Update

Hey Warriors!

I completed the WLE & skin graft on my scalp and SLNB at MD Anderson on Tuesday and returned home today. I'm a little punchy from the high dose of Norco but I wanted to give an update (so please forgive any typos or ramblings).

So…the lymphocyntigraphy was the easiest part of the process by far. It took about 90 minutes and 4 injections to get all the 3D pictures to work from. These stung a little but not too bad as they were on the scalp.

Then it was on to pre-op where Dr. Ross estimated the process would likely take about 3-4 hours (it ended up taking 5.5 hours). It turned out that I had 4 nodes at three sites that lit up and 2 were very deep in the side of the neck, the other two were in the back of the neck. I also had a skin graft (from my bum of all places!!) along with a bolster placed. I guesss people were right all along, I really am a "butt head". Dr. Ross finished up with me around 8:00 pm and my fiancee was the only one left in the waiting room. He spent the time to sit with her and explain how things went which she really appreciated. (Kim, he hasn't changed a bit and was very compassionate with her as she was worried sick being the last person in the waiting room that day).

I was kept overnight in post-op due to pain (which I really cannot remember having at this point) and the administration of dilaudid (if you've ever had dilaudid, which I hadn't, you can attest to what an incredibly powerful drug this is). I'm acutally glad they did this because it made me feel a little better being at MDA for the night since this was my first surgery of any type. I like to think I have a high pain tolerance but apparently I wasn't giving them a good answer on the 0-10 pain scale. To be honest I was still so loopy from anesthesia I don't recall having the conversation at all but was reminded of all the goofy things I said/did that night by the attentive nurses.

Dr. Ross was back in action early the next morning to come see me and discharge me. Overall, very impressed with him and MD Anderson. The bolster feels weird but will be removed next week and hopefully I will have results from the lymph nodes the same day but it may be a few days after the removal. I'm very interested in seeing what skin from my bum looks like on my head. Between doses of Norco I'm still seeking the best way to camouflage this bolster…fortunately its positioned high on the back of my scalp so I can manage to fit a baseball cap over it, a bandana (do rag style) seems to work, but the real trick will be next Monday at work. I work in a professional environment and a hat is kind of hard to pull off, a bandana simply wouldn't fly, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Despite the purpose of this trip to Houston I found ways to enjoy the time down there. Going to the Galleria, trying some local fare, and simply enjoying some simple things was great. Of course there isn't much enjoyable about surgery, but even in that I tried to remind myself (when I was coherent) that hey, I'm alive and I'm in the fight! The waiting for things to happen was really bothering me and even though I might not get the results I want from the SLNB I at least got the primary cut out and  I can prepare for the next phase of battle.

I want to thank all of you for words of support and encouragement, for sharing your experiences and for being part of this community. In the short time I've been a part of this I have learned a ton and really appreciat all of your experience and strength!

Tex