Pre-Surgery

October 6th is the day I officially got the word that yes it is Melanoma and that they had misdiagnosed me in 2005. We were devastated. I was trying to be optimistic, but I knew that Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer. The fact that I have had it since 2005, just meant that they may not have caught it in time to not be dangerous. I went to the local hospital that night for blood work and to pick up lab prep for the next day.

October 7th I went to the Local Hospital for an MRI and 4 CT scans. I was sick for 3 days from the contrast materials. They said that it would be out of my system in 24 hours, but since I was born with only one kidney, it took longer.

October 11th I went to another hospital for a PET scan.

October 12th we got the good news that the tests, so far show, no spreading!! I would still have to have test done on my Lymph nodes and the tumor removed. The Dermatologist then referred me to the Melanoma Clinic at the University Hospital Cancer Center.

October 18th I met with a plastic surgeon at the University Cancer Center. He discussed the surgery and Lymph nodes testing. He drew a picture of about the size he was planning to take off. He explained the reasoning behind the amount they remove. We told him that we wanted him to error on the side of caution, because of my history of it coming back and he agreed. He told us that once he removed the tumor area he would take a skin flap from my shoulder to cover the area. He would then remove skin from my side and put the skin graph on my shoulder.

October 21st I went back to the University Hospital for my Premedical Clearance check. They did lab work and a chest x-ray.