Author Archives: Betty's Nemesis

The Situation, 3/3/15

The Summary.
Met with an ear surgeon today. Met with another ear surgeon today. Betty travels more than I do. Insurance sucks.

The Details.
Both my biopsy sites came back positive for Betty. On one hand, not surprising. That’s just my luck lately. On the other, I was surprised to hear they found more cancer in the area they cut last year. Regardless, this does not please me. Betty needs to learn her place, which is out of my body.

As for surgery, it still isn’t a guarantee at this point, but everyone seems to agree surgery followed by radiation is the best option. So I think it’s safe to assume it’s coming. Ear Surgeon #1 says it would be a tag team effort between him (outer ear guy) and Ear Surgeon #2 (ear canal guy). And yes, he did comment about how crazily specialized everyone is.

What this means is that I will have a hole in my head. (Because I need that like I need a hole in the… Never mind. It’s too easy to make jokes.) All the cartilage in the bowl of my ear, plus the skin, and maybe some bone in my head will be gone. The docs probably won’t know how much to remove until they go in.

I should still have a ridge to hang my glasses on, and it should not affect my hearing or balance except temporarily while I heal. Skin grafting might be involved, and as always, the docs want to assure me that they can build me a new ear. I guess people worry about these things? I can see being concerned if it was my nose they had to remove, but I just want Betty out. Priorities, people! I’d rather be alive and freaky looking than pretty but dead.

Surgeon #1 suggested it was okay to say “no more.” To be sick of being cut open and to leave things be or try other treatments. Ha. If this is the best option, then it has to be done. If my ear must be a casualty of war, then I accept it as collateral damage. (Ask me whether I regret typing that while I’m recovering.) 

Surgeon #1 wants me to have another CT scan so he can see what’s left in the area post-biopsy, but as usual, my insurance is balking. I tentatively have the scan scheduled for next week. I’m fairly sure my insurance’s master plan is to fight everything in the hopes I’ll die sooner and they’ll have less to pay out. Fuck insurance right along with Betty.

Surgeon #2 wants me to have my hearing tested in both ears to generate a baseline. Surgical complications could result in hearing issues in my ear that would need treatment over time. Also, if Betty goes deeper into my ear, then eventually it could affect my hearing. So establishing the baseline is important for monitoring changes.

I read an entire book yesterday while on the bus and waiting for appointments, and I drank three cups of coffee because I had to be up at 4 a.m. and didn’t get home until 6 p.m. I’m still exhausted. If this post is incoherent, that’s why.

 

The Situation, 2/23/15

The Summary:

Still waiting on final biopsy results. More surgery is likely. Betty is a mutant has a mutation.

The Details:

The hold up with my next round of treatment apparently is because the lab has yet to finalize my pathology results, and so my doc can’t make final decisions yet. Two samples were sent to the lab – from the same spot as my last recurrence (last May) and from deeper within my ear canal. We don’t know yet which (or if both) came back as abnormal. Oncologist sent the lab an “I’m very disappointed this is taking so long” email yesterday.

Most likely what they’ll do is more extensive surgery.  I’ll probably lose my ear for real this time, followed by radiation. I’ll have a new surgeon too, a head/neck specialist who I’ll meet next week. Whereas in the past, the idea seemed to be to save as much of my ear as possible, now it seems to be to take an ice cream scoop to the area and remove as much as possible in order to save me. I’ll sacrifice an ear if necessary for the chance of a longer life.

Then there’s sort of/but not really good news in that Betty has a particular mutation (BRAF) that occurs in about 50% of melanomas. Last year we didn’t think I had it. Initial tests were negative, but the final/definitive genetic test came back positive. The mutation makes the melanoma extra aggressive and more likely to be deadly (boo!), but it also opens up more drug possibilities (yay!). The drugs are very good at shrinking the tumors, but their effects don’t last long for most people (7-8 months). So the goal for me would be to get rid of as much of Betty as possible before trying them. The less cancer cells I have left in me, the better the odds that the drugs can eradicate Betty.