Hey guys! Just wanted to provide an update on what's going on in April land.
First a quick recap of my first year in melanoma land. My initial mole was located on my right temple, just in my hairline. I had a 7cm excision as well as 3 sentinel nodes removed back in April of 2016. All nodes came back positive. A neck dissection soon followed removing 28 more nodes, all clear. Started ipi in the summer, but had to stop after 1 dose because of an insurance hiccup. Good thing too because my pituitary gland flared up about a month after that and I was placed on high dose steroids. I currently lost production of cortisol and thyroid hormone. A late fall PET scan revealed another lymph node near my right ear which they then removed just before Christmas. My next PET revealed that EXACT SAME SPOT. Ok, so there were 2 lymph nodes that needed to go, not 1.
Now that you are up to speed. I went in last Wednesday to have the second lymph node removed as well as several other suspicious nodes around my neck as well as a suspicious looked mass of tissue from my right cheek. The surgeon didn't want to leave anything behind this time. I got the path back today and it seems that out of all the nodes he removed, 2 were positive and the mass of tissue was apparently nothing. I'm actually pretty happy about those results, but definitely confused about what the mass could have been. I had been noticing a bit of pain in that area for the last month, and mentioned it to the nurse practitioner, but when it came to crunch time, it totally slipped my mind to mention it to my surgeon! Buy yet, he found the mass on his own.
All of my nerves are dead again. Boo. They were doing such a nice job reconnecting themselves. I mean, the feeling wasn't completely back, but there was definitely some sensation there. I could totally scratch my ear by rubbing under my chin! Ha! Nope, all gone again. I guess we'll see what the next rebuild will do. lol
This surgery was just before Memorial weekend, so of course I over did it. The weather was so perfect. We went on a bike ride, swung on the rope swing, grilled out, watched the neighbors shoot off fireworks and stayed up way to late. By Monday I was so exhausted I missed my son's parade. 🙁 I feel terrible about that.
Back to the oncologist on Friday to figure out what's happening next. He's retiring soon, so I guess this will be the last time I see him.
Cheers my fellow warriors.
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