wild roller coaster ride

The last couple of weeks have been insanely stressful. My father found a lump in his groin that was biopsied to be metastatic malignant melanoma. Further testing shows that it seems to be confined to the one lymph node - no trace so far of a primary site. More testing will be done to rule out a GI or GU origin. Who knew that melanoma could develop on parts of the body that have never seen the sun! My entire family is off to the beach this next week to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. When we return my Dad will begin to attack this cancer problem. He is facing a pretty meticulous surgery to remove the involved lymph node. So far there is no obvious need to chemo or radiation. Anyway, the diagnosis and then waiting to further diagnostic testing to see if this was a death sentence or something treatable has been very nerve wracking.

This week has been so much better! The kids are finishing up school so there has been no homework hassle. I saw my orthodontist on Monday and I actually left fairly happy. This is the first time I have seen him in six months that he hasn't bumped my surgery date. He was pleased with the tooth movement and changed my lower wire to the next to the heaviest wire needed for surgery.

The plan is to bring me back in a few weeks and "slenderize" a couple of lower teeth to facilitate that last little bit of overbite. Then on my next regular appointment the plan it to change out both my upper and lower wires to the wire needed for surgery. He still thinks that I am on track to have my surgery in late fall.