Melanoma and Hemangioma....

Well, life here has gotten very interesting with the two above -ma words (melanoma and hemangioma). First, Ryan went into the dermatologist about two weeks ago about a new mole that appeared on his right upper thigh. It had bled and just didn't look right... Long story short - it ended up being melanoma (skin cancer). Melanoma is crappy... It's pretty much one of the only skin cancers that can metastasize. After the biopsy that the dermatologist did, we learned that Ryan's cancer is 1.4 mm thick, Clark Level IV, and not ulcerated. Basically this means that out of the four stages of melanoma (0-4), Ryan's is currently a 1b. This is pretty good... Unfortunately, it does mean that he has to go in for a wide excision and a sentinel node biopsy. The wide excision is to remove any more cancer cells and will end up being a football shaped incision about 6-7 inches long, 4 cm at the widest point around the mole, and down to the muscle. They will also remove the lymph nodes that primarily receive the lymph fluid from where the mole is and biopsy them to make sure that the cancer hasn't spread to the lymph system.

The dermatologist and the oncology surgeon (Dr. Noyes) both thought that Ryan has a good prognosis. Dr. Noyes said that he only finds more cancer during the excision about 5% of the time and cancer in the nodes about 20% of the time. Hopefully things lean in Ryan's favor because his cancer isn't deep or ulcerated. Melanoma has a really good survival rate if caught early.

This stinks. Actually, really sucks. Ryan and I both have a good feeling that things will turn out good and that he will be fine, but it is such a worry and now will be for a very long time. On Tuesday, we will be talking to Dr. Noyes (he wanted to review the pathology slides). Thursday Ryan goes up to Huntsman Cancer to have radioactive dye injected into the mole to locate the sentinel nodes and then the surgery will be Friday morning. Any and all prayers would be so appreciated....

Poor Emily and her ulcerated hemangioma. We had the pulse dye laser done at the U of U and then we were using an ointment called Regranex (which the dermatologist said was kind of a last resort). It's made with human growth factor and if you don't have insurance (luckily we do), the little, teeny tube is $700!!! We used that for almost two weeks and neither the laser or the Regranex made one bit of difference. In fact, she is developing another ulceration above the huge one, next to the one that healed. I won't post pictures due to the fact that it is nasty, nasty. In fact, she has been on Keflex again because it was infected and it is yet again smelling gross and infected (after 8 days on antibiotics).

We went to LDS Wound Care again last week. They gave us some new ointment to try and new dressings to use. They are wonderful but to tell you the truth, I'm not sure that they know what to do either.

Ryan and I are so ready to find someone else that can help us heal this poor little girl. She is back to screaming during dressing changes (like to the point of holding her breath). It obviously hurts her so much and I'm so afraid that one of these days she is going to end up on IV antibiotics in the hospital.

Sorry for the bummer post... I am going to post some more uplifting pics/info with the kids in the next couple of days. Unfortunately, these two issues have really consumed us over the last little bit.