@rendergirl
Forum Replies Created
- Replies
-
-
- August 3, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Been following you and Eric silently and I am in awe of your courage and love. Now he is free and running and jumping for joy. We mourn the loss of a warrior but we celebrate his new life. My thoughts and prayers are with you as you begin your own journey through the pain of loss.
Becca in Florida (Stage 3b)
-
- August 3, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Been following you and Eric silently and I am in awe of your courage and love. Now he is free and running and jumping for joy. We mourn the loss of a warrior but we celebrate his new life. My thoughts and prayers are with you as you begin your own journey through the pain of loss.
Becca in Florida (Stage 3b)
-
- June 30, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Hi all, I'm back home from the hospital. First off, pathology reports an annoyng benign tumor… yay!! They did the nerve block before they took me into the ER, and I remember saying ouch twice, but that was it. They were giving me something in my IV at the time so I'm sure it was relaxing me. Then I remember being wheeled into the OR and talking to my doc a second, then I don't remember anything until I woke up in recovery. Spent one night in hospital and I have a big blue velcro leg immobilizer on from my thigh to my ankle. It took about 14 hours for the block to wear off. They kept warning me that when it did, the pain would really slam me, but it never did and still hasn't. At the most it was a level 3, easy. I have a walker and crutches, but I'm already putting full weight on the leg with just a little pain which is really good. I give it another few days and I should be limping around quickly. All in all, an easy experience and I am greatful that it's not Mel. For the first time since March, I have no surgery hanging over my head. I just have to heal and get on with the rest of my life…. NED!!!
Love and appreciation to all 🙂
-
- June 30, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Hi all, I'm back home from the hospital. First off, pathology reports an annoyng benign tumor… yay!! They did the nerve block before they took me into the ER, and I remember saying ouch twice, but that was it. They were giving me something in my IV at the time so I'm sure it was relaxing me. Then I remember being wheeled into the OR and talking to my doc a second, then I don't remember anything until I woke up in recovery. Spent one night in hospital and I have a big blue velcro leg immobilizer on from my thigh to my ankle. It took about 14 hours for the block to wear off. They kept warning me that when it did, the pain would really slam me, but it never did and still hasn't. At the most it was a level 3, easy. I have a walker and crutches, but I'm already putting full weight on the leg with just a little pain which is really good. I give it another few days and I should be limping around quickly. All in all, an easy experience and I am greatful that it's not Mel. For the first time since March, I have no surgery hanging over my head. I just have to heal and get on with the rest of my life…. NED!!!
Love and appreciation to all 🙂
-
- June 27, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Thanks everyone for the good wishes. You are all SO awesome. I just got home from a long day of pre-op at the hospital and they told me they will give me something called "Twilight" before they do the nerve block, so I do hope I'm really out of it. Unfortunately they said I'll have to stay at least one night in the hospital. I also might have a drain in my knee if it needs it, and they'll have a catheter into my back to inject pain meds into. If I can get around ok the next day and I can handle the pain, then I can go home. Lovely wonderful fantastic Mom is going to stay with me the whole time. I don't know what I'd do without her.
I asked about pathology results. They said they could get preliminary results the next day and full results in a week, so maybe by the end of this week I'll find out if it's melanoma spreading or just a harmless tumor.
I'll update you all when it's over and I'm home. Thank you for the prayers…they work wonders!!!!
-
- June 27, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Thanks everyone for the good wishes. You are all SO awesome. I just got home from a long day of pre-op at the hospital and they told me they will give me something called "Twilight" before they do the nerve block, so I do hope I'm really out of it. Unfortunately they said I'll have to stay at least one night in the hospital. I also might have a drain in my knee if it needs it, and they'll have a catheter into my back to inject pain meds into. If I can get around ok the next day and I can handle the pain, then I can go home. Lovely wonderful fantastic Mom is going to stay with me the whole time. I don't know what I'd do without her.
I asked about pathology results. They said they could get preliminary results the next day and full results in a week, so maybe by the end of this week I'll find out if it's melanoma spreading or just a harmless tumor.
I'll update you all when it's over and I'm home. Thank you for the prayers…they work wonders!!!!
-
- June 12, 2011 at 10:23 am
Wow, everyone… thank you. What an amazing response. Charlie, I think you summed it up best of all… take what you need from this site. You're right. I will take the joy and happiness in life, living every day, and be greatful for it. I will offer support to others when I'm feeling strong, and when I'm not feeling strong, I will reach out here for support or somewhere else, if coming here just depresses me. But you ALL are SO right… no one else really understands. They just don't. I didn't want to be a part of this club, but I have to say what an amazing club it is. And I thank you all, and I hope I can give back some support to others in the future.
Something I failed to mention was that I already have depression and have been battling it for 15 yrs or so now. So sometimes I wonder, is it the depression or the melanoma making me sad? But regardless…. life is a rock…so let's roll.
Love to all.
-
- June 12, 2011 at 10:23 am
Wow, everyone… thank you. What an amazing response. Charlie, I think you summed it up best of all… take what you need from this site. You're right. I will take the joy and happiness in life, living every day, and be greatful for it. I will offer support to others when I'm feeling strong, and when I'm not feeling strong, I will reach out here for support or somewhere else, if coming here just depresses me. But you ALL are SO right… no one else really understands. They just don't. I didn't want to be a part of this club, but I have to say what an amazing club it is. And I thank you all, and I hope I can give back some support to others in the future.
Something I failed to mention was that I already have depression and have been battling it for 15 yrs or so now. So sometimes I wonder, is it the depression or the melanoma making me sad? But regardless…. life is a rock…so let's roll.
Love to all.
-
- June 8, 2011 at 4:57 am
It's not just this site… I also have people friended on Facebook that have Melanoma and I follow some online journals of people going through it, too. So I'll hear about it regardless of whether I come here or not. Maybe it's not a good idea to suround myself with so many people that have it, but at the time I needed support, and I wanted to support others, too. Some days it just gets me down, as I'm sure it does everyone.
Personally I think xanax works really well….lol.
-
- June 8, 2011 at 4:57 am
It's not just this site… I also have people friended on Facebook that have Melanoma and I follow some online journals of people going through it, too. So I'll hear about it regardless of whether I come here or not. Maybe it's not a good idea to suround myself with so many people that have it, but at the time I needed support, and I wanted to support others, too. Some days it just gets me down, as I'm sure it does everyone.
Personally I think xanax works really well….lol.
-
- May 28, 2011 at 5:45 am
Hi there. I know it must be scary hearing your diagnosis and being bombarded with so much info. It's hard to know what to do for sure, but I really think that most people with Melanoma will opt to have their lymph nodes out. I know I did. I have a mole on my upper chest and was diagnosed just back in March of this year. Since then I've had the mole removed, then a wider part around the mole removed, I had one lymph node taken out and it was positive for Melanoma, so I opted to have all the rest out, which I did. It was almost a month ago that I had the surgery and since then I've gotten lymphadema. I was terrified of this happening before the surgery… I knew it was a risk. Now that I have it… no big deal. I don't have it in my arm like most people, I have it on the side of my torso and in my right breast but I doesn't really bother me. I have some physical therapy starting next week to help with exercises to reduce the swelling.
I tell you, it really makes me feel better knowing that Melanoma travels that lymphatic highway, and that I just took that highway for good forever. It may pop up somewhere else in the future… there are no guarantees… but I have piece of mind. If I had left my lymph nodes in, I feel positive it would have spread.
You're so young, only 25, I would be AGRESSIVE. You have alot of life left to live. If caught early, the prognosis is excellent, but your lymph nodes already showed some mel spots. That's a huge red flag. Get them out, and get them out now. You'll be glad you did.
Good luck whatever you decide, my prayers are with you. 🙂
-
- May 28, 2011 at 5:45 am
Hi there. I know it must be scary hearing your diagnosis and being bombarded with so much info. It's hard to know what to do for sure, but I really think that most people with Melanoma will opt to have their lymph nodes out. I know I did. I have a mole on my upper chest and was diagnosed just back in March of this year. Since then I've had the mole removed, then a wider part around the mole removed, I had one lymph node taken out and it was positive for Melanoma, so I opted to have all the rest out, which I did. It was almost a month ago that I had the surgery and since then I've gotten lymphadema. I was terrified of this happening before the surgery… I knew it was a risk. Now that I have it… no big deal. I don't have it in my arm like most people, I have it on the side of my torso and in my right breast but I doesn't really bother me. I have some physical therapy starting next week to help with exercises to reduce the swelling.
I tell you, it really makes me feel better knowing that Melanoma travels that lymphatic highway, and that I just took that highway for good forever. It may pop up somewhere else in the future… there are no guarantees… but I have piece of mind. If I had left my lymph nodes in, I feel positive it would have spread.
You're so young, only 25, I would be AGRESSIVE. You have alot of life left to live. If caught early, the prognosis is excellent, but your lymph nodes already showed some mel spots. That's a huge red flag. Get them out, and get them out now. You'll be glad you did.
Good luck whatever you decide, my prayers are with you. 🙂
-
- May 28, 2011 at 5:23 am
I went to the orthopedic oncologist today and apparently it is a tumor in the back of my knee. They did an x-ray on site to confirm. He said the odds of it being Melanoma are very low, but he suggests I have surgery to have it removed. That will be four surgeries in less than 3 months. He said I could just wait and recheck it with an MRI in 3 months, but he said if it was him, he'd want it out to make sure it wasn't cancer. With my history now of having cancer, better safe than sorry. I will call on Monday and agree to the surgery although I'm not happy about it. He will be giving me a shot in my lower back, a nerve back near my sciatic to numb my right leg. That's the part I'm scared of…lol. Anyone ever had a nerve block? Did it hurt?
Thanks for the info and advice, you guys are awesome.
-
- May 28, 2011 at 5:23 am
I went to the orthopedic oncologist today and apparently it is a tumor in the back of my knee. They did an x-ray on site to confirm. He said the odds of it being Melanoma are very low, but he suggests I have surgery to have it removed. That will be four surgeries in less than 3 months. He said I could just wait and recheck it with an MRI in 3 months, but he said if it was him, he'd want it out to make sure it wasn't cancer. With my history now of having cancer, better safe than sorry. I will call on Monday and agree to the surgery although I'm not happy about it. He will be giving me a shot in my lower back, a nerve back near my sciatic to numb my right leg. That's the part I'm scared of…lol. Anyone ever had a nerve block? Did it hurt?
Thanks for the info and advice, you guys are awesome.
-
- May 23, 2011 at 6:43 pm
I can't thank you all enough for your feedback and inspiration. I have decided not to do the Yervoy trial, and I am at peace with it. It has more side effects than I had realized, and there's something to be said for not putting more chemicals in my body if it doesn't need it. I just wanted to feel like I was doing something, but right now I think the best thing I can do is go to all my onc, dermatologist, and pt appts and just take good care of myself. My mom said "If it aint broke, don't fix it", and for all we know right now I am cancer free and hopefully will stay that way.
I am at peace with my decision and that's the best I can ask for. Thank you all for giving me info so that I could make this difficult decision.
Becca
-
