MRI

I had my MRI today and it went well. I wasn't fond of the small cave they put me in or the loud noises that came from within. It is funny, the lab lady tells me to relax and think of sitting on a beach. I'm not sure what beach she goes to, but the beaches I have been to have not had someone banging extremely loud on metal. I had ear plugs and pillows on each side of my head and the machine was still loud. Crazy with all our technology today that they cannot make a machine that is quiet. Anyway, I should have the results on Monday. Please pray for the results to be clean.

My parents arrive tomorrow morning and I am looking forward to spending the weeekend with them before my surgery. It is great that they will be here. It would have been difficult to go through this surgery without them. I am staying positive, but deep down I am nervous about the surgery, so it helps to have them here. Also, all of your offers to help are truly appreciated and I will let you know what we need.

So, one month after my surgery, I will begin my next round of treatment. It is called Leukine (GMCFS). Basically it is supposed to activate cells that help the immune system recognize cancer cells and then kill them. I will be injecting it myself (yep shots again) everyday for 2 weeks and then I'll have 2 weeks off for a year. I'll also be visiting my doctors for blood work and getting CT scans every 3 months and most likely frequent MRIs. I'll also continue to see my dermatologist every 4 months as reoccurances can also be on the skin.

Unfortunately, there hasn't been much progress for treating Stage 4 Melanoma, so there are not a lot of treatment options and all are basically experimental. Because of this, I have incorporated a healthly diet to help my body fight. There is a tremendous amount of information relating to proper nutrition and it's cancer fighting capabilities. I have been on my new diet for 3 weeks and it feels good to be able to do something for my body. After surgery, I will continue with a healthy diet, positive thinking and begin exercise and stress relief regiments. On another day I'll let you know about what my new diet is consisting of. Now, I need to get some sleep.