HILDEBEAST'S Mentor Group, CLOSED! (Page 15)

hoffsquared - 2013-03-17 1:12 PM

Yo Beasties!!

I am recovering from my HM yesterday.  A bit sore and tired.  I had good race, not great but good.

Here is my race report. 

I'm now focused on one of my "A" races for the season.  It's in late May.  So I have about eight weeks to get ramped up and ready!

Hildebeast - 2013-03-19 5:02 PM

This is my posting from my blog today.... I know some of you don't get over there, so here it is...

Well.... so I found out yesterday that I have a melanoma.  I had a funny mole that was growing and I had my dermatologist look at it before Spring break and she agreed she should remove it.  It was sent in for a biopsy, but then she took off a week for her Spring Break, so I had actually kind of forgotten about it... till in the middle of my mid-afternoon class, the secretary at school called me and said the dermatology office had called and I needed to call them back.  Checked my phone, sure enough, it showed 2 calls and a voice mail.  I pretty much knew something was up, who calls that many times for something benign??  Played some phone tag after that and finally got a call back around 4, from the doctor herself... yeah, I knew.  So far the prognosis is good, but I need to see my PCM tomorrow (thankfully I already had an appt scheduled), to get a referral to some kind of surgeon.  She did not get it all, and they still have to excise a pretty big chunk.  Here's the kicker, it's on the side of my knee, like where your ITB would hurt?  Looking at having a 3 inch or so scar and if the skin won't stretch enough to stitch, they  may have to do a skin graft.  WTF?  Oh yeah, and it needs to be done in the next 2 weeks.  They will probably also do a sentinel node biopsy, where they take out the first lymph node that any cancer cells would travel to, just to make sure it isn't metastasizing.  Yeah, so this pretty much sucks for my race schedule.  She told me best case scenario, just stitches and I'd probably be back training 2 weeks after surgery, worst case, a skin graft that won't take, could be 6-8 weeks.  She has recommended a plastic surgeon, but whether or not the Army will go for that instead of some stupid general surgeon they have on staff, who knows.  You can be sure I will be letting them know that I am an athlete, don't mess with my knee!!!!   I drove to my hubby's work as soon as I found out yesterday to tell him, told my son at lunch today, and am telling my daughter in about a half hour.  CANCER SUCKS... ironically, in July I would have been 10 freakin' years cancer free!  Hopefully, this is a minor setback, and all will be over and done with just the surgery.  I will of course, keep you all posted on how things are going, and don't worry, I haven't gone all soft on y'all, YOU best be training and you can bet I will be as long as I can!

wrkinprogress - 2013-03-19 9:04 PM Okeydokey, gang... I'm thinking of putting together a fundraising team for Stand Up To Cancer as a way of doing something useful with my training and racing this year. You can check out their website at standup2cancer.org-- I like the fact that they support collaborative and innovative approaches, and 100% of public funds go towards research. (Plus, it helps that they do an annual telethon, so people might have heard of them!) I can do this solo, of course, but would be more than happy to have others join the fighting fun-- a Beasts Beating Cancer effort, so to speak. Anyone in? If so, let me know and I'll do a little more research to see what we can come up with! (Side note: my Mum and Dad have each beaten cancer twice, and I have way too many friends who've dealt with it...so yeah, my desire to kick cancer's a$$ is definitely personal. )

soccermom15 - 2013-03-20 8:44 AM

I've lost an aunt, an uncle, two cousins, friends and just last week, my FIL all to cancer so I'm with you on kicking cancer's butt.  I'm already doing fundraising for the American Diabetes Association so I don't know how much I'd be able to contribute but let me know if you get a team together and I'll see what I can do. 

Hildebeast - 2013-03-19 5:02 PM

This is my posting from my blog today.... I know some of you don't get over there, so here it is...

Well.... so I found out yesterday that I have a melanoma.  I had a funny mole that was growing and I had my dermatologist look at it before Spring break and she agreed she should remove it.  It was sent in for a biopsy, but then she took off a week for her Spring Break, so I had actually kind of forgotten about it... till in the middle of my mid-afternoon class, the secretary at school called me and said the dermatology office had called and I needed to call them back.  Checked my phone, sure enough, it showed 2 calls and a voice mail.  I pretty much knew something was up, who calls that many times for something benign??  Played some phone tag after that and finally got a call back around 4, from the doctor herself... yeah, I knew.  So far the prognosis is good, but I need to see my PCM tomorrow (thankfully I already had an appt scheduled), to get a referral to some kind of surgeon.  She did not get it all, and they still have to excise a pretty big chunk.  Here's the kicker, it's on the side of my knee, like where your ITB would hurt?  Looking at having a 3 inch or so scar and if the skin won't stretch enough to stitch, they  may have to do a skin graft.  WTF?  Oh yeah, and it needs to be done in the next 2 weeks.  They will probably also do a sentinel node biopsy, where they take out the first lymph node that any cancer cells would travel to, just to make sure it isn't metastasizing.  Yeah, so this pretty much sucks for my race schedule.  She told me best case scenario, just stitches and I'd probably be back training 2 weeks after surgery, worst case, a skin graft that won't take, could be 6-8 weeks.  She has recommended a plastic surgeon, but whether or not the Army will go for that instead of some stupid general surgeon they have on staff, who knows.  You can be sure I will be letting them know that I am an athlete, don't mess with my knee!!!!   I drove to my hubby's work as soon as I found out yesterday to tell him, told my son at lunch today, and am telling my daughter in about a half hour.  CANCER SUCKS... ironically, in July I would have been 10 freakin' years cancer free!  Hopefully, this is a minor setback, and all will be over and done with just the surgery.  I will of course, keep you all posted on how things are going, and don't worry, I haven't gone all soft on y'all, YOU best be training and you can bet I will be as long as I can!

Hildebeast - 2013-03-27 3:36 PM Just got home from my visit to the surgeon... very positive!  My surgery is scheduled for next Thursday, April 4.  He will do the excision of the biopsy area and take out the sentinel lymph node which was my choice.  He said he would have chosen to take it out too, so I feel good about my decision.  I'll have to go in the day before, they will shoot the biopsy area with some kind radioactive stuff that will light up the possible affected lymph node(s) and they will mark them so there will be no digging around looking for them!  Looking at at least 2 weeks downtime, and he said most people take off work for 5 days after!  I don't have that many sick days left!  So hopefully by the Monday after, I'll be good to go back to school even if I have to take it easy...  I should get biopsy results back in 3-5 business days after the surgery, so if the lymphs are clear, I should be good to go!  It should just be a 3" scar or so, very small possibility of having a small skin graft if it seems like the skin is too tight to come together... My doc is the head of cancer surgery dept. and he will be doing my surgery personally, no residents or newbies practicing on me!

Hildebeast - 2013-03-27 3:36 PM Just got home from my visit to the surgeon... very positive!  My surgery is scheduled for next Thursday, April 4.  He will do the excision of the biopsy area and take out the sentinel lymph node which was my choice.  He said he would have chosen to take it out too, so I feel good about my decision.  I'll have to go in the day before, they will shoot the biopsy area with some kind radioactive stuff that will light up the possible affected lymph node(s) and they will mark them so there will be no digging around looking for them!  Looking at at least 2 weeks downtime, and he said most people take off work for 5 days after!  I don't have that many sick days left!  So hopefully by the Monday after, I'll be good to go back to school even if I have to take it easy...  I should get biopsy results back in 3-5 business days after the surgery, so if the lymphs are clear, I should be good to go!  It should just be a 3" scar or so, very small possibility of having a small skin graft if it seems like the skin is too tight to come together... My doc is the head of cancer surgery dept. and he will be doing my surgery personally, no residents or newbies practicing on me!