Queen Awesome's Adventures in Cancerland: World 7

The next morning, I was at Dr Bobyn’s office at 7:45 am armed with a list of questions. When Dr Bobyn came in, he went over the report from the hospital with me. My tests came back with a diagnosis of Superficial Spreading Malignant Melanoma. Now there’s a mouthful!! There are 4 kinds of melanoma. I have the second best. This form of melanoma has a good prognosis. Dr Bobyn explained to me what the course of action would be and what to expect. First, I’d need more blood work and a CT scan. Dr Baliski had told me to expect these tests. Dr Bobyn explained to me that the CT scan would check to see if the cancer had spread and how far. He also explained what would happen during the next surgery. Dr Baliski would be removing more skin and tissue from my arm as well as going in through my left armpit to remove some lymph nodes for additional testing. If all of these tests came back clean, I shouldn’t require any more surgeries. Dr Bobyn also told me that I’d also need to have yearly check up for the rest of my life to monitor me and ensure that the cancer did not return. Any suspicious moles would be removed immediately. My head was spinning again so Dr Bobyn made me a copy of the hospital report as well as a photocopy of some info on skin cancer from one of his medical journals. He gave me a hug, told me that he and Dawn would be thinking of me and made me promise to come in after each test and we’d go over each and every one of them. I feel lucky to have such a caring doctor.



So that’s my story. I have cancer. You may be wondering about my post titles (if you’ve made it this far!!). I’m not sure if it’s because it still hasn’t sunk in or if it’s because I’m a little weird but in my head this journey looks a bit like a videogame. (Yes, I’m straight up nerd!) I feel like I’m making my way through cancerland clearing obstacles and passing tests. And the big bad boss that I’m working towards defeating, it looks a little like a Dr Mario gremlin. But where Mario was sensible in plumber shoes, I’m defeating this villain in heels!