I haven't been sleeping for more than four hours a night. It's been kind of nice to catch up on the shows that I DVR every week. Today when I woke up though, I was thinking to myself that it's almost like I am on this strange rollercoaster ride (because that is the best way at this moment I can describe everything that has happened in the past week). I also had the feeling like someone has drugged me and is hurting me. I know this will get better... it's just funny to feel that way. For anyone who knows me, the most medications I like to take are a vitamin D tablet. So, again, if I am a little 'loopy', it is the drugs they have me on! :) I wonder if this will make me crave a Bud Light someday again?!?!
I thought since I didn't really describe before all of my previous medical history (okay, I won't bore you with ALL of them but some of the WEIRDER ones, especially cancer/melanoma), I would do that. I think I will also try to write some of the many tests and what we are expecting in the next week or two....
Then probably in another blog, I will write some public 'apologies'!
I don't recall having too many medical issues as a child. I did have meningitis as a baby so I had some skin issues but nothing more than that. I can remember at a young age my dad telling me that I am more susceptible to melanoma as I am fair skin, blonde hair, etc. Well, when I was about 3 months pregnant with Ashley, I had a strange mole on my right arm that my OB doc wanted me to have checked. Well, of course I saw the dermatologist when I was about 8 1/2 months pregnant. The dermatologist wanted to take the mole off the next day. I was hoping to wait until after Ashley's birth, but went in the following day and had it removed. At @34 weeks, we had learned that Ashley had a heart condition and I was just so concerned about her and making sure she was healthy, that I didn't give it another thought!
Ashley was born on May 8th, 2003. If you didn't know her medical history, you'd never have guessed there was a problem! The following day (May 9th), I received a call from the dermatologist telling me that the mole I had removed the previous week was melanoma. He sent the surgeon to the OB floor to discuss the surgery that I would soon have. They planned to excise a larger area of my right arm as well as take lymph nodes in my right arm pit to make sure that it hadn't spread/metastasized. This surgery was done on May 20, 2003. All results came back that they had removed all of the cancer and it hadn't spread. I would just have chest x-rays every 3 months for the first year, 6 months for the 2nd year and yearly afterwards as well as bloodwork every 6 months. I've been very diligent about keeping up with these appointments and have had MANY mole removals which have all come back okay.
Move forward to last Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 - I was told to go to the ER on Monday night but waited until Tuesday. Seems kind of ironic to me that had I went in that Monday night, it would have been EXACTLY 8 years to the day that I found out about my original melanoma!
I'll do another blog now with what tests I've been through (because there have been several) and what I am expecting in the next few days/weeks...
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