My Dermatologist made me an appointment with a MOHS surgeon that following Monday. SM basically insisted that she come with me. I thought I didn’t need it, but boy was I glad she was there.
This whole period was full of accelerated learning, and radical changes in my own self image. From fit to sick.
February 25th, 2008
I went to the dr just now. Just consultation. I go back thurs for a Narrow Margin Excision, where he will remove the remaining bits of The growth. Next Tuesday I go up to Columbia to a different Dr, for a consultation about next steps. My understanding is he will probably recommend a Wide Margin Excision and a Sentinel Lymph Node biopsy. They will both happen in the same procedure. Not sure when that will happen.
Will know more next Tuesday. In the meantime, I’m feeling okay. The new info doesn’t really calm me down that much, but it doesn’t freak me out further.
The other thing I learned today is that Lymph Node biopsy is a euphemism for extraction. Because they are so small, they basically have to remove it to get a sample. They used to remove all of them, but b/c of some side effects, they now only remove the sentinel node (the first one)
The key is still whether it has spread to the lymph nodes. The dr said that all things considered, he doesn’t expect it there, but he thinks the dr at Columbia will recommend checking just to be sure.
