One of my lymph nodes decided to go all rogue and wrap itself around a couple of very important veins/vessels. A specialist was called in to the OR, but he wasn’t crazy about the potential for damage, so it was decided to grab a couple nodes that were in need of removing and close me back up.

The intention now is to go to some sort of medical treatment (drugs) to shrink that jackass node down and maybe go in for it later.

Here’s the thing…I was totally expecting some sort of drugs afterward to make sure we get ALL OF THE CELLS this time. So the only major difference is that I may have to have another surgery (suck!).

Also, the ovary was just fine, so that actually is good news…I got to keep it, plus it doesn’t have any cancer in it…which means the melanoma is currently sticking to the lymph nodes and not jumping into other places.

So, just to summarize:

-a couple of lymph nodes were removed during surgery
- a rogue node is loving up on my veins and we have to shrink it before it can be removed
- my ovary is fine! The rogue node was all pretending to be my ovary where in fact, my ovary is chill.
- this means that the cyst back in September was just that and a complete coincidence
- I’m fine. Seriously. I’m in the hospital through the weekend, but it’s not all horrible. I’ve got my headphones on listening to my Yo Yo Ma station on Pandora.

My incision sucks because it’s from
Belly button down to c-sect scar…makes it hard to get up! Also, she didn’t remove any of my belly fat, so that kind of sucks. I mean really, no bonus program here?!

I’ll update more later!

Thanks for all of the love and thoughts and prayers!!!

Other than that, I have no details. I have a pre-op appointment with the surgeon on the 28th, so I’ll find out more details then.  I have no idea right now if it’s in-patient or out (although I think in since it’s at the main hospital). I don’t know the recovery time, what to expect or anything like that.

What I DO know is that I am very relieved to have an actual date to have this stuff taken out of me.  Just knowing it’s in me has been causing ridiculous amounts of stress and anxiety.

In the next 3 weeks I’ll be getting ready. I have a to-do list a mile long – things for the house, things for the office, things for me.  Mike will be taking a little over a week off, and my mom and his mom are at the ready to help with the boys. I’m very thankful.

Now, if we could just get this “yucky stuff” as the boys know it out of me so we can work on moving ahead. Phew.

Last night, he couldn’t get up off of the couch or back on the couch after going to the bathroom and he was walking on his tip-toes to get around while using the death grip on our hands.

By the end of today? He’s standing, sitting, kneeling down for things, getting on and off the couch on his own and playing with the neighbors!! It’s obvious he’s still in pain, and I fully expect that, but the turn around from yesterday to today has been fabulous!

Of course, I’m totally worried about him overdoing it, especially since there’s just a tiny little steri-strip over his incision.

I’m thrilled that he’s doing so well.  I’m a little concerned that I’ll need to stay home on Monday since he has trouble leaning over to pull up his shorts, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In the meantime, I’m relieved my baby is smiling and laughing again.

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 leg; the numb areas that seem to still itch.  None of which is concerning to Dr. C. That will go away, and hopefully all of the numbness will go away within 18 months of the surgery.

I left the Cancer Center feeling pretty good. I know what to watch for, I know I need to wear my stocking when I’m going to over-do it, I know that the twinges mean I’m healing.  I know that I am lucky every day – and those scars? Well, they remind me of that.