Keeping things interesting...

As promised, I said there would be updates as I went in for tests or if anything "worthy" occurred. Considering I was at Duke for 13 hours yesterday investigating a small mass I detected under the scar in my arm on Sunday (talk about Mr. Creepy), the chronicles needed to be reopened, hopefully temporarily. I guess the Mary J. Blidge "No more drama" vacation tour is officially over....

The Homeland Security cancer threat color scale is yellow, significant threat. It's not high (orange) or severe (red) and always at least guarded (blue). I'm currently waiting for results from everything to see if there is a problem and whether I kick it up to orange or ease back into the blue. (I think that paragraph was absolutely pointless)

So what's up? Sunday I noticed a small bump in my arm just under the skin at the edge of the skin graft scar. My first reaction was "This isn't very cool." I think that's the best way to describe it, especially after I've been putting this further and further behind me. I called my doctor and Duke Monday and we set an appointment for Wednesday morning. He looked at it, and agreed with my professional opinion. "This is probably some scarring or a reaction to some stitches, but considering your history, let's cover all our bases." A pathologist came in, stuck a needle into the mass and took several samples on multiple slides. She agreed that these types of things were common after surgeries and most likely harmless. After about five minutes the doctor came in with the preliminary results. "The pathologist is a little worried about what she's initially seeing." Clark and Big C's both winced. I thought, "Here we go again..."

We discussed all the possibilities, whether or not the surgery, radiation, and chemo had been effective, as well as what might happen if this turns out to be Triton Part Deux. A CT scan of my chest was scheduled that afternoon and an MRI of my arm that evening to see if there were any other problems that couldn’t be felt. At this point, the MRI and the pathology results moved instantly on the back burner, but the CT scan had me pretty concerned. We all agreed, this called for a nice lunch and a good bottle of wine.

I've already received good news about the CT scan. It was unchanged, the best possible result. I have to say I got a little emotional when I received the call. This stuff is scary, really scary. I should hear about the MRI results today and most likely I'll get the pathology results on Monday, which also happens to be Big Clyde's 60th birthday.

Keeping things interesting...