We just got home from the 2nd Dr. He has the same thing in mind without it being as invasive and/or exploratory. Harold is having the wide line excision and radio active dye injection on Feb 18th. IF and only IF the dye shows up in any of his lymph nodes in any of his lymph nodes anywhere they will be removed. The wide line excision is being done so there will be clear and clean margins from where the mole was.
SAME exact thing as the other one said, with the exception of 2 weeks off work not 6 - 8. Needless to say I am TERRIFIED! The what IFs are taking over......
It is 3 words you never want to hear. But once you have your emotions take over. You get mad. You cry, you don't know what to do next. But you know you are now in the fight for or of your life. Whether it's your life you're your husband's. My husband has never been sick EVER. We've been married for 27 years. We will fight. We will win and we will get through this. Our first oncology appointment is Jan 7. We don't know what to expect but I know that WE will get through this together. Come what may, we will get through this.
I hope you don't mind me saying but I think you were not given the correct information or you have misunderstood. The radio active dye is put in as near as possible to the site of the melanoma so it finds the drainage canal that in all likelyhood would have carried the melanoma to the sentinel node should the melanoma have already spread. The dye does not show up melanoma it merely tracks back to the lymph node the surgeon is trying to find. It is termed a staging tool. There is the small possibility that the result comes back negative but it is a false negative.
ReplyDeleteMy husband died of melanoma nearly 30 years ago while I was pregnant. Because there was no hope of a cure we were never told anything and reflecting on it now we had a very short but happy marriage because the truth was deliberately or perhaps not, hidden from us. I have now had it myself and I believe the same stage as your 's melanoma. I have been through the WLE and SNB (negative for melanoma) and now getting on with life. I hope you will soon get to this point yourselves. All one can hope for is that it doesn't return but then this must be the same with all cancers.
I am so sorry for not getting back to you sooner. We were given plenty of bad information from 2 different doctors. We are now on track with a team of melanoma specialists who are all on the same page. It has definitely helped take some of the stress off me.
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