PRAISE REPORT - note to all prayer warriors, you have my permission to forward this post on to your prayer circles and church groups. I really appreciate everyone asking first, but this time you do not have to. This is going to be a bit long as there are details necessary to make the point of why this is such a good report so please stick with me here. As you know My original surgery to remove the (all measurements are in centimeters) 9x5 cent tumor in my groin/thigh was 9/23. The surgical wound was healing well for the first couple of weeks and then 2 places started to open. But before it started to open up I was seen by the medical oncologist to discuss chemo/immunotherapy and the radiation oncologist. My form of melanoma is not responsive to chemo so Immunotherapy was my only choice. Additionally, as this is a teaching hospital, they have a study in progress that I qualify to enter. But, I have to enter within 90 days of my initial surgery 9/23. So, the wound has to heal and I have to complete 4 weeks of radiation. At that visit, I thought, sure, this sounds easy enough. The benefit of the study is if the computer picks me for the test drug (already FDA approved for other forms of cancer) you do not have to come in nearly as many times for treatment and you are nowhere near as sick as with the interferon, which is the standard drug. So, once the wound started to open up they took immediate action and got the wound team in place and placed a wound Vac on me. This is supposed to speed healing up to 60% but in my case, the first visit of the home health nurse brought terror. The entire wound was black (necrotic). There went our time table! I was scheduled for emergency surgery and a wet/dry dressing was used for a week. Here is where it gets important. The first nurse visit on 10/26/13, 1 day post operative, to change the dressing the wound measurements were (remember centimeters) 8 long X 4 wide X 5 deep. I have fairly small hands but my fist fit in that hole. As I have an appointment with my surgical oncologist Tuesday, I wanted to give him an update. What I really wanted was a pipe dream that the numbers I was going to give him were good enough for us to move forward with radiation as he said it did not have to be 100% closed. 11/6/13 the measurements were 7 long X 2.5 wide X 3.7 deep. BUT TODAY imagine a babys toy key, that is the shape of the wound today, one side has pulled in and is only 1.5 deep and the wider side is almost together at the base with maybe 1/4 of a cent separation. At the very end of the nurses visit I received a phone call from the Radiation oncologist (not the nurse but the doctor) asking me to come in on Tuesday when I see my surgeon. THAT IS MY PRAISE REPORT. Not based on todays numbers but 11/6s numbers, they want me to come in. If we start radiation next week, we are still on schedule and he made that comment, so even the doctors want me in the study. My form of melanoma is rather rare, very resistant to treatment, highly likely to return, all the negatives that can go with cancer, go with this form of melanoma. That is a huge reason they want me in the study group. SO, yeah it is really getting on the ball with healing, yeah I have a team of doctors on my side and being proactive, and BIG yeah I have so many prayer warriors looking out for me.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 19:01:49 +0000
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