There are statistics and some more statistics like the one I came across, but what do they accomplish aside from totally scaring the hell out of you? I don't know, but maybe there is more to awareness than that. Since being diagnosed, I have kept my blinders on to a lot of things on the internet. The first thing doctors told me back in February was that Googling "melanoma" is the worst thing that you can do, that so much has changed with treatments that you can't believe everything you read. With the number of cases on the rise, I think that it is so important for everyone to realize that the prevalence of this disease is a lot greater than you might imagine. Regardless of age, race, or gender, skin cancer can affect anyone. Those are the types of things I think we should be focusing on in order to be "aware." We must keep in mind that no two cases are alike. So at the end of the day, why should their outcomes be lumped together like they are?
There is stuff that they warn you about and of course there are things that they cannot foresee happening. They told me I wouldn't lose any hair, but it's happening. Clumps of strands falling out just like that. I don't blame my hair though for wanting to get out of here, I mean with all of the chemicals getting pumped into it left and right, my body is not the best place to be right now. My five year old brother saw wads of hair in my trash can last week and asked what I was doing with a wig in there. In the grand scheme of things, it is just hair. It is just hair. Compared to other people dealing with this disease, I'm very lucky to have hair at all. Whatever's gone will come back and in the meantime, my time under the blow dryer has been cut in half. Could have saved myself a lot of tardies in high school if I were this quick to get ready back then. There's also the neck lymphedema, I don't remember them warning me about that. Some days it gets really swollen. Although it might appear that I'm about three tater tots away from a quadruple chin, I assure you that it's just fluid getting backed up without the nodes there, I swear. The physical therapy appointments should help with that, but hopefully my body will eventually figure it out on its own. One of the strangest things though, is putting an earring into an ear that I cannot feel. The nerves under the skin of my neck, left shoulder and ear are still regenerating. You find yourself bargaining; whatever it wants to take from me in order to end this once and for all, so be it. Just let me have my normal life back. I will lose my hair, I will lose having only one chin, and I will lose sensation, but I will not lose hope that this will soon be over.
I'm so thrilled to share that as of August 20th, I am tumor-free! There is no better feeling than that. I will continue treatment through next year as originally planned with the hope that things continue this way. Thank you so much for your prayers and positivity, because they are very much working.