All the other details

So you know the beginning and the end and here is the middle....


Went in for surgery on Monday morning and I was such a BABY. I was scared out of my mind. When I was in holding I just wanted anyone to talk to me about anything. I was asking everyone odd questions just so they would talk. All the nurses handled it so well. One of them got the picture that I didn't want to be alone and went and got Kris and he got to stay with me until I was taken to the O.R. at one point I was so worked up that I asked him to say a quick prayer for me and at the very moment he ended his prayer I just had this calm feeling come over me. IT WAS GREAT! Going under was not near as bad as I had thought that it would be but waking up was! I thought that I did great on Monday. Our Bishop and his wife stopped by and later and I talked with her later that week, she surprised me by telling me that I was not doing good at all on Monday. Was I ever glad that she didn't see me on Tuesday. Perkacet kicked my rear. After that I didn't want anything. NEVER AGAIN will I take that nasty stuff....I have added on to my "allergy list" even though I am not really allergic to it. Such a bad reaction to it that I ended up staying an extra night in the hospital and then did fine on Wednesday with just Tylenol 3.


I went to see the Oncologist on Thursday but we didn't have any of the reports back from pathology yet. We had a plan, if it didn't spread to the lymph nodes I was fine and then would just have to see a dermatologist every 6 months and a the oncologist every year for so long. If it has spread they would do more test and chemo. I got the pathology reports back from the first doc on Friday. I kind of freaked out, Here is the exact working of it, I have added anything that is "( )".

Ten cross sections of four different lymph nodes are examined on multiple slides. All cross sections are immunostained for HMB45. On one slide only, slide B2, in a subcapsular location four cells exhibit immunoreactivity for HMB45 staining. The cells are not cytologically abnormal (not obvious cancer cells). I cannot say with certainty they represent malignant melanoma. They could represent nevus cells (mole cells) within a lymph node.


The first time that I met the surgeon I told her no matter what the results were I automatically wanted them sent somewhere else for a second opinion. Just to be sure. So everything was sent onto the Mayo Clinic. I hear that they really are the place to go for things like this. Yesterday the doc called and said what I wrote down in the previous post and then today I went in and got a copy of the actual pathology report from Mayo. Interesting. Here it is... word for word...even the things you probably don't care about....

"I am writing regarding the material that you sent from RB, a 32-year-old woman. These are very interesting and challenging slides (not something that you want to hear). I am in complete agreement with the original diagnosis of malignant melanoma on the right leg. There are occasional mitotic figures present with this lesion as well as the measured depth of 1.1 mm. Sentinel lymph node is quite interesting (there is that word again). on H&E, there is a clear-cut deposition of melanocytic type cells present within the capsule of the nevus. A few of these cells stain positive for HMB-45, but the vast majority of them do not stain for HMB-45. This is an interesting (again) pattern in that the majority of capsular melanocytic nevi are Melan-A/Mart-1 positive, but these cells as well as their architectural location that these are most consistent with a capsular melanocytic nevus.


The only other thing on the lab report that is worth sharing is....Thank you for sharing this difficult case with me in consultation. If I may be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. (Difficult case??????)


So to some it up I was an interesting difficult case....and I have typical moles inside just like I do on the outside....hum? Interesting.


The surgeon says that I am healing nicely. If you want to see a really gross picture of the back of my leg...let me know. I only have it on my cell phone so I will have to text it as an attachment. It is REALLY GROSS.

The Call from the Doctor

Today is the day that I found out I DO NOT HAVE CANCER ANYMORE! Yippie! I wonder if I will remember August 5, 2010 for the rest of my life. I sure do remember July 21st, but this is an even better day.

Here is what the doctor had to say when she left her message...
"Ranisa, hi its Dr. "B" Hi how are you? Listen I got your stuff back from Mayo Clinic, it is all good news. So I just thought I would call and let you know they did not think that it is in the lymph nodes and I will give you a copy of the report tomorrow when I see you. But I had to call and let you know. Alright take care and I will see you guys tomorrow."

I missed the call!!! The phone rang when we were eating dinner with some friends and I panicked...."get the phone, it might be the doctor!". Somehow that phone call got messed up and we weren't able to answer it, but Kris flipped through caller-ID and noticed that the doctor had called 2 hours earlier. I was frantic, after listening to the message I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

I was wondering how I was going to tell the blog world about it, I wanted to post a picture of myself and say something about this being the face of a cancer free gal...but I didn't shower today! So you get to share in our excitement without seeing my super happy grin! PLEASE GET YOUR MOLES CHECKED!!!!