Tomororw is the big day......

Steve had a CT scan and an MRI today.  He will get the results tomorrow.  We goofed off last night and today after his scans.  It's a strange life we live.  We could be given the worse news ever tomorrow, or we could continue to live our lives with Steve NED (no evidence of disease).  The longer Steve is NED, the "easier" scans seem to be.....the less "scanxiety" there seems to be.  But, there really is no "tricking" ourselves.  We know that just because things have been going well doesn't mean they will continue in that direction.  It's a fine balance between optimism, realism and fantasy land.  But, until we are given other news, we choose optimism.  We are optimistic that the scans will come back ok and Steve will continue to be NED, but in reality we know that things can change in the blink of an eye.  Melanoma is so very aggressive.  So, we have to live in reality as well.

Being goofy.....

Being goofy......

Being goofy.....

Honestly, we have been thinking so little about Steve and thinking of so many around us.  In February we mourned the one year loss of our sweet friend, Jennifer.  My friends Melissa and Sylvia both lost their spouses within the last few weeks.  And, most recently, my friend Kara had surgery on a bleeding brain tumor.  It's been a tough, tough last few weeks in the melanoma community and honestly, that's where our minds have been.

We miss you, Jenn!!

Get well, Kara!!!!

Not only does Steve get scan results tomorrow, but we also say "goodbye" to his doctor, Dr. Kevin Kim.  Steve has been with Dr. Kim since 2012 (when he was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma).  Dr. Kim and his staff have been amazing.  Dr. Kim is moving to California to practice there.  There will be many, many, many tears shed tomorrow!!!  Regardless of Steve's scan results, tomorrow is going to be a VERY, VERY hard day for us both.  Dr. Kim has been so very patient with me over the last two years.  He lets me ask as many questions as I would like.  (Even when the questions don't necessarily pertain to our situation, he let's me play the "what if" game.)  Steve was given
6-9 months to live when diagnosed.  Dr. Kim and his treatment recommendations have Steve with us today (NED at that!!) 26 months after diagnoses. Dr. Kim will be missed tremendously.

We will miss Dr. Kim more than words can express!!!!

Steve has an ultrasound and 3 Dr. appointments scheduled tomorrow.  I will update just as soon as we get results!  Thank you all for all of your support, prayers, thoughts, messages, texts, calls, etc.  We love you all! <3 <3 <3

NED #2 - WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS AND PICTURES IN THIS POST

Steve got the results back from the doctor today.  NED!!!!  We are so excited and relieved!  We are closing on our new house that we just had built on January 10th, I am going back to work sometime in January (after staying home for 2 1/2 years).  We have lots on our plate and NO time for melanoma!!

Before we met with the doctor, Steve had has 3 month dermatology check up.  Everything looked good overall, but there was one spot that looked worrisome to the derms. They did not like the "center clearing".  So, off it came via an 8mm punch.  The mole is on his right rib cage area. Here are some pics and video.

WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS AND VIDEO

Here is the VIDEO of the punch biopsy.

Waiting to see the derm

Small mole with "center clearing"

Administering Lidocaine

More Lidocaine

Numbed up

Steve's photos stored in the computer from last visit to compare to today's visit.

Starting the punch

Getting going

She had to stop and give more lidocaine because Steve could still feel it

Getting going again.

And it is gone!

Little mole with "center clearing" will be sent off to pathology.

Getting stitched up.

All stitched up.

Wide Excision Recovery

Many have asked how Steve's wounds from his wide excision surgery were healing, so I thought I would post a few pictures.  Also, I thought it would be good to have the pics on the blog for anyone that may be seeking information on the surgery and recovery process. 

The first few days Steve experienced mild pain.  He took a weak pain pill, but probably could have gotten by on Advil or Tylenol.

P.S.  Remember, I already know he is a hairy beast ;)

1 week post surgery - view of both cuts

View of lower cut - 1 week post surgery

Top cut - 1 week post surgery (this is the superglue they used starting to fall off)

9 days post surgery

Upper cut - 9 days post surgery

Lower cut - 9 days post surgery

Both cuts - 16 days post surgery

16 days post surgery - bottom cut

16 days post surgery - upper cut

Remember folks....love the skin you're in, see a dermatologist at least once a year, do monthly skin checks, wear sunscreen, seek shade, wear sunglasses, don't tan, take care of your skin!!!

I will try and remember to take pictures again in a week or two to show the final scars.

CAUTION: GRAPHIC VIDEO

Here are the videos of Steve's 2 mole removals today; "wide margin excision".

This is the removal of the first mole (moderately atypical). 

Stitching up the first hole. 

Removal of the second mole (severely atypical).

CAUTION: GRAPHIC PHOTOS

Today Steve had his wide local excision at MD Anderson.  Everything went smooth and the doctor was kid enough to let me photo and video everything.  I have given an outline of the procedure for anyone who is curious and/or anyone who found their way to the blog looking to get info for an upcoming procedure they may be having.

The 2 spots before being marked.  One on the upper left and one right in the middle of back. (Yes, my husband is a hairy beast!)

Steve waiting on the doctor to come in.

Materials for the surgery.

Sterile material for the surgery.

Here is where the doctor marked up the area to cut.

The doctor starting the numbing medicine.

More numbing medicine.

Swollen after the numbing shots.

Letting the numbing medicine sit a bit.

Cutting out the first mole (middle of back) which was severely atypical.

Stitching the first cut.

Still stitching.

The first chunk!

All closed up.

Moving on to #2. Moderately atypical

Cutting out #2

Chunk #2

I will post videos in a separate blog post.

We'll take it!

Today Steve had a head and neck CT scan at 8:30 am.  In order for us to get to MD Anderson by 8:30 am, we had to have the kids to daycare by 7:30 am.  So, needless to say, our morning started very early.  The CT scan went relatively smoothly with not too much of a wait. 

After the CT scan, we grabbed a quick snack to hold us over until lunch.  Steve can not eat before his CT scans, so he is usually starving by the time they are finished.  His appointment with Dr. Kim to go over results was scheduled for 11:15.  When we arrived to the clinic area, the status board showed that Dr. Kim was running 30-60 minutes late.  This is not unusual.  Dr. Kim is amazing and spends lots of quality time with his patients, so we never mind the wait.  I was very sleepy and actually fell asleep in the waiting room for about 30 minutes or so.  I never do that!!!  (Hope I wasn't snoring!!)  We finally got into a room about 1:15.  Steve's nurse came in and told us that the reports had not been written up yet so she was not sure of results yet.  After a little more waiting, Urvi, the PA came in and told us that everything looked great.  The official CT reports were not in yet but she listened to the dictation and Dr. Kim looked at the scans and A) they didn't see anything new and B) the lymph node and lung nodule had both shrank a little more.  This is great news!  While Steve is still not NED (No Evidence of Disease), it seems that the Yervoy (Ipilimumab) is still doing it's job.  Dr. Kim says that about 10% of Yervoy patients have a long durable response.  Maybe Steve will be in this category?!

Urvi taking a listen to Steve's heart and lungs.

After speaking with Dr. Kim, we left the hospital around 2:30 pm.  We grabbed a quick lunch at Ruggles Green.  I have been trying to eat gluten free and they have an amazing gluten free menu!  By about 3:30 we were on our way to pick up the kids.  Steve fell asleep in the car.  I had a few errands to run and he slept through all of them.  When we got home, he went straight to bed and slept till a little after 7:00pm.  Scan days/result days are always long and exhausting.  Add in the fact that we have been moving for a week straight and you have a couple of very exhausted people! 

Yummy gluten free pizza and the manager came over and gave us a free gluten free brownie with ice cream....yum!!

 

 

 

Dr. Kim is scheduling Steve to come back in 3 months for scans again.  The next set of scans will also include an MRI of the brain.  Melanoma is sneaky and likes to travel to the brain, so we have to be sure to stay on top of that as well.  Ironically, Steve does not see a dermatologist.  Steve has an "unknown" primary meaning he basically just woke up one day with Stage 4 melanoma.  They have never been able to find a mole that they think the melanoma originated from.  On his next visit, he will also start seeing a dermatologist.  Hopefully the dermatologist with map his moles so we can keep a good eye on them.  He has wayyyyy too many for me to keep up with (although I try!).

I hope to not have anything to update the blog with regarding Steve's treatments/scans/etc for the next few months.  However, I will try to post some news articles, advocacy information, etc. 

Thank you to everyone for your love and support!