The (little?) C

Melanoma in situ.  One very scary word; one very good phrase.  I had just read that some cancer doctors are recommending declassifying some "in situ" breast cancers so they are no longer considered to be cancer.  So when the physician's assistant said "melanoma in situ"  I knew the "in situ" was a good thing.  "In situ" means "in position" in Latin; in the context of skin cancer, it means the malignant cells are only on the outer surface of the skin (epidermis).  There is no invasion of the deeper layers, according to info on Cancerconnect.com, so essentially no potential for spread.  But it's still melanoma--"a very different and more dangerous kind of skin cancer" than basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas. Melanoma is much less common than the other types of skin cancer, but far more deadly, accounting for 75 percent of deaths from skin cancer (according to Wikipedia).  And a diagnosis of melanoma in situ is believed to be a precursor for invasive melanoma.  And I knew it was the bad skin cancer because my husband's nephew's mother-in-law has melanoma.  I mistakenly thought it was the "good" skin cancer, but no, it's the "bad" one that spreads.

The Call

I was practicing the flute in the basement when I heard the phone ring; the caller ID gave the name of our dermatologist.  My son had an appointment with her scheduled for later that afternoon (Wed.), so I assumed they were calling with a last-minute change.  But then it turned out the call was for me.  I was expecting results back from the biopsy, but this was a few days earlier than expected.  And they were calling me--I knew that was likely not a good sign; if there had been nothing, they would have waited for me to call them.  The physician's assistant was very professional--it can't be easy to call someone knowing you have to tell them over the phone that they have cancer.  She paused, asked for my birth date to confirm my identity, then said something like "I have some information I need to give you".  I heard the words melanoma in situ--the bad and the good.  She emphasized the good news of "in situ" (which as I note above I had read about recently so was able to absorb the info a bit better).  She gave me the name of the doctor and surgery center I should call--no immediate need, but surgery should be done soon.  I called the surgery center as soon as I got off the phone; the first available surgery time with the recommended doctor is 2 weeks from today.  The day before our weeklong trip to Va Beach.  The scheduler said I should stay local for a week after the surgery; I mentioned the beach trip and she said as long as I could get back home within 3 hours in case of an emergency it was OK.  It's longer than 3 hours, but I didn't want to postpone the surgery, so I said getting back in 3 hours was no problem (yes it is, there's no way it's a 3-hour trip; more like 5).

I went back to practicing my flute--I hate interrupting my practice because the flute gets cold and my embouchure seems to lose something and it's harder to play.  I felt queasy and could feel my heart beating faster.  But the queasiness could stem from the fact that I was sitting on the basement carpet while I was on the phone, and was inhaling the fumes from cat and dog pee and all the chemicals I've applied to the carpet trying to get rid of the cat and dog pee.  Or maybe it was the words "melanoma in situ".