The scans were clear! Which is a huge relief. And, judging from the expressions of the doctors, a bit of a surprise. So we go on to the next stage … another operation. A bigger one, involving taking 3cm of flesh all around the original melanoma site. And taking out a lymph node and testing that to see where we are ….
I’ve been feeling a lot more cheerful about it all, though there are some puzzling bits:
1. If the scans are so state-of-the-art and amazing, then why do they need to check a lymph node?
2. Considering this is all good news, why have I suddenly come down with the mother of all colds?
3. And, having the mother of all colds, why have I now also crippled my back?
4. Will I always think, from now on, that every time I have a twinge, it’s the cancer come back?
And I have also heard of one melanoma patient who had to have seventeen wider incision operations before they cleared the last of the dodgy cells. No one has mentioned that to me – perhaps not surprisingly. On the plus side, there is plenty of stomach available there for them to harvest. But I’ve decided I’m really not a fan of all these operations. At least at the moment I’m not in a state to have one. Oh well. We shall see. And it’s all good.