PRAISE GOD!!!! The margins were clear, no more melanoma was found in the surrounding tissues.

Today the plastic surgeon removed the tissue surrounding where the melanomas were removed. Holly had to stay on the sofa all day and keep ice on both incisions for at least 24 hours. She was to do nothing but sit and keep ice on them. Today was Brogan's second birthday, so I made dinner and bought a cake, a quick change of plans after seeing the doctor this morning and hearing his orders. It was good day for Brogan and Grams and Ahmama were here with us to celebrate. Tomorrow Holly goes back to the plastic surgeon to have the dressings changed and hopefully the pathology report will be back. Please pray that the margins are clear of further melanoma and there are no stray cells floating around somewhere in her body. Please continue this prayer even if the margins come back clear. Thank you Lord for leading Holly to have these melanomas found and removed before they had a chance to grow.

Yesterday was the appointment with the plastic surgeon. He said the skin doctor did a good job detecting the small melanomas before they spread. He will excise the tissue surrounding the moles and leave a 5 mm margin all around where the mole was. Then he will make the incision look like a football or an eye, tapered on the ends. This way the circle excised can be covered by stretching the skin and stitching it internally so there is no real scar. He said that there is one chance with melanomas to get all the cancer cells out, if they miss some then that causes the problems. There percentages are with us, online it has a 99% cure rate for stage 0 or in situ melanomas removed properly with margins. They will send the tissue to a pathologist who only does skin to detect any possible cancer cells. If the tissue is clear then all is well, if there is more cancer in the tissue then they go back and create wider margins. The surgery is scheduled for next Wed at 7AM, it will take 2 hours and Holly will be awake.

The doc says this is a warning that Holly has to change her lifestyle. She has to protect herself from the sun, she should not seek to be tan. Proactive preventative measures include not being in the sun between 11 and 3 when 85% of the radiation is coming down, wear UV protective clothing and wear sun screen. Interesting he said SPF is a 1980's scam, that is only designed to reduce UV-B, it is actually UV-A that causes more cancer. So the old SPF 30 sun screen is not actually blocking the cancer causing UV. He said only titanium and zinc oxides block UV-A, these are those white creams on lifegaurds noses. He said that is equivalent to covering yourself in aluminum foil because all the bad stuff is reflected off the metal in the cream. Interesting. He said he understood you cannot live in FL and never be in the sun, but to be smart about her exposure and keep out of direct mid-day sun as much as possible. She can still go to the beach and the pool but the days of baking to get as tan as possible should not occur any longer. If she goes to the beach, lube up with sun screen, stay in the shade during the peak sun hours, and wear UV protective clothes.

Please pray for Holly and her faith, these events of the past two months have been huge tests of her/our faith. Please pray for all the cancer cells to be already gone and for the margins to be clear. Praise God for leading Holly to Dr. Ottusso to find these when they were very small. Praise God for learning about preventative measures to help keep the cancer from coming back and for us to better informed so we can protect our kids.

Hey its Cortney again. I feel obligated to keeping everyone informed on Hollys progress. As you have read Holly has a new challenge, skin melanoma, although the doctor feels it is already gone following removal of two moles, he wants to get the proper margins away from where the moles were. So she sees a plastic surgeon this Tues to get that done. More surgery...

Back to the brain, wow what progress she has made. I think almost all of the side effects are lessening. Her strength is not 100% but is much better, I would guess it is 80% or so, but she really pushes herself and seems to handle it the next day. In the last week we went to Sea World (only for a few hours) to meet some old friends, I worked everyday all day while she cared for the kids, Holly cooked, drove, and planned and executed a birthday party for Sydney and baked an incredible cake. The party was today and I sat back and watched the old Holly acting as if there had been no annie or brain surgery entertaining the room of children, I took a moment and thanked God, the old Holly is almost back. She has really been doing well. The time period for Holly to feel noticeably better occurred during the eighth week post-op. She still has improvement to come before she will be walking miles and going to the gym and scuba diving etc., but the strain to accomplish the basic daily activities is much less. Her mind appears to be clearing and the memory issues are vanishing. She still gets headaches and nerve shots every so often but they are better. The weird brain overloads have not occurred in crowds and driving, at least that she has told me. Overall the eighth week showed lots of improvement and a return to more normal life. As always, Thank you God!!!

Hello bloggers! I hope everyone is having a great day. It is beautiful in Florida today and we are celebrating Sydney Blayne's 4th birthday! I have taken on the task of making a Princess Castle cake. It takes 5 cakes to make the castle. Trust me, brain surgery makes you do CRAZY things :>) I know I smacked you with a new one yesterday. I just thought for those of you who do not pray on a regular basis or only if you have a specific prayer, that maybe I could keep you visiting with the GREAT LORD!!! I didn't really give alot of info about the melanoma's yesterday. I scheduled an appointment with a dermatologist 6 months ago, well before I knew anything about the aneurysm. The appt. was July 31 and I decided that I have been to enough doctor's for awhile and I was going to cancel the appointment and reschedule in another 6 months (FL skin doctors are busy). Cortney and I had round after round about the decision and thankfully he won, I decided to keep the appointment. The doctor removed three moles for biopsy of which two were positive melanoma's. One is located on my inner right leg, appx. 5 inches above the knee. The other is located on my left buttock, right in the panty line. We do not have a copy of the pathology report yet but the doctor states that they are still situ (stage 0), which means they have only invaded the top layer of skin. I will see a plastic surgeon on August 12 to have them both removed. I have only had a "shave" at this point. I am thankful that yet again the Lord has helped me identify an extreme problem at an early enough time to prevent spread. I will be having skin exams every 3 months for many years.

I can hardly believe that is has been 8 weeks tomorrow since I took that dreaded walk into Shands at 6am. The most confusing walk I ever remember. The calmness and peace given by the Lord yet the worry and anticipation given by my earthly flesh. Where I have been over the last 8 weeks has been such a journey! However, my journey was not meant to end with the aneurysm. I am still struggling with where I am being led but I am positive my faith is being tested. My plan was to begin journaling about my aneurysm experience, not only for you bloggers but for myself. However, instead I find myself reaching out once again for prayers from you faithful warriors. I was told over the weekend I have tested positive for two skin melanomas. The good news is they caught it early, the bad news is I have now joined another club no one wants the invite to, the dreaded cancer club. It was deja vu to the aneurysm call as I was biopsed on Thursday and I received the call from the doctor at 7:21 on Friday night. As a reminder, I was contacted by my doctor about the aneurysm at 6:35 on a Friday night. I spent the weekend trying to awake from a nightmare, as the last 8 weeks have been. So, as I learn even more coping mechanisms I will be in touch via blogs. Hopefully, if nothing else, my blogs will touch someone out there and give me strength!

Well my playful hinting to Holly didnt get a blog from her again, YET. Holly had a good two days, she has driven and been up and about. She has to be careful to not overdo. It is difficult to know how much is too much. This week has shown us that she is getting stronger but it is important to not overdo and be down the next day. Sorry for the short blog. Stay tuned she will blog again soon.