The results from the Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

Recap:  You’ve had a biopsy that tested positive for Melanoma.  The surgeon has removed the closest Sentinel Lymph Node to the original area, sent that to be biopsied and possibly removed some skin around the first area too. Now you wait for a couple days to a week after surgery to get the results.

I remember where I was when the dermatologist called to let me know that the first biopsy was cancerous.  We were in Home Depot running a very quick errand and the boys were enjoying the ‘special buggy’.  The race car shopping carts are a lifesaver to parents of young children.

When the dermatologist tells you that you have something cancerous you feel a little sick.  For just a moment a cloud covers everything and then you figure out the next step.    Our metaphor was a house that has termites.

Just because a house has termites doesn’t mean it’s the end of a house being a home.  It means you bring in a termite person to kill all of those wood eating bastards.  The same goes for cancer, except you have to figure out if it spread and if so, where did the cancer go?

It’s kind of like a snipe hunt for kids who used to go camping.  In this hunting exercise the snipe (or cancer) would go to the closest Sentinel Lymph Node.

Seven days after our cancer snipe hunting exercise (sentinel lymph node biopsy) my wife and I were literally doing calf exercises with the weight of uncertainty.  I called the surgeon and very politely left a message.

I remember where I was when the surgeon called to let me know that ‘we got what we came for’.  That was the surgeon’s way of saying that the melanoma had not spread.  Not know surgeon slang, I had to ask what ‘we got what we came for’ meant.

My wife was upstairs and heard me talking on the phone and came down after he stopped speaking surgeon and continued in English.  “Well that is great news”, I calmly said.  Inside I was jumping, but the weight of the uncertainty cloud was still in the room.

The true evil of cancer is when it affects you, but you can’t let its effect impact you.   It takes a toll on you, your family and anything happening in your circles.  In my very basic understanding of cancer, it’s only a cell that keeps reproducing.  Normally the cell knows when to stop reproducing, but the cancer cell keeps doubling.

A seemingly simple problem that’s more much difficult to kill than termites.  With luck the hairless mole rat-that seems to be cancer resistant will shed some light on this killer.    It’d be worth cozying up to this crazy looking critter if his genomes could help lay the smack down on those cancer bastards.