We've still got a ways to go

Health updates time, everyone!

First the really good stuff:

1.  The teats are gone!  One of them did not want to pull out as easily as it was supposed to, but it's the same one that had been bothering me from the get-go.  It may have actually caused me some pain upon exit and a profane word or two may have escaped my lips as well.  But Agnes and the Earth Mother are gone!

2.  The stitches and sutures are out, too.  I wasn't expecting that this early, but they removed them.  The doc says everything looks fine and I am healing nicely.  I can go back to work tomorrow.

3.  The scar (just in time) has a name.  I am calling her Beátriz!  It just seems to fit.  The Spanish word for scar is "cicatriz" which is a bit to o obvious in this case for me.  But Beátriz is close enough to that and it retains the felling I want to go for with a marking I'm going to live with for the rest of me life.  Please note that it is not called "Bee-a-triss."  It's "Bay-AH-trees"!  Who would name a scar "Beatrice"?  Please!

4.  After getting checked out, we stopped by both booths, which do need lots of work, but were serviceable for a couple more days.  We made plans for a shifting of stuff to take place over the weekend.  I also found a very tiny bit of Xmas clearance leftover at Wal-Mart.  Not much selection, but I've made silk purses out of bigger sow's ears.

Now for the not-so-good stuff:

It's not over yet.  Sixtus was indeed a big ole lump of cancerous badness, even though I kept hoping that he might be made out of blueberry muffin or something nice.  The earlier inconclusive biopsy had held out some hope that he might have been just a cyst, but it was not to be.  Two of the lymph nodes they removed were cancerous as well.

What this means is that, for the first time in this long, strange journey with cancer, I am actually getting referred to an oncologist.  I never could do anything any way other than bass-ackward.

I'm being referred to one of the largest cancer centers in the region, one which also has a very strong national reputation.  I'm going to be in good hands there.  They also happen to have a nationally-recognized melanoma specialist on staff.

As to what the next steps are--chemo, radiation--I'll know more once I meet with the oncologist.  For the moment, I am trying to look at this as precautionary (to make sure we got it all) and preventative (to make sure nothing else is going to spread).  It makes sense to me to do this.  That's the perspective that I am trying to keep right now, at least until I get more information.

I'll let you know what happens.