Life goes on

NOTE: I wrote this in mid-February meaning to get back and flush out the details. It's been a month now, and I am working on documenting my continuing adventures in the health system. I should have a new entry in several days. In the mean time, here is how it all got started.



It has been a year plus since I retired.
I think it is safe to say that I have gotten used to a more relaxed schedule for my days. The weekends are truly becoming days of rest for us. We now tend to avoid shopping on those days because of all the people who work during the week and the weekend IS their days off.

I changed health providers at the beginning of the year. I had been very lax the last several years when it came to going to the doctor. I have been blessed with a very healthy body, no real problems, not taking any prescriptions: if it wasn't a bloody stump it could be ignored. Well, first thing I got sent to a dermatologist for a rash on my shoulder that wouldn't go away. The doctor identified three spots including my shoulder to do a biopsy on. Two including my shoulder turned out to be basal cell carcinoma but the third was diagnosed as melanoma.

After the biopsy, marks by the surgeon as to where and how much he would cut out. It's about 4-5 inches top to bottom. That's my right shoulder blade next to it. 

Last Wednesday I had surgery to remove the melanoma. The doctor got his "pound of flesh." They used dye to trace body fluid movement from the melanoma site to a lymph node in my right arm pit. So, after excising the melanoma, he shaved my arm pit and cut out the sentinel lymph node (that's what they call whichever lymph node fluids go to first from the melanoma.)

I am recovering. Next week I get to go back to the dermatologist so she can cut out the basal cell carcinoma sites. This will only require a local anesthetic. Not nearly as traumatic. I should come out of it with some bandages and a clear head, not like trying to recover from the general anesthetic the gas passer used for the melanoma surgery. I'd met the surgeon earlier but I met the rest of the surgical team just before surgery. The anesthesiologist seemed to be in a very good mood, explaining how he was going to make me feel VERY good and put me to sleep. He questioned my susceptibility to nausea. It doesn't take much to make me seasick, so he added some anti-nausea drugs too. I did feel very good...until I woke up in post-op. I wasn't in any pain but was on the verge of vomiting until we drove the 45 minutes back home and I was able to crawl into bed. Having a memory foam mattress helped a lot in that it conformed to the new contours of my back without undue pressure. I could certainly feel the pain and tugging on the incision every time I tried to move, especially when I rolled over.