I have had the lovely experience of having lymphatic fluid drizzle down my leg while out in public. The area where the tube enters my skin and snakes into the wound became detached from the skin. This happened on my first walk (a total of one tenth of a mile). Before I went for my stroll (shuffle, really) I could see how the skin had adhered to the tube. After the stroll, I could see the hole a bit clearer. This is where the leak occurred.
So, basically, I could not walk without the drip. So, I padded with gauze and was able to function for ½ hour at a time. The pad would saturate, so I just gave up on walking and called the doctor. No walking until this thing is fixed.
In the doctor’s office this Friday, he “milked” the tube, changed out the reservoir, and did a bit of a caulk job using petroleum jelly saturated gauze around the hole. He slapped on some big fat gauze, gave me surgical tape (because the paper tape, and waterproof tape I had kept falling off), and also gave me some wipes to use on my leg when taping up. My mode of operation now is to hope for the best and get back to walking as usual. I may need to change gauze, but hopefully not as often with the modifications made today. The drain comes out when I show less than 20cc drainage a day. I am at 70,
Good news – the pathology report came back clean. So, I have 2 of 13 nodes effected, which puts me at 15% which is not so bad. The only caution he stated was that they do not do as thorough of an inspection with the lymph node dissection, so they could have missed very small cancer cells. (The lymph node biopsy cell analysis was done at a very microscopic level with slides and slices every which way.) So, there is a remote chance that smaller cells went undetected. I realize I am not basking in the glory of the good news. I just feel those little buggers are in me. I don't believe I am "cured". However, it was better than hearing they found many more instances of it.
I am at Stage IIIb which means the cancer travelled, but is not prevalent in any other organs. It is a tricky stage because there is no telling how much went how far. We are at the microscopic level, which medical technology advances have enabled. So, we find cancer earlier, but we don't have a good gauge as to how much is there, and if treated, which treatments are successful and which are not. There is just no real way to measure this. To be more confident that it is erraticated, Interferon was presented as an option, but wasn't pushed by the doctor because of the havoc it plays on the body and the fact that there is "no telling" which patients under treatment have success. A newer drug has been recently approved by the FDA. We also plan to explore that one.
NEXT STEPS: Coordinate a 2nd opinion with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Meet with my surgeon to get my drain removed (next week?). Set up appt with Lymphademic Therapist (get my therapy and stocking.). See my dermatologist Friday for more mole boipsies (yes, I am not done yet.). Look into disability insurance.
PSYCHE: My head is not as drifty. I am moving around better. I feel more positive about being a long-term survivor!
THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE FOR THE CARDS-MASS CARDS-PRAYER SHAWL-FLOWERS-FRUIT-FOOD. AND TO MOM FOR KEEPING ME COMPANY LAST WEEK!
