Bummer...

Finally out of my slump (somewhat) and I'm ready to share my week so far. My surgeon's office called Friday and moved my follow-up from Thursday to Monday, May 1st. I was preoccupied all weekend wondering if the  pathology report from my SLNB was in.

 My appointment was scheduled at 2 pm so I went to work for a few hours that morning. It was my first day back since having surgery April 17th. Felt good to be back but also a little nerve wracking knowing I was going to the doctor in a few hours. 

I'm so glad my mom and Tom went with me. The results weren't good. He told me they had found cancer cells in 5% of the lymph node. I can't say I was surprised. It was more like an out of body experience. I just didn't feel anything for a few minutes and then I pulled it together and somehow made it thru the rest of the day. 

I went for a PET scan today. I was worried about that. I thought I would be enclosed and then have something that lowers above you while you are inside. Luckily it was nothing like that. However, I did pop an Ativen just as we arrived. The scan itself was a breeze, I even dozed off. Now the iv insertion before the procedure is a different story.

I am finding that my veins look beautiful to the nurses until they poke me - then the vein blows! Talk about painful. During my first surgery they numbed the area with lidocaine before trying to insert the iv which I am thankful for since it took them 3 or 4 tries to get it inserted but other than the prick for the lidocaine I felt nothing. I wasn't so lucky with the PET scan today. They don't use anything to numb the area ahead of time and she had to poke me 4 times!! Oh, talk about painful but she was very nice and tried to be as gentle as she could. She even used a pediatric needle on the 3rd and 4th tries. Hopefully my surgeon will have the results by Friday when I go in for surgery.

Yes, surgery again. Friday morning my surgeon will go back and remove all the lymph nodes in my right groin. I pray, oh how I pray that these come back negative! It will be another 2 weeks of worrying and waiting. In the meantime I will have a drain tube attached which will have to be emptied and measured twice a day. He said the drain could be in anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks. That sounds just peachy since I have no vacation or sick days left. I won't have any until September! Just one more thing to worry about - no paycheck, insurance, bills...Uggghhh!!!!! 

Reminder: Stay out of tanning beds, use sunscreen, have your moles checked! Once you get melanoma it's like the proverbial monkey on your back - it's always there, it never goes away.