your vibes worked their magic,keep it coming

well you all worked your magic today with the good vibes for mary.

she got the approval from her insurance to have her scan on friday.

yes to that!!

so now keep your vibes going for her scans on friday that they do not find melanoma anywhere other than the one area she knows of on her leg.

kim's pre-op appointment today went as well as it could have minus the needle pokes she endured.

she will check in for surgery at 8:45am tomorrow, so start kicking up the good vibes, prayers, mojo for the morning.

we expect it may be a night with not a lot of sleep around here tonight, so you could also send us all some sleep vibes for the next week too.

on another good note, i got the ok to use some cream today to try and help my joint aches which have got increasingly worse. my right arm, shoulder, and hip are not being cooperative with me in the last couple of weeks. so i am hoping that this cream is the magic i need to get some much needed pain relief.

thanks for all the support.

you have got this kim, you are a fighter and can do this. that i know for sure. we love you.

xoxo

good vibes for mary + kim

my friend mary is waiting on her insurance to confirm that they are going to approve the scans that she needs to have to confirm if melanoma is anywhere else in her leg or her body. let me repeat, waiting on her insurance to confirm if they are going to approve. it makes me so angry that cancer patients (or anyone) have to wait for their insurance to confirm that they will approve the tests that will help to save their lives. so please send good thoughts her way that her insurance pulls through or i may need to fly out to wisconsin and kick some insurance ass myself. for real.

speaking of insurance, the issues that are happening at a national level around insurance make me so angry. and so scared. i could write a long, long post about that and probably will soon. the fact that insurance is at risk for so many people, and people who do have insurance may also become casualties of the politics makes me sick. as my bills roll in from the last month which are over $100,000, i can't tell you that i am not worried about what will happen going forward.

tomorrow kim has a pre-op appointment to do some dye testing to confirm which lymph nodes will need to removed during surgery on wednesday. she checks in at 2:45 tomorrow for that test so kick up the good vibes, prayers, and mojo at that time please. we don't know yet what time she will need to check in for surgery on wednesday. if you didn't catch up to it in my last post and would like to follow updates on kim, you can do so here.

thanks for all the good vibes for these two very important people.

xo

no stitches this time

no biospies today.

my derm looked at and felt both lumps and did not think that they were melanoma. he thought that they were benign growths similar to ones i have had before.

of course he said that he would biopsy them if i wanted him to. my call.

but i totally trust him. and i know that if he thought that there was any chance that they were something, he would biopsy them.

so i decided to not biopsy them and if i notice any changes with them then we will do a biopsy.

as we were wrapping up, he told me as he does every time, that if i notice anything changing to call and he will get me in right away. like he always does.

i can't say enough how great it is to have a doctor that says that to you. and you know he really means it.

so onward we go.

happy wednesday peeps. the half way mark.

whew.

round 2 + lumps + good vibes for kim

bravery is rarely about doing something bold.

the most brave act is often a quiet, internal moment when we sit in great discomfort,

close our eyes,

and gently whisper,

'i will stay'

(laura mckowen)

my liver is on a serious good behavior streak and i appreciate that.

my liver levels are status quo and haven't moved at all. and that my friends is what i call magic.

i got a prescription today for the skin issue that i am having and we are hoping that some topical steroids on my skin will help do the trick. i have been having issues with my right arm being numb in the mornings when i wake up, and last night, it went numb during the middle of the night and hurt all night long (which translated into zero sleep for this kid). so i am hoping that it doesn't continue and that last night was an anomaly. my oncologist is not worried about it as long as it doesn't occur throughout the day, he thinks that maybe it is a localized joint issue from the treatment. so we shall see.

we were there for about 6.5 hours today which was short because i got called into infusion earlier than my start time so that was a nice little bonus on the day. as usual, i had great nurses to help me.

so i would like to say that was my only appointment for the week. but this weekend i found a small lump on my right side and one on my upper right leg. so tomorrow at 9am i go into my awesome dermatologist for him to take a look and determine if we need to do biopsies. so send my right side some good mojo until we see what happens. damn lumps and bumps. as my friend mary knows, any type of lump or bump when you are a melanoma patient sends you to your dermatologist asap.

i also wanted to ask for you to start kicking up your vibes, prayers, and mojo for my sister-in-law kim. next wednesday she is going in for her first surgery related to her breast cancer diagnosis in november. to help keep friends and family informed of how she is doing, i have started a caringbridge site for kim that i will keep updated to share updates as she kicks cancer's ass (up one side and down the other) this year. if you would like to follow her story, you can find more info here.

thank you for all of the mojo.

you all are the best.

in those moments when i close my eyes, that i know for sure. xo

fingers crossed -- round two + good vibes for mary

monday is round 2 of treatment for me. if my liver cooperates with me. all fingers and toes crossed.

my cold is still kicking my you-know-what.

and the side effects continue on. dry skin which is painful at this point on my eyes/ears. little appetite. dry mouth. fatigue.

we check in early tomorrow at 7am for bloodwork so it will be an early and a long day.

so please send your good thoughts and mojo to my liver for the morning. we need it to cooperate with me again.

also, speaking of good thoughts, please also send them to my friend mary in wisconsin. i have wrote about mary many times before on the blog. mary found a lump this week on monday and got results on friday that melanoma is back in her leg. she is working to figure out what her next steps will be. so please send her all your prayers and good mojo because she is going to need it.

damn melanoma.

it makes me so angry and so sad.

cancer can suck it.

that is about all i have to say.

anywhere i fight, you fight.

round 2 here we come.

thank you liver

this was me this morning.

the cold is in full effect. and of course patients that have colds don't want to get other patients sick so we wear masks when we have a cold or the flu.

i just got my bloodwork back and liver levels were normal.

what a huge relief.

so treatment should be a go for next monday if my liver levels hold.

i am weary of the 2nd treatment jinx that came when we tried this earlier this year, so i remain optimistically cautious and will feel better if we can get through next monday with the all clear.

thanks for all of the good thoughts, love and mojo - my liver heard you and behaved itself today. xo

tuesday

this one is going to be shorter than it normally would.

i have been fighting a cold the last couple of days, and late this afternoon, the cold won.

i feel miserable.

and my oncology nurses recommended not taking any over the counter meds today since i am having bloodwork in the morning.

bloodwork is at 8am, and then i should get a call with the results sometime tomorrow.

i am hoping beyond hope that my liver is doing ok.

i will be devastated if they tell me my liver is already starting to fail and i have to go off treatment.

so send your love, mojo, and vibes to my liver.

thank you.

anywhere i fight, you fight. xo