Please Help!

Do you live in Virginia? Do you know someone who does? I need you to step away from the cat pictures, and the silly Youtube videos for 3 minutes and fill out this form! :-) 

Why, you may ask?

On Thursday a committee in the Virginia General Assembly will consider a bill that would stop teens who are under 18 from using tanning beds. PLEASE consider filling out this form that will be sent to your local delegate that shows your support for this IMPORTANT bill. It takes less than 5 minutes & it has the possibility of helping to protect VA's teens! 5 minutes, folks!

 

https://secure3.convio.net/acscan/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=10104 

 

Some people have mentioned that the form didn't go through. If so, please take an additional 3 minutes and check this page to see who your delegate is and get his/her email address. I know it's a hassle, but please let them hear from you as to why they should vote to pass this bill. Here's the link if you have trouble with the link above: http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/VGAMain?openform

 

Thank you in advance for your help. Let your voice be heard!  

All IS Good!

I just wanted to post a quick update that my scans were totally OK! The lymph node is still there, but it is smaller! My oncologist believes it isn't related to the melanoma at all, but possibly related to trauma from previous surgeries. I couldn't believe it when he told me. I had him repeat it numerous times before it even fully clicked. I went there ready to plan for surgery, so to hear that my oncologist believes I'm still healthy...AWESOME!

Our plan now is to rescan in 6 weeks per clinical trial protocol and continue on!

Thanking all of you for your thoughts, prayers and love during this scary time for my family and I. We greatly appreciate it.

Speaking of my family, I'm sneaking off to spend more time with them!

Thank you again for your prayers and good juju! I greatly appreciate it!

XOXO

The Negative Committee

 

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We all have them, The Negative Committees, that sometimes take up more time than they are typically allowed. Usually my Negative Committee only pops up right around scan time. I acknowledge it and I move on. I am normally good at pushing aside the worries and getting back to my MelaNormal life. I feel like living my life is one of the best ways to get revenge on melanoma. It's my way of telling melanoma it isn't winning. Lately, it's been hard to keep the anxiety away. I'm fine as long as I'm busy, but it's at night when I'm sending my good juju towards my friends that The Negative Committee begins to show her ugly face.

I know why. 

When I was first diagnosed with stage III malignant melanoma, it was a complete surprise. I was not expecting one little mole to turn my entire life upside down. Even after the first surgery I didn't know what I had ahead of me. Through my research and meeting friends online I quickly realized that melanoma is not going to be something I heal from and forget. It's always going to be there. There's always going to be the need for observation. I will forever be a cancer patient. That took a long time for me to grasp. If I'm being honest, sometimes I still don't think I totally grasp it. Thankfully I get to live my life in a way that doesn't force melanoma to be on the front burner anymore. I get to be a healthy daughter, a silly girlfriend, a crazy live-in-girlfriend-not-yet-stepmom to the kiddo, a loving sister (HA! I try, sissy & baby sis!), etc. I am one of the lucky ones.

So, why is the Negative Committee back in session? I am far better off than others! I've hesitated blogging about this, so try to understand...The Negative Committee has been on overtime in my head lately because  seeing my friends advance to stage IV has been very difficult. I'm scared for these people. I ache for their families. And then, late at night, I see myself in their shoes.

People sometimes question why stage III patients receive CT scans so often. This year I saw how important those scans actually are for us. I witnessed how quickly one can go from No Evidence of Disease to stage IV.  Perfect scans, clear for 2 1/2 months, then boom, melanoma in multiple locations. It happens so quickly.

It terrifies me.

I'm not uneducated anymore. I can't hide behind my "it's just skin cancer, it's OK" attitude. I know what it can do and how quickly it can do it.

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Some would tell me that one way to avoid this added anxiety would be to take a step back from all things melanoma, to put melanoma behind me. Well, that's what people don't realize. These people are my friends. Selfishly, their situations terrify me. More importantly, their situations break my hearts because of the ways it changes their lives! These aren't statistics I'm reading about, these are my friends. I cheer for them, I cry for them. I'm going to celebrate with them when they receive the news that they are once again showing no evidence of disease. (And it will happen, girls.) It's that simple.

The Negative Committee has officially outstayed her welcome. Maybe I do need to stop being afraid to dream of No Evidence of Disease

...for all of us.

The Finish Line

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I ran in my first 5K yesterday to raise money for a local war hero, 22, who lost 3 limbs during his third tour in Afghanistan. I have to admit, running isn't as easy for me as it used to be many moons ago. Thanks to my sister's encouragement and that-day-training, I made it...even if it did take me 41 minutes and 7 seconds.

Before the race

I have walked 2 other 5K's, but I never actually ran in one before yesterday. Let me tell you, when I saw that finish line, when I heard those cheers, when I crossed that line, I had to hold back a sob. It was one of the proudest moments I've experienced. I didn't think my body could do that anymore. Thanks to the assistance of my baby sister and my boyfriend, we did it. All of us.

After the race

Once my brain started functioning again, I started thinking that we all have that one finish line we desperately want to cross: We want to be survivors.  We want the treatment, we want that special cure, and we want to return to our normal lives. Sadly, melanoma is not like that. There is no true finish line. There is no cure. We tackle, we treat, and we live. We live with our new type of normal, MelaANormal, Life with Melanoma.

And we win the best prize:

Life.