Detailing aspects of my life from rare disease and cancer to family culture, and lots of fun things in between them
Spring: The most beautiful time of the year It’s odd how beautiful it always seems to be on my days of surgery. This day did not disappoint. I think it was a Wednesday and the month was June. I love May and June. They’re the best months of the year. It feels so nice to …
This Is Getting To Be A Real Pain In The Neck The next step of my adventure led to an Eye and Ear Hospital at a local health system. It was a teaching facility that is a well-known part of a local university. I’ve developed the opinion that if you are a complicated patient, then …
Moving Forward With Life I had the surgery in the month of June and resumed golfing a few weeks later. Per my physicians, there was now a much higher risk of getting a repeat occurrence of melanoma. Because of this, I was advised to completely protect myself from the sun. My boss even used the …
Recover and pathology Work was a pretty good place for me to be on a daily basis. I received wound care as needed. My boss and one of the wonderful nurses checked me regularly. At this point, two events occurred which in retrospect were foreshadowing my future. First, as time progressed, my forehead stitches became …
An Unnerving Experience The events of my surgery day are stored vividly in my memory. I recall arriving at the surgery center, talking to the reception workers, and filling out paperwork. Never having surgery meant not knowing what to expect that day. Having had 21 surgeries since this; it’s all “old hat” to me now. …
The Longest Weeks The weekend and Monday passed by, and Tuesday brought the results from the clinic as follows: NOT likely to be melanoma, rather it is “favored” to be a severely atypical dermal Spitz nevus. What the hell is that? Answer is….. it’s a whole lot of craziness. I ended up at a melanoma specialist at a local …
An Introduction to Life and Science Now….what was malignant melanoma? Again, not being too knowledgeable; I knew it wasn’t good, but I really didn’t know how bad it could be. This being the case, I showed it too one of our nurses. Wow, did that cause a ruckus! Within three minutes there were four co-workers around me looking …
A Single Day Changed My Life Forever I vividly remember the day my life changed forever. May 7, 2010 was a beautiful sunny spring day. It was a Friday. Golf season had just begun a few weeks earlier. I was very excited for that season because I had surprised myself and won the championship of our …