Post surgical stories

     I have to write one more story about my little surgical/medical excursion with melanoma. And there is a chance for you to tell me about your surgical pain experiences. Below is a neuropathic pain scale to use to assess your own pain levels at various times of the day. This might be useful to your medical care team. Read on below to learn more about my experiences and medical studies that sometimes document poor postsurgical pain control.

Getting Older!

Observations on Growing Older 

~Your kids are becoming you...and you don't like them

...but your grandchildren are perfect!


~Going out is good.

Coming home is better!


~When people say you look "Great"...

they add "for your age!"


~When you needed the discount you paid full price.

Now you get discounts on everything ...

movies, hotels, flights, but you're too tired to use them.


~You forget names ... but it's OK

because other people forgot

they even knew you!!!


~The 5 pounds you wanted to lose

is now 15 and you have a better chance

of losing your keys than the 15 pounds.


~You realize you're never going

to be really good at anything .... especially golf.


~Your spouse is counting on you

to remember things you don't remember.


~The things you used to care to do,

you no longer care to do,

but you really do care that you

don't care to do them anymore.


~Your spouse sleeps better on a lounge chair

with the TV blaring than he does in bed.

It's called his "pre-sleep".


~Remember when your mother said

"Wear clean underwear in case you GET in an accident"?

Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident!


~You used to say,

"I hope my kids GET married ...

Now, "I hope they STAY married!"


~You miss the days when everything worked

with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch..


~When GOOGLE, ipod, email, modem ...

were unheard of, and a mouse was something

that made you climb on a table.


~You now use more 4 letter words ...

"what?"..."when?" ???


~Now that you can afford

expensive jewelry, it's not safe to wear it anywhere.


~You read 100 pages into a book before you realize you've read it.


~Notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?!!!


~What used to be freckles are now liver spots.


~Everybody whispers.


~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet ....

2 of which you will never wear.


~~~~But old is good in some things:

old songs

old movies

And best of all OLD FRIENDS!!



Love you, "OLD FRIEND!"

Your Tax Dollars in Action!

I'd like to tell you a little story about our trip into Hungary.

Elation!!

     The plastic surgeon called yesterday afternoon and since I was taking my husband in to get a mole (I hope, a mole) removed from the bottom of his foot,  the surgeon left a message that he had good news for me. Yes, the two sentinel nodes were clean -- no cancer. And there was no residual tumor in the arm either. So the original depth of lesion of 0.48 mm stood as the total depth -- a depth that has very low risk of spread. I am still to follow up with medical oncology but I don't think there is much to do unless there will be some followup chest xray and other imaging down the road, I don't know. Anyway after this last week of surgery followed by worry, fearing the worst, a great load is now lifted from my shoulders. Hopefully Amos' path will also be negative when we get the results on Friday. Then we will both be able to heal and then get back to normal life. It is certainly amazing how quickly a very positive outlook on life can be changed for the worse with one of these medical adventures. I feel that it is very important to keep up my spiritual practices and to continue to live each day with mindfulness to maintain some of the life learning that this experience has provided to me.
     Now on to other topics in this blog. I am working on the story of our sojourn in Moldova, land of Amos' ancestors. I want to combine this with some photos. I plan for that to be my next posting here.
    

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting ....

Yes, I am waiting ... one of the hardest things to do when associated with the diagnosis of cancer.

Hoping for the Best, Worrying about the Worst.

Tomorrow I go to have definitive surgery for my melanoma. If you have a strong mental constitution read on to find out my mental ramblings during this time.