Surgery

Today the Hubs goes under the knife. He is scheduled to have a wide excision on the site where the melanoma was removed and to have nuclear dye injected into that site. The nuclear dye will tell the surgeon which lymph node(s) that mole drained into, and the surgeon will remove that node. The node will be sent for a biopsy. Apparently there are 3-4 pathologists that will read the report, so it will take about a week for us to get the results.

At the consultation, the surgeon soothed our nerves a bit. She said she thought the chances were slim that the cancer had spread to the lymph system. The surgery, however, is still recommended because of his history. I won't rest easy until the pathology comes back clean.

If you're a mom reading this, I beg you...please, please put sunscreen on your kids and reapply every 2 hours. Make sure you put it on under white and other light colored shirts as well (they don't protect against UV rays). Most skin damage is done in childhood - you can prevent what is happening to the Hubs by being diligent with the sunscreen.