Say cheese!
Tori and I met with my surgeon Thursday afternoon to discuss the pathology report on my evil twin and see how my suture was healing and all that. The tumor was sent to the Joint Pathology Center in DC. Turns out it was quite the interesting case. The diagnosis is that I officially have/had a malignant melanoma. Yes, these are usually skin cancers but very very rarely they can occur somewhere else. The pathologists believe it is likely a metastasis from somewhere else since a primary cancer in the adrenal gland of this time has happened about 22-23 times in the medical literature...since 1946. The surgeon is a little bit of a downer, pegging my chances at 10-15% survival over the next 24 months.
The dermatologist did a head to toe on me and didn't find a thing. Up next is a brain MRI and a PET scan. Then I see the oncologist and we plan what they will do. If they don't find anything they may do nothing other than wait for it to happen again. I'm not thrilled about it but they need to see cancer to fight it and theoretically it has been removed.
I've spoken to most of my family and Tori's at this point so they know what is going on. At this stage I suspect it is going to be waiting and looking over our shoulder for this while my abdominal wall tries to reattach itself. That is slow going but I am back at work most of the day now. Thank you everyone for your words of support and encouragement. As I find out more I will post it here as I will also likely be venting some of the heavier emotions this has been incorporating into my daily life. I know I can fight this. I know I can beat this. I just don't know if I will have that chance. But I can't dwell on that at this point. Otherwise it isn't life, it's just waiting for death and fuck that. My family needs me to be strong just as they are being strong for me. Everything else is window dressing.
The dermatologist did a head to toe on me and didn't find a thing. Up next is a brain MRI and a PET scan. Then I see the oncologist and we plan what they will do. If they don't find anything they may do nothing other than wait for it to happen again. I'm not thrilled about it but they need to see cancer to fight it and theoretically it has been removed.
I've spoken to most of my family and Tori's at this point so they know what is going on. At this stage I suspect it is going to be waiting and looking over our shoulder for this while my abdominal wall tries to reattach itself. That is slow going but I am back at work most of the day now. Thank you everyone for your words of support and encouragement. As I find out more I will post it here as I will also likely be venting some of the heavier emotions this has been incorporating into my daily life. I know I can fight this. I know I can beat this. I just don't know if I will have that chance. But I can't dwell on that at this point. Otherwise it isn't life, it's just waiting for death and fuck that. My family needs me to be strong just as they are being strong for me. Everything else is window dressing.