I’ve been sitting in the waiting room at Emory most of the day today.  Kevin had a pre-surgical procedure to identify which lymph nodes would be removed and tested, and then the actual surgery to remove the melanoma and the sentinel lymph nodes.

Dr. C just came out and told me that the surgery went great, he’s in recovery, and I’ll get to see him soon.  He is hopeful that the cancer hasn’t spread because the lymph nodes were so small, but will wait to get the results from the lab next week.  The melanoma had already grown more since Dr. C had last seen Kevin, so it sounds likely that we will next be heading to a medical oncologist named Dr. S (Dr. C is a surgical oncologist).  Dr. S will probably be discussing treatment options with us to prevent a recurrence and to seek out any rogue cancer cells that may have spread through the body (since they can spread through the blood stream in addition to spreading through the lymphatic system).  Based on the aggressive nature of Kevin’s lesion, this is starting to seem likely, so we will brace ourselves for that and lean on friends and family and continue to watch and pray.

I’ll be able to see Kevin in a few minutes hopefully and then will be advised about home care and hopefully hear about when I can bring him home.  We’ve got some great friends coming over tonight to help out with house stuff, and after a few days, Kevin should be feeling okay.  We honestly want to keep ourselves busy so as not to just be alone with our thoughts, so having all the house stuff to focus on is probably a good thing.  I will keep everyone posted.  Thank you all again so much for all your love and prayers and just standing in the gap for us.

Love you all,

Rachel