A Blog 'Virgin' lol!

I have never had a 'Blog' before so please bear with me as this is all new! I will give you a background to why I am here. Last year I was getting terrible pain in the heel of my right foot. I couldn't see why but it got so bad that I went to my GP who diagnosed Plantar Facsiatis(inflammation of ligament in calf to foot). As I worked at the local hospital he said it was common in NHS workers who were on their feet all day. I stood for 7 hours a day working in the Main Reception in the Path Lab. He said to 'fast track' through Occupational Health for Physio. Well, I was just too busy and put up with the pain and found ways of easing it so put off booking the physio. May this year I finally got around to booking my first appt and happened to see the Senior Physio. When I took off my socks for her to examine my ankle etc she suddenly stopped at a mark on my ankle and asked me if my GP had seen it? I said no because it had started like a little freckle and then over time had become like a 'blood blister'. It didn't irritate me, bleed etc so I just thought nothing of it and thought I might have knocked my heel at some time to cause it. She was quite insistant that I let my GP take a look at it before our next appt 2 weeks later. Well, the first week went by and I did nothing but then I thought "blast, she will ask me on Tues if I've been to the GP, I had better see if I can get an appt for Mon". This I did, in the morning, and showed my GP and said sorry to waste his time but that the Physio had insisted! Well, he examined it and casually said "we will arrange to get this off sooner than later. I don't think it's anything to worry about but I will refer you to the 2 week skin referral clinic at the hospital". I said ok and then went off to do my volunteer stint as a Reiki Practitioner at the local Women's Refuge. I got home 3 hrs later and withing minutes my phone was ringing and it was the clinic at ANOTHER hospital asking if I could go in the following day!! I turned them down because it was too short notice, plus I wanted to go to the clinic at the hospital where I worked. This flummoxed the lady as she had expected me to agree. She then said I would receive an appt through the post. I got one for the following week so worked until my appt time and walked over to the dept. The first person to call me in intoduced herself as "Karen, the Lead Cancer Nurse". AAhh, now this was unexpected. She took my details, asking if I had been sunburnt as a child? Well, yes. Aren't most children at some time?? Had I been sunburnt as an adult? Yes, 32 years ago, Isle of White, honeymoon. Married during the heatwave of '76. When had I first noticed this 'blemish'? To be honest I couldn't really say. It had been with me for a while, maybe up to a year? Couldn't remember as it had never caused me any problems, was just 'there'? What size would I say it was,pea size? Well, we eat marrowfat peas in my house so I said yes. She then asked me to take my sock off so she could see it. She then scrubbed out the 3mm she had written and wrote in large writing 6mm. I then had to have like a sonar machine on it and then she called in the Consultant. He frowned while checking it out and said " I don't like the look of this Chris. I don't like the slight pigmentation or the ragged edges. It needs to come off and biopsied. It's so unusual and in an awkward area. It will be difficult to heal and I am warning you it could very well become infected and become an ulcer( oh great, when do I get the BAD news?), and you won't be able to go back to your job because you just cannot stand for long periods of time anymore. And so the rollercoaster began. I am blessed to have a wonderful friend who is also my business partner who insisted on coming with me to all my appts (she was driving me to them). It was good to have her there to take in what I couldn't. I just told my family and friends that I was having this 'thing' taken off as a precautionary measure, what was the point of worrying everyone until I knew for sure what would be happening? I had the op in Day Surgery 2 weeks later and 11 stitches,steri-strips, dressing and tubi-grip from toes to knee was sent home. Luckily my 18yr old daughter lives with me and had just finished her A levels so she became my nurse while I recovered with my leg up with strict instructions not to put my weight on it too often, my friend also stayed over for the first 2 nights just to keep an eye on me. The following week I went back, supposedly for the results and to have my stitches out. Unfortunately the results hadn't come back even though the Consultant had marked them as urgent. I think my friend was more frustrated than me! He decided to leave the stitches in a further week, so once again I went back the next week. This time he looked serious and said that he had the results and it was malignant melanoma, with a depth of 1.4 and classed as 'intermediate'and it was aggressive. This now changed things in the fact that I would need a wider excision of the original operation site and plastic surgery. He also wanted to check my groin (all this on the NHS!!). He explained about the Sentinal Node Biopsy trials and reccommended I be part of them. He said there were mixed feelings on how effective this was and that it would be explained in more detail by the Plastic Surgeon and it would be my decision. This part of the treatment has to be done at a hospital further away as it has a specialist centre but all follow-up appts would be back at my hopsital. He then asked me if I wanted him to write down any of what he had said or hear it again? As my good friend was in with me we assured him that wouldn't be neccessary. He then put his hand on my arm and said "I'm so sorry Chris", bless him. My friend and I went back to my house and I phoned my parents, then my estranged husband and then my eldest daughter to say that I needed more treatment but it was all just precautionary. My parents were shocked and my OH and daughter worried for me which is what I wanted to avoid. We then opened up a bottle of wine and got very merry for the rest of the evening lol! I saw the Plastic Surgeon the following week who also had a feel in my groin while he explained EXACTLY what he would be doing re the SNB and plastic surgery (ignorance is bliss sometimes). I would also have scans to check my internal organs and "possible further treatment". He said he was marking me down for an urgent appt. That was 2 weeks ago, but what with the Bank Holiday and his Secretary being on holiday for a week everything is a bit behind. After speaking to her on Monday she informed me it would be within a matter of weeks rather than months! This is where I start to get a bit upset. My wonderful 18yr old is off to Uni on the 22nd and originally the plan was that her father and I would take both our cars to ferry her stuff to the Halls of Residence and help her settle in. Then I thought "oh well, get this next op out of the way quickly and I will have to just be a passenger, but at least I can still be with her". But because of the delays the timing is going to suck, I will either be in having it done OR just out recovering on the sofa!! Either way I won't be able to go with her and that upsets me. Oh, and the other thing I discovered is the actual NAME of my melanoma. My GP has had to fill in a form for the insurance company dealing with my loan payments and I picked it up yesterday. To quote "Diagnosis Amelanotic melanoma, Breslow thickness 1.4. Clark Level 4, mitotic rate 4 per sq.mm no ulceration" So, even the MM is not your usual run of the mill one! It's now nearly 3am so I suppose I shoul;d get to bed but my bedtime routine has gone out the window since the diagnosis. I expect I have broken at least one 'rule' for writing blogs, probably the length of it! If so I do aplogise and promise to keep any further entries shorter. Thanks for reading this. It has been great to find this site and fellow 'adventurer's'. take care pheonix