We met with a handful of oncologists that Monday. They gathered information on my medical history and conducted physical exams as we all tried to make sense of what was going on. My loving parents and devoted boyfriend sat in the doctors' office with me, hoping to hear that perhaps there was a mix up in pathology results. The surgical oncologist went about his routine exam until something caught his attention in my neck. Instantly he could tell that the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes there, but proceeded with a biopsy to be certain. The team of doctors left the room for a little bit to gather what they needed for the biopsy. It was when the surgeon walked toward me with a giant needle that I asked "Is that going in my..." as it was being jammed into my neck. It was like something from HBO's Dexter when he injects his unsuspecting victims with horse tranquilizers in the neck before taking them to his kill room.
The rest of the week was filled with MRIs, PET scans, and blood tests. I was getting poked and probed a lot, but this was just the beginning. A few days later and the biopsy came back. The cancer had in fact spread to the lymph nodes on the left side of my neck, meaning that the surgery would be more extensive than we had originally anticipated. Now they would be removing all of these lymph nodes while also extending the margins on my scalp where they found the original melanoma and the second location of abnormal cells. After meeting with the oncology team on February 9th, I was scheduled to have surgery just a week later.
The rest of the week was filled with MRIs, PET scans, and blood tests. I was getting poked and probed a lot, but this was just the beginning. A few days later and the biopsy came back. The cancer had in fact spread to the lymph nodes on the left side of my neck, meaning that the surgery would be more extensive than we had originally anticipated. Now they would be removing all of these lymph nodes while also extending the margins on my scalp where they found the original melanoma and the second location of abnormal cells. After meeting with the oncology team on February 9th, I was scheduled to have surgery just a week later.