August 31, 2023 Is It Really the Five Year Anniversary of my Cancer Diagnosis Today?! 8/31/2023 Five years ago today, this gem of a photo was taken: That photo was taken just before I went into surgery to remove an almond sized lump from my right armpit that multiple physicians were confident was just a fatty deposit. Little did we know when the photo was taken just how much our life together would change following that surgery. I still remember coming out of anesthesia and Kim telling me that my uncle had informed her that what he had pulled out was cancerous. I remember spending days wondering what the biopsy would reveal and hoping that it was a “good” cancer to get, only to find out that it was one of the “bad” cancers to get: melanoma. Not just melanoma, but melanoma that was already in an advanced stage given that it came from a lymph node. Fortunately, my naivete prevented me from responding the way the rest of my family responded. I just figured I’d beat it and move on. As we b...
So on October 31st, I had an appointment with the PA for my back doctor. I had emergency spinal surgery on February 10th to remove a lesion that was compressing my spinal cord. The compression caused me to lose movement in both of my legs and the ability to urinate normally. So that was almost 9 months ago. Unfortunately, I still struggle on a daily basis with pain at the incision site as well as extreme soreness and discomfort in the muscles between my shoulder blades. The pain at the incision site is a random, all day type of pain. The discomfort between my shoulder blades tends to get worse as the day goes on. The more I do throughout the day, the worse the pain is. In fact, there are times that I struggle to stand up anymore because the pain is so much. I'm not an expert, but I had assumed that after 9 months this type of pain would have been resolved. I know the muscles in my back are being asked to do more and to adjust, but I thought that would have been resolved a while ago...
Yesterday (Which was Thursday, January 23rd), I had an appointment with the MA I see on a regular basis and an infusion. Prior to every infusion and visit, I have labs done. The past few times I've gone to the lab for my blood work they've struggled to get IV's in me. The hospital has been a little cooler lately and my veins tend to get difficult when my body is cold. In December, I had to have a PET scan done. I had the IV done without an issue. However, when I went to get blood drawn from the IV, they couldn't draw blood out of it. That meant a new IV was needed. I ended up getting stabbed three more times before they could get it to work! Four total IVs in one day! It gets a little long sometimes haha THIS time, however, one shot and done! That's how I like it! It was even better because I told the lady giving me the IV that taking off the tape at the end of the day was the worst and I need to shave my arms before I come up. She pulled out another piece of tape, ...
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