars are here and there; they’re calming down and smoothing out as the days pass (the scars, not the boys, hehe).
Dr. C. really took his time to let me know that they would continue to fade and be less pink and more skin tone as time passes. Which is fine, don’t get me wrong, but scars have never bothered me. I have scars on my knees, my hands, assorted other places and they’ve never bothered me; these are no different, even though they are big. I’m much more bothered by the sudden breath-taking pain and electrical pulses running through my …
Less Pink
Delayed reaction
Um, oops?
I had my follow-up appointment with my oncologist on the 8th and while I totally tweeted about it, I completely failed to update my loyal blog readers!!
Mike took the day off to go with me, which was much appreciated, for even though I figured it was going to be good news about the last MRI, I still was worried (because, well, duh, CANCER?)
First I had to get my blood drawn. There’s a specific blood drawing place in the cancer center, and man, were they pros! It took longer for me to walk back and sit down than it did for her to draw my blood! Want to see what it looked like??
Isn’t she a great artist??
SNICKER
Anyway, after they took my blood we had an hour to kill before my appointment with Dr. L, so we wandered to the hospital cafeteria to grab a quick lunch.
10 minutes later we wondered what to do for the next 50 minutes. hehe.
We sat in the waiting room, playing on our iPhones and watching a lady change the channel on the television…push button, watch for a few seconds, push button, watch for a few seconds… repeat 50 times only to end up …
Fairly Good
As in ‘fairly good news’ from my surgeon and the pathology department. Fairly good.
Fairly good.
Better than ‘not so good’ or ‘not good at all’ or ‘bad’.
Fairly good.
What that means, in real life, is that one of the 6 nodes that they removed in this latest surgery had a small amount of tumor in it. One out of six. So yes, fairly good.
But not really good. Or great.
So we have an appointment scheduled with the medical oncology doctor on the 13th to find out exactly what our next steps are. Not sure if it will still be interferon, or if it will be something else. Wait and see, as usual, I guess.
In the meantime, I will get better, get stronger, and be ready to kick the rest of this cancer’s ass out of my body. (which sounds really strange when I write it that way, but you know what I mean, right?!)
Hail to the Victors
Through this whole melanoma experience, the University of Michigan has proven to be the leaders and the best, at least when it has come to my care. Every single person we’ve interacted with – from the technicians to the reception staff to the nurses and doctors I’ve seen have all been amazing. I’m sure it helps that I’m a pretty easy-going patient – I listen, do what they tell me, ask questions and most importantly, let them do their jobs while keeping a sense of humor. I had two separate nurses tell me how nice it was to have a happy patient like me, and another wanted to sit and chat with me just because.
I made the lady that checked me in pre-operatively laugh so hard that she couldn’t catch her breath (she asked if English was my preferred / 1st language – I replied “Si”). The nurse that got my IV and everything set up pre-op dished it out as well as she took it and she ooohed and aahed over my pictures of my boys; Curtis, my post-op nurse, was snarky and funny. Then I got to OBS unit, where Cindy and Debi …
The results are in!
(That title makes it sound like a game show!)
** Goofy stuff here, scroll down if you prefer the serious, detailed version**
{Hearing Muppet Game Show Host Guy Smiley in my head} “Our first contestant is a 35 year old mother of 2 who admits to years and years of lying in the sun using suntan oil! [gasp], lying out in those strongest sun hours of 10-2! [oooh] and using tanning beds! [eeek] to get that golden glow she loves so much!! “
“After noticing a long-time mole had changed shape and color, our contestant went to a doctor and a few weeks later, here we are!!” [applause]
“Bob, tell our contestant what she’s won!”
{Bob the announcer guy} “You’ve got it Guy! Our contestant has won three…count em,THREE prizes Guy!”
“First, she won a ‘get-that-mole-out-and-get-it-tested’ trip to a lovely office in Ann Arbor, Michigan!!” [clapping]
“Then, she won an all expenses paid trip to the surgical facility at University of Michigan, where she spent all day waiting until she finally woke up and was able to go home with 2 painful and tender incisions!! [hooting and hollering]
“Third, Guy, our lovely contestant won another surgery!! [applause and whoo-ing]. Yes, Guy, our contestant gets to undergo yet another …
