Sunday 28th July
Today starts cloudy and a bit rainy, but very warm.
We drive to the Tanger Outlets for a bit of retail therapy, checking out the shoes in Vans, for our younger son.
Lunch is at Wendy’s ~ trying to stay healthy with a grilled chicken salad.
The afternoon is spent beside the pool, taking a dip, and resting my foot which does become quite swollen in the heat.
We drive to Fuddruckers for dinner, loading up with lots of salad.
A fairly relaxing day was had by all.
Saturday 27th July
Another morning spent sorting out problems . . . . our hire car had begun to flash a warning light on the dash: oil change. So, here we are at a garage, informed it will take an hour, told to go and grab a coffee at Krispy Kreme: it’s right there, just over the road. The three of us hold hands, and cross the six lane highway as quickly as we can! The coffee is actually rather good, and there’s free wi-fi.
An afternoon of retail therapy follows; so good for the soul.
Friday 26th July
Today we visit the medical centre, as husband has an ear infection. With the forms duly completed, we sit and wait our turn. $103 for the consultation, $69 for treatment, $30 for antibiotics. Wowwzz, an expensive morning!
The afternoon is spent relaxing by the hotel’s pool, complete with Factor 50, and a rather splendid, new, straw sunhat. It is very warm, even at 5:30pm.
Thursday 25th July
Having had a very comfortable night’s sleep, we enjoy breakfast overlooking the marina.
Our first stop of the day is the airport’s car hire desk. When we arrived yesterday, there was a problem with the contract, so we changed providers, and saved just under $1000. Smart move.
Our evening is spent with great friends, and the best pecan pie ever!
Wednesday 24th July
We begin our summer holiday with an overnight train journey to London, arriving at 5:15am. A quick transfer to Heathrow airport, through check-in and passport control, and we’re ready for a wake-up coffee.
The flight across the Atlantic is smooth and trouble-free; two Gerard Butler films ~ Chasing Mavericks and Olympus Has Fallen ~ make the flight a little less tedious!
I wear my wonderfully fetching flight stockings, but my foot has become quite swollen. I need to find somewhere to sit and elevate it.
We find our departure gate at Charlotte Douglas airport and settle down to wait for our onward flight to Myrtle Beach. Suddenly the air is filled with the ear-splitting sound of dozens of fire alarms!
The moving walkway is burning, and giving off dense smoke. Steel shutters are lowered, and the concourse is in shutdown! New planes arrive, disgourge their passengers, but they have nowhere to go. Seemingly trapped! Plus, a storm approaches, with lightning preventing the travellers from transiting to coaches to bus them to other parts of the airport. Chaos ensues!
Eventually we are allowed to leave the airport and climb up the ladder to our plane. However, as soon as we sit down we are told we are not going anywhere because of the lightning. We remain in limbo for another hour! When we do finally take off, it is dark, raining, lightning, and very bumpy. Yikes.
Some forty minutes later we land in Myrtle Beach. We collect our hire car, drive to the hotel, a quick shower to wash away the grime of two days travel, and then a very welcome sleep zzzzzzz.
Friday 19th July
The next steps for me have been have been set in motion.
I received an email this afternoon from my consultant’s secretary.
I have my pre-op on Wednesday 4th September ~ two days after we land from our summer holiday ~ the same date as the first day of term!!! Yikes.
And then I’ll be admitted on the 10th for the sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure.
Scared? Anxious? Relieved? Worried? Frightened?
All of the above!
But, I’m going enjoy my summer vacation!
Have fun, relax, chill, enjoy, laugh, rest, recharge . . . . . .
Worrying won’t make a difference to the dates of the appointments. The decision has been made for me, and I know I’ll be looked after by a great team.
Wednesday July 17th
So this is probably the last time I visit the practice nurse at the surgery for a check up on my foot. Plus, I needed a couple of things on prescription to take away on holiday with me. When I had my appointment with the consultant on Monday, he suggested that as the skin graft wasn’t fully healed between my toes, the best remedy was antibiotic eye ointment! Eyes and toes, hey? Almost at the opposite ends of one’s body! But, if it does the trick, I’ll not argue 🙂 One prescription for the cream was duly issued.
The nurse was really pleased I had been given the all clear to fly and go away for six weeks; yay! We talked about gentle exercise on the plane and the wearing of compression stockings ~ very fetching!
Later on in the afternoon I received a telephone call from the secretary to the consultant I saw on Monday. A quick catch up to explain the next course of events, and to check our holiday dates, so that the surgery can be fitted around those times. I will need a pre-op consult with a nurse, plus some blood tests, then I’ll be all set for the operation a few days later; a general anaesthetic, but I should be able to go home that same day ~ hopefully! She sounded really friendly, and very reassuring, and wished us well for a great holiday. She took my email address to make sure that I was kept up to date with details of appointments and hospital visits.
I can now relax for the rest of the summer, and enjoy our time away. Yes, I know I’ll be returning to more surgery, worrying about results and yet more time off work, but for now: “Here comes the summer!”
Monday 15th July
Plans for our whole summer hinge on today’s appointment . . . .
Just arrived home after meeting with a super, consultant plastic surgeon at Exeter. I had been dreading this appointment, wondering what he was going to say. He explained that he is going to carry out the staging procedure by injecting the radioactive dye into the site of my malignant melanoma, on the top of my foot, at 9am and in the afternoon, carry out the sentinel lymph node biopsy to see which lymph node this has drained to. If all goes well, I could be going home that same day. And then wait for the results.
(He commented that my scar was healing nicely, but my toes were still a bit swollen; looking like pork chipolatas!)
My big question to him was “When!!!!??? When would you plan on carrying out the surgery?”
He looked at my notes and saw that his colleague had written that we had booked our summer holiday. “No problem, we’ll wait until you get back ~ I do have a space tomorrow, but you wouldn’t be able to fly next week!”
Oh my goodness, I had come to this appointment fearing the worst. Lots of emotions flying around my head!
He explained that he has operated on pregnant women, to remove the melanoma, and then three or even six months later, after the baby is born, carried out the sentinel lymph node biopsy.
He could see no problem with waiting until September, and reassured us that I wasn’t being foolhardy or selfish in wanting to go on holiday. If there are any microscopic cells in the nodes, or in transit, they’re not going to get markedly worse in the time we’re away. Plus, as my CT scan had come back clear, he was really positive, and said we should go and have a good time!
Feeling much better, for the moment!
I have been using the internet to find out as much as I can about this disease, and the proposed next course of events for me.
Much of the information states that the sentinel lymph node biopsy should be carried out at the time of the wider local excision, so that the route to the draining lymph nodes can be tracked accurately.
There is a school of thought though, that thinks maybe some of the microscopic cells are still in transit, and so, could be missed.
I had the MM removed on 2.5.13, and then the WLE on 7.5.13. (6mm, Stage 2b). The CT scan was on 5.6.13. My consultant said he would get me on his theatre list for September. He said it probably wouldn’t be that much sooner anyway, (unless I had it done tomorrow), as August was looking busy for him, and he was probably off to Florida for a couple of weeks too.
I’m being looked after by the NHS, but two of the three consultants (male), I’ve seen have private practices, and I certainly feel as if I’m being treated as a private patient. I feel really lucky, and totally reassured.
Monday 8th June
My weekly visit to the practice nurse saw us discussing swollen, fat toes and over-granulation of the skin. Hmmm, doesn’t sound too pretty! My fourth and fifth toe remain puffy and podgy, and are hypersensitive to touch. In between the toes, where it is warm, moist, and constantly under pressure, the friction of rubbing together, and the graft not taking, the skin remains red raw, and the scar tissue keeps on growing (the over-granulation). Bleurrgghh. The nurse says if it wasn’t for the skin graft, she would probably use silver nitrate to get rid of the excessive scar tissue. But, we’ll wait and see what the consultant says on Monday.
I now seem to have two differently sized feet; my left foot appears to be two sizes bigger than my right! Ha ha, not! When can I wear dainty, summer sandals? High heels?
Anyway, about an hour after returning from the surgery, my mum pops round on her way to the beach. She remembers that she came to see me to ask for a plaster for her elbow, as she had fallen up her steps, coming back from the town. It’s only a graze, she says. Upon closer inspection, I realise it is a rather nasty, deep looking gash. Off we go, back down to the surgery for my second visit of the day, to see the same nurse. Lots of local anaesthetic, three stitches, a SteriStrip, gauze dressing, padding, bandage and an arm stocking, and mum is ready to be driven back to our house, by my husband, for a therapeutic cup of tea. No beach today!
Friday 5th July
I received a letter this morning from the consultant plastic surgeon in Exeter for an appointment a week Monday. The letter says it will just be an initial consultation, so I will go along with all sorts of questions . . . . the main one being, if it’s not life-threateningly desperate, could he hold off any surgery (a delayed Sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure), until after the summer holiday ~ do you think that’s cheeky or selfish or foolhardy on my part???? We booked our flights to America way back in January, for a five and a half week road trip.
I’ve been thinking so much about the arrival of this letter, that when I did open it, it made me feel a bit sick/scared/worried. It’s the prospect of not knowing what they might find, plus the actual procedure itself.
A number of fellow melanoma-ites have suggested that not many surgeons carry out a SLNB unless it is done at the same time as the original WLE.
Still, needs must, if that’s what the consultant thinks.
I have just over a week to wait . . . . .
