A nurse removed my stitches while I waited for the PA to come talk to me. I was sitting in an examining chair when 3 people walked in. I recognized two of them; the nurse and the PA. The PA and nurse both stood in the corner of the room while the third lady intoduced herself; she was the doctor. I'm a fairly intelligent person and now I know that the news isn't going to sound good, no chance.
The doctor got to the point; I like that; and told me the results came back as Malignant Melanoma In Situ. In Situ means it is on the surface of the skin and is easily removed. Great, this wasn't as bad as I felt it was going to be. I will need to see a plastic surgeon to remove the bad cells and then follow up with a cancer specialist. What?!? I guess they want some blood work done since it is Melanoma, but only for baseline information. Whew! I'm still doing good. Going to get my spot removed, going to a cancer doctor for some precautionary baseline tests, and then seeing the dermatologist 4 times a year for two years. Got it.
So far, it all sounds like standard procedure. Then the PA, the nurse, and the doctor all go over with me each step again, each one of the people slowly tells me that they gave me a lot of information and asks if I need any clarification. Ok, now they are acting like I should be scared. But what they told me sounded rather simple, not the best news but simple. The nurse asks if I would like a drink of water. No, I want to go home and take my kids to the beach. Then she asks if I need a tissue. For what? Should I be crying? Now I'm worried.
The nurse said she would make the appointment for the plastic surgeon for me. Great! I told her I am a teacher and would like the procedure completed as soon as possible so I won't have a black eye when students return to school. The appointment was made for 1:50 that day! Like in 2 hours. Wow! They are serious about getting this taken care of. I leave the office to go have lunch with the kids and I call my family. Mom is acting freaked out and insists on going to the plastic surgeon with me. I told her I would rather go alone but she wasn't going to listen. I stop by and tell Dad the news, Mom has already called him. I told him I was most concerned about the scar that would be left when they cut me. Dad responded with, "You're going to have Crow's Feet the rest of your life anyway, get used to it."
Of course there is a huge storm on the way to the plastic surgeon's office. My feet were soaked as I sat there filling out paperwork. Mom arrived while I was working on the forms. First thing she asks me is, "Do you have a will?" For real?!? I told her she would freak me out by being there and she promised not too. I get called back and Mom goes with me. We are stuck in a room while we wait for another room to become available. I prefer to be quiet and play my Word games on my phone. Mom keeps talking and asking who I am texting. Finally, we get moved to the examining room. It looks like the eye doctor's office. I get a quick eye exam and the nurse tells me the doctor will be in a minute and my surgery will probably be next Wednesday and leaves the room. Mom is upset that the nurse is telling me I need surgery. Of course I need surgery, that is why they sent me to a plastic surgeon.
The doctor comes in and looks at my eye, makes a few drawings on it, and explains a lot of worst case scenarios to me. Most of the scenarios don't apply to me because of the type of melanoma I have so I tried to focus on the information that will apply to me. Sounds pretty simple. He will be giving me a reversed face lift on my left side. If the two sides don't balance out over time, he will fix my right side. I will have a scar from my eye to my hair line. My eyelashes and lids will stay intact. A skin graft may need to be done but not likely so I didn't get a lot of information on that. Surgery should take 30 minutes and I should expect to be in the surgery center for about 2 hours. I will have a black eye and total healing time should take about 3 months.
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