On Aug 25th I went to my primary MD to have a mole removed. It was on the back of my right arm and the only reason it concerned me was the scabbing that had been going on, didn't really think twice just made the apt to have it taken off. So my MD walks in and says where is this mole so I showed her and the first thing she says is "we don't really need to take that off if you don't want I don't think its cancer if that's what you are worried about" I was a little shocked because this hadn't even crossed my mind to be honest. I said "you're the doctor", she said well why do you want to take it off ,so I proceeded to tell her how it was scabbing and getting a little bigger over the past few months.She said "OK lets take it off." So I left there happy as a clam about my four little stitches in my arm I'd never had stitches before and of course working in the medical field I was very excited about it. So I went on with my business as usual, my brother was getting married that Friday so I left for Chicago on Thursday morning. Friday morning at 8:01 my phone rings a number I didn't know and I was still in bed so I let it go to VM. A few minuets later I checked it and it was the Md's office telling me to call as soon as possible. A little worried I called back. I was told the mole they removed was positive for melanoma and they would be making me an apt with a surgeon ASAP. This was probably one of the worst days ever! So needless to say Curt & Laura's wedding was a little bit of a blur.
When I returned home that Monday I was still in a little bit of a daze. My appointment with a plastic surgeon was scheduled for Monday morning ,work was great with making my schedule change,so it was off to the plastic surgeon. My Dr was great! He was very explanatory,had wonderful manner and explained everything in great detail. I didn't realize at the time what all the surgery entailed and just how much he would be taking out of my arm,but I felt OK with it all the same,seeing as he was the one who was going to be doing my surgery. The next step : Meet with a general surgeon.
I still don't think I realized the severity and/or sensitivity of my case. But my general surgeon had no problem putting it into perspective for me. He warned me when he walked in that he brought the "dump truck" and was I ready. I wish I would not have been alone for this appointment,but Randy was on the road so what choice did I have. Well he certianly unloaded on me. I left with 2 options, a sentinel node biopsy,which is the removal of 1 node, or a lumpectomy, which is the removal of the whole chain of lymph nodes closest to the site of the original occurrence. The pros to the SNB(sentinal node biopsy), less of a chance of lymphodema,the cons: if the node comes back positive they have to do a 2nd surgery to remove the chain anyway. The pros of the lymphectomoy, 1 surgery. The cons: the 30 or something percent chance of lymphodema but the surgery is not necessarily necessary and you wouldn't know this until the path report is back on the lymph nodes. So on my way out I scheduled a PET scan that needed to be done before the surgery,and was told the doctors would coincide their schedules to do my surgery ASAP.
My PET scan was done the following Monday and surgery was scheduled for Wednesday. I was hoping to be back to work Friday but my hopes and dreams were soon shattered by my surgeon. So for the PET scan I showed up with all my books and misc items to keep me busy,if you've never had one don't waste your strength on bringing anything. You cant even sit in a lit room cause then your brain will absorb all the glucose or something like that so they close you in this dimly lit room for a whole hour with nothing to do...
The nurse who injected me asked if I wanted to take a pregnancy test. Because she noticed I didn't list any BC on my meds list. I told her no because I had taken one that morning because I knew I was a few days late but had every reason to miss this one because of stress plus I had only been off BC for one month, and the last time I got pregnant it was 7 months off the pill before anything happened so this is the last worry on my mind. So after the injection there I sat.
The next morning I show up bright and early for surgery. My mom had come up to be with me since Randy wouldn't be in till later that night. They did the normal pre-op work,blood pressure,height,weight,pee in a cup prepirations. Im laying in bed in full surgery garb, hair net thingy, a gown that hooked up to a warmer to regulate body temp and made you look like the Micheline man, socks,and of course those wonderful anti-blood clot ted leg thingys! I was rearing and ready to go! Then the nuse came in. . .
My mom was out of the room and Im not sure why or where she actually was. The nurse came in and asked me one simple question,"when was your last period?" My world came to a hault, No Stinking way was this happening to me, no way not right now not with this impending surgery not with the fact that I just had a PET scan and they tell you if you have children to stay away from them for 24 hrs ,I was 3 days late because of sterss because of worry but not because of that!No stinking way! For those of you who dont already know I do nothing the easy way, I cant just fall and sprain my arm as a child I have to break it all three times,I cant fall off the horse and bruise my tailbone I have to burst a vertabray and go through emergency surgery,and now last but not least I find out Im pregnant on the pre-op table for one of the most major surgeries of my life! So my answer to her was "no way". She said "well its a really faint line and were going to have to draw blood to confirm but this is what it looks like." So the blood was drawn and the phone call was made to Randy that is, this is how it went:
Me: Hi, whats up?
Randy: Nothing whats going on is everything ok?
Me: Well I kind of have to tell you something. . .
Randy: Your Pregnant?
Me: How the heck did you know?
My betaHcg came back at 36 which is like week 1-5 of pregnancy, thus explaining why the morning before my test was negative, I was barely pregnant and it wasnt first morning urine the day before. Then we discussed the pros and cons of everything and made a decision to do whatever was best for me first, we knew at this point it was all in God's hands.
So in comes my general serguon and he makes light of the whole situation and says" well at least we know why your ovary was glowing on the PET scan yesterday" .I was glad he was keeping such a positive attitude. Then my plastic surgeon came in and we also discused the pros and cons. Ultimatley I did make a rather selfish choice to go ahead with everything, I was warned that general anesteshia is not recomended for pregnant women, but like I said before I knew it was all in God's hands at this point. I had to sign all kinds of forms and waivers, it felt like over and over to go ahead with the surgery. They pretty much concluded to me that it was unlikely that the baby would become a viable pregnancy. But I had to trust in God that he knew better than all of them.
About 2 hours later I woke up. I felt like it had all been a bad dream my arm was killing me, I had a headache and I wanted to go home. I woke up quickly and wanted to get dresssed right away,my nurse was pretty supprised at how fast I came around and was ready to go.
All the rest of the next couple days pretty much runs togther, Randy got home, my mom left,and on Monday I went back to work. That Friday I believe it was was another Dr.s appointment and all week I was playing the wait game for my Biopsy results to see if the melanoma was in my nodes. I got to my appointment on Friday, it was with a Oncologist,her name was Danielle Doyle and she came highly recomended by my sergon. As I sat in the waiting room I kept asking myself what was I doing here, all these people talking about chemo, walking around with masks on their faces and looking just plain sick, I didnt want to be one of them, I know that sounds selfish but I was still strugling with the whole why me thing. Then I got called back to Dr. Doyle's office. She was the sweetest thing in the whole world! We talked about staging of the melanoma where mine was and why and the what if's, she even said I dont think were going to have to worry about this but in case it is in your nodes heres the next steps. As we sat there talking about all this she had had her secretary checking on my path report, she knoced on the door with it. Dr. Doyle sat down to read it and I watched her whole face drop. I knew before she said it the words I did not want to hear " Im sorry SteviLyn it is in your lymph nodes." Again a million and one questions went through my head. As I sat there and cried she just kept apoligizing. And the I asked so now waht.
For those of you who dont know Melanoma is an awful cancer. Its really sneaky and can lay dormant then just very agressivle attack your organs and it goes for the vital ones first(brain,lungs,liver,etc.) . The only treatment for it besides clinical trials is Interferon. This is a drug give to Hep C patients as well and what it does is boost your immune system, this makes you increadibly succpectable to every germ in the world. Patients who are on this drug often fell cold symptoms such as: body aches,fever, sore throat, the whole time they are on the medication.Which in my case would have been 11months. Its given Intrevounsley and they recomend taking the first 30 days off work to deal with the symptoms. The hope with the melanoma is that it will kill the microscopic cancer cells in the body. But someone somewhere wrote a paper said this is most effective 8 weeks post-op.
The next step was actually surgery again. Yes surgery #2 under general anesthia more cutting and more fun but hey what did I have to loose right! My amazing surgeon did a full lymphectomy this time, he completly removed my lymph chain in my axaliary(armpit) region.The risk for this surgery was of course the same for the baby ad for me I rand the risk of lymphodemia, which is extreme swelling of an eextremity that may never go away. After all this great news it was back to the operating table.
Being pregnant, my options were cut even shorter, I went ad got a second opinion to see if anyone else thought I should be able to take the interferon. Everyone said no. They just have no idea what the treatment would do to the fetus. So after much delibration and prayer we decided to not do the interferion and instead do survallience. That ment every 3 months to the dermatologist for a full body exam, labs every 3 months as well and lots and lots more Dr.s appts! My surgeon told me he was taking my case to a big cancer confrence when he went just to get other opinions and possible options.
So for now all is clear, Blake was born healthy as a horse! They did tests on the placenta to make sure no melanoma cells were ther and all tests were negative.I continue to have chest x-rays and skin exams and we pray daily that the Lord will keep me healthy!
