More update-y stuff

I sent this e-mail around school, just now:

Hi all,

Thank you, to those who responded to my last message and to those who are silently praying. I can feel this community lifting me up.

After I sent yesterday's e-mail, I got a call from my dermatolologist. He wanted to share some good news: my CT scan was clear, and my bloodwork looks good.

This means that the cancer is not circulating in my system. I won't know until a PET scan 5/16 whether it's escaped into my neck at all (the melanoma is on my left ear)--but I'm not dealing with a potentially systemic monster, anymore.

I see the oncologist today, and expect to know an awful lot more about treatment: what they'll do, and how it will affect me. The head/neck surgeon gave me some of that information yesterday. The first thing they'll do is surgically remove it from my ear (with a margin, leaving me a smaller ear--a friend is already calling me Van Gogh). They'll map me again pre-surgery to see if there are any affected lymph nodes in the area. If none, great--we're just dealing with the ear. If a few, they'll remove those. If it's flooded (extremely unlikely, now)--they'll do what they call a "neck dissection," and remove all the lymph nodes from that side of my neck (and radiate the hell out of me). This is the only circumstance under which I'd need to be admitted; the simple ear surgery is ambulatory.

I expect the oncologist to confirm that I'll be put on interferon for a year, in any event. I don't know when that will start. I'll give myself the shots, weekly. The effects mimic the flu. I'll feel like crap for a year--but I'm alive.

I am not out of the woods, and even after this course of treatment, I'll be monitored for life (which brings up the whole issue of health insurance in this country). Once you've had this, there's a high chance of recurrence. But I got some great news yesterday. I slept last night. There is relief mixed in with the fear and shock, now.

Thank you for walking this path with me. The best thing you can do, collectively, is be yourselves. I'll try to let you know what I need and what I don't. We'll muddle through.

Peace,
Kirstin