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?!)
Fairly Good
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 …
Update!
Ok, so my surgery has been scheduled for 11am tomorrow (with us at the hospital by 9am). Hopefully the earlier surgery means that we will be home at a fairly decent hour tomorrow (I want to be home to recover, not in the hospital!).
I appreciate all good thoughts, juju, mojo, prayers, whatever you’re willing to send out into the universe for me!
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Matt went to the doctor this morning – they prescribed a short dose of steroid to get him out of this croupy cough. It will sure be nice to not wake up the sound of a seal barking him coughing.
Preston has a cold, but is still in good spirits, though I can tell he’s sick mostly by his desire to relax in the middle of the day! lol
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Today I will make sure the house is somewhat clean, the laundry done and my work caught up as much as possible. Tonight, I will take a shower with Dial (oh, the dry!) and repeat in the morning (seriously, oh, the dry!). No more eating after midnight, no more water after 7am. My dog will be going on a short vacation (to avoid the ever popular jumping all over me issue), and …
Oh the waiting
I told my melanoma story at least 5 times over the weekend at my mom’s surprise birthday party…people who care about me and wanted more details, more answers. By the last time, talking to my Godmother who has known and loved me my entire life, my stomach started to hurt.
It’s probably dumb, but it’s like the more people in real life that know, the more real, the more serious it seems. (not that I was thinking it wasn’t serious, just that I was able to kind of fool myself a little more when everyone wasn’t looking at me with THAT look. You know, the one of fear, sadness, horror?)
Here’s the thing…I’m fighting this melanoma … This cancer. I’m letting one of the nation’s top melanoma centers take care of me, trusting my doctors and my gut. And I will prevail. Yes, it might come back. But I’ll get regular skin checks and scans and if it does, I’ll fight it again.
There are three guys in my life that I’m not done with yet; I have too much love to give, too many lessons to teach (and learn) and way too many hugs left in me to be …
Pre-Op #2
I had my (second) pre-op appointment this morning, and OH! What fun! (<—sarcasm). I got there early, the PA was running late, the nurse was really running late. The PA kind of freaked me out with all of his looking me directly in the eyes stuff and not blinking, but he went through my consent form, gave me a ‘physical’ (hey, turns out I’m breathing AND I have a pulse!). Then the nurse came in and I thought she was going to be able to answer my forty gazillion questions like the nurse I had last time. Um, that would be a NO. Other than teaching me how to take care of my tube and collection bulb* (gag), she was pretty much useless.
*Did I tell you that after this surgery I have to leave with a drainage tube sticking out of me that I have to empty 3x a day? And that I have to ‘strip’ the tube and clean around the insertion point as well? GUH-ROSSS!! And did I mention that the tube stays in until I have less than 30cc of fluid for 2 days in a row? Yeah.
Mike and I have a lot of questions that …
