New Lease on Life?

Well, I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it, but my surgical oncologist proclaimed me "officially" stage 1B and NED yesterday. No evidence of disease. NO evidence of disease. No EVIDENCE of disease. I have found that depending on where you put the stress, this little phrase can sound more or less reassuring. I really am going to have to learn how to live with uncertainty, aren't I? 

So, my surgical oncologist was back from Greece and ready to tell me his thoughts. He showed me the report from the Gottlieb lab (oart of the Loyola family), which said my node was "trace positive". While we sat together, he called the Loyola lab, where my results had been looked at by the melanoma expert. She said my node was "absolutely negative".

I explained to the doc that although I appreciate the good news (and I do!), I still feel uneasy. He said he understood. I asked if there would be any benefit to running any scans to be sure. He said that even with financial considerations aside, scanning me at this point would be a bad idea for my health. He feels I am somewhat likely to have a false positive result from a scan that would take us down a bad path, and extremely unlikely to have any metastatic melanoma in other areas of my body.

To be more certain, he asked me to schedule an appointment with Dr. Joe Clark, the medical oncologist who will be on my team if I have active disease (which it seems I do not). He said that Dr. Clark can meet me, look over my file, look at the weird lab results and decide what it all means. 

I do find that visit with Dr. Clark to be reassuring, at least partially. He has an excellent reputation in the field of melanoma, and although I haven't met him yet, I have confidence in his ability to sort through this mess. I'll see him on September 2nd.

Until then, I'm going with stage 1B and NED, baby! This calls for some celebration. 

My friend took me motorcycle shopping! As I've been going through the (mindblowingly slow) process with melanoma, I have been trying to focus on "what's next" when I get through it. I want to learn a new skill, find some adventure, and have fun with my husband. Learning how to ride a Harley fits that bill! 

My husband and I and two of our oldest friends signed up for a Basic Rider Course at Rock Valley College for the weekend o September 20th. At that time, we'll do a full weekend of learning and prepare to get our motocycle licenses. 

Before then, we need helmets, gloves, sunglasses, and boots. Shopping! It also seemed like a great time to sit on some motorcycles and see how they feel. 

We went to the Harley-Davidson dealership in Lisle, Il and met an AWESOME salesman named Joe. Joe showed us the ropes and treated us like "real" customers, even though I felt like I was pretending to be a biker chick, haha. We found two bikes to consider, one new and one used. 

We gooofed around with some helmets (hello, selfie!)...

...and generally had an incredibly fun time. I'm going to keep living my life to the fullest and enjoying myself. Melanoma is going to have to wait for ME! 

Progress Check

Today I am two weeks post-surgery and I thought it would be a good day to post that I feel great! I am walking *almost* normally, but I'm pretty slow. I have no pain at all, but my knee doesn't work the way I expect it to work. Each day gets a little better. The node incision is still a little tender, but nothing to get excited about.

To be honest, I feel better than I expected to feel. 

I still haven't heard about the second read of my node. I'm hoping that they're going to call, and not make me wait until my next appointment on August 7th. I am living my life like my nodes are clear...I sure hope they are.

This is what my wle incision looks like after two weeks. Not bad, right?

Wide Local Excision / Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

I am home from surgery and recovering in bed as directed. I promise to follow the doctors' orders to the letter so as to be able to give an accurate picture of recovery. 

We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 am and they took me for a urine sample. Wanted to be extra sure I'm not pregnant! Haha...that would have been quite a surprise. 

I changed into a gown and was directed to a hospital bed in what would become my recovery room later that day. Hubby couldn't be with me for this brief part, because sometimes spouses faint during IV insertion. MY hubby grew up on a farm and has been there for me through three pregnancies and deliveries...he's not the queasy type. Still, we didn't make a fuss.

After my IV was in place, hubby joined me and the parade of docs and techs began. When the anesthesiologist came in, I explained that I had had problems with vomiting following oral surgery in the past. She promised to use all available medications to help me with nausea and also to give me "extra" fluids to help with my caffeine withdrawal headache. Nice! 

Met with the surgical oncologist, who told me that his review of the biopsy slides came in with slightly better news than the original lab. The comparison:

Breslow

Original 0.96mm  New 0.81mm

Clark's Level

Unchanged at 4

Mitotic Rate

Original 2 / mm2    New 1 / mm2

He told me that based on the new Breslow, he felt he could reduce the surgical margin to 1cm from 2cm if I wanted. I said I didn't want that, because I want to go big or go home. He asked if I would be okay with 1.5 cm, which might help avoid the skin graft, and I agreed to that. 

Next thing I knew, they were ready to wheel me away and tears started to trickle again. I just didn't want to leave my husband...it was so hard to go! 

Next thing I remember was waking up in the OR with everybody telling me how great it had gone. No skin graft! Woot! After what seemed an eternity, but was probably just 15 minutes, they wheeled me into recovery and brought in my husband. What a relief! 

Spent a little time in a recovery room with an actual harpist playing. That was surprising, but nice. 

Surgery was on a Thursday. My wound is covered in a "no maintenance" dressing, so I can't see anything at all, which is good, I suppose, because I'm not ready to see it yet! The plastic surgeon will take care of it on Monday. I also have a brace to keep me from bending my leg. The dog finds that a little confusing! 

I'll be ready to share the details of incisions and recovery after s few days have passed. 

Overall, I'd have to say this whole thing went very well, and I sure am glad to be home with my family..