How the surgery went......

Every entry in here has been written by my wife. I think its time to take that burden off of her for a while and write a few myself!

OK, so last you heard we were waiting on an MRI appointment. Well they moved it up to Aug. 25th. We went for a follow up that next week with the neurosurgeon and he wanted me admitted to the hospital A.S.A.P. The tumors had grown some (he did not say how much) and it would be 2-3 weeks for him to schedule the surgery again. So I told him that was fine with me, because I know exactly how fast this stuff grows and the sooner its gone, the better. I was admitted and the next day went under.

What was supposed to be an hour long surgery ended up taking over seven hours.

The Dr. said that the tumors were inside the spinal fluid sack. When they opened me up they could'nt find them. So they had to do x-rays on my chest. The x-rays showed that they were actually in the spinal fluid sack that surrounds your spinal cord. The tumor that was by my T4 vertebrae was 100 percent removed. But the tumor that had grown by my T9 vertebrae might still have some there because the tumor was growing into the spinal cord and the bone there. The Surgeon said he had never seen anything like it in his 13 years of  practicing Neurosurgery. 

The right side of my abdomen is numb, which is weird feeling. After the surgery they weren't sure if paralysis of anything would be an issue or not. I don't use the right side of my belly that much, and not being paralyzed and being able to walk and performs my main daily activities is a major blessing.

Its still pretty painful to move. However, I can tell today that the soreness is not as bad as it has been since the surgery. 

I have to go get my sutures out in a few weeks, and after that its time for another PET scan. Then my Oncologist will decide if he wants me to do radiation or not. Its a possibility since the Neurosurgeon said he is not sure if he got all of the spinal cord tumor. I sure hope so, that's not a good place for melanoma to start growing.

But that's about it! I started taking liposomal Vitamin C and turmeric supplements. They do make me feel better and have a little more energy than usual. They are supposed to help gt rid of abnormal cells in your body like cancer. I'm just taking it as easy as I can for the time being.

Thank you everyone for the words of love and encouragement. Please continue to keep myself and others who live with this disease in your prayers. I can only hope that one day they find a cure for this damned devil they call Melanoma.

Thank you for reading, God bless.

Where the tumors were Located in Spine

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