Giddy Up....Take 4

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears, I come to bury Melanoma, not to praise it.

Ok, so it's a poor attempt at borrowing the great Shakespeare's words, but you get the idea.

So, the blog is back up and running, and you know what that means.......Melanoma in the House!!!!  What what!!!   Word!!!!!!

I'll give a general, LONG update, then will update with shorter reports as needed.

I had a PET/CT scan Aug 25th that came back all clear.   About a month after that I noticed a small bump in my neck, just under my jaw.  No biggie, scar tissue and stuff everywhere, it was not that unusual.    Observing it I noticed it getting bigger, so I called Terry at Dr. Beitsch's office, and she got me in the Monday before Thanksgiving.    A sonogram and a needle biopsy later, I was standing back by the front desk with Team Beitsch surrounding me.   Dr. B says:  "It's coming out either way, so schedule surgery ASAP."   Terry:  "You have a 2:00 tomorrow."   Dr. B:   "Great".    Me:  "What the what?   Tomorrow, Tuesday tomorrow???"    So, a PET/CT scan that afternoon at 2:00 and slides sent off for biopsy results.    Tuesday morning I received an email from Tiffany that said "Melanoma positive on slides from needle biopsy, and it did show in PET/CT scan, but nothing spreading, so that is good, see you at 12:30 for surgery."

I'll skip a lot of the details of the day, but surgery finally around 4:15 went well.   Dr. B said it was more invasive than originally thought, as he took tissue around it also because he didn't like how it looked.

So now just healing up and preparing for next steps, IF there are next steps at this point.   We met with Dr. Frankel at UTSW and I talked to MD Anderson today........more on that after I hear back from MD Anderson late tomorrow or Wednesday morning.

Thank you for friends and family, and especially for Dasha.   She is a rock through this.    And to Splunk and my co-workers.   I don't think they really know what to make of it so far, but the upper management has been GREAT and very understanding. 
So many people ask about prayer requests and what they can do......so instead of saying "I'm good" like I always do, I'll be more transparent this go around......

1)   The right side of my mouth is still not working.   There is a nerve that is close by, and with past surgeries is stops controlling the bottom right side of my mouth for a few weeks.    So just that it returns to normal at some point.
and 2) for my girls......CC is at the age where she is very worried and concerned, it's the first time either of them have been upset, as they were always too young to ask questions, ect....

Thank you to everyone for your prayers!!!!!

Love-
Mike