My Journey Continues

I am back again. I went for a walk. This is something that I have been doing for several years. I go for a walk in the morning and another in the afternoon, depending on how much energy I have. I take what my body gives me. I tend to push it though...even when it is in the 90s. I probably walk anywhere between 4-5 miles a day between the two walks. Helps me keep my weight down.
Let's see...where was I. Oh, yes..yesterday I went back to the oral surgeon to get the results of my tongue biopsy. What I got was not what I was expecting. What I ended up having is Epithelial Dysplasia along with increased mitotic activity. Here is are links for more info... http://www.maxillofacialcenter.com/precancerDysplasia.html
http://www.phoenix5.org/glossary/mitotic_activity.html
There is also mention of parabasilar hyperplasia and cellular disorientation. It goes on to say that "because dysplasia and carcinoma can occur simultaneously, all lesions diagnosed as dysplasia must eith be removed or monitored with care". So what does all of this mumbo jumbo mean???...well after doing a little research on the ole computer, it means that there are some changes going on with the cells that aren't normal and that if left untreated, could develop into cancer. Luckily, the dysplasia that I have is considered "mild" at this time. That is the "good" news. Now the bad news is that one of the options to get rid of the dysplasia is to have it removed...cut or scraped..whichever terminology you would like to use. Exactly what I don't want to go through again, excopt this time lots worse because of the amount of tongue that they would have to remove. Granted they would not be actually cutting my tongue out but they would be cutting a nice portion of the lower right side of my "licker". The oral surgeon told me that he would removed all of the "bad" areas and then fold the two edges of my tongue together and then suture it. Not something that I would look foward to and my imagination allows me to have a very scary visual of this process. The oral surgeon strongly suggested that I get this done as soon as possible and to wait no longer than the end of this year to do it. Damn, damn, damn....just what I did not want to hear. I sat there listening to each and every word that the oral surgeon had to say. It was really kind of strange and surreal hearing him tell me what I had and what needed to be done. I left there in kind of a shock..a mental numbness, thinking that this can't be real. Obviously someone made a mistake and mixed my slab of tongue up with someone elses slab of tongue. I went home dazed. Once I got home I kept reviewing the piece of paper that the findings were written on. I checked to make sure that I had read it correctly on the third and fourth reading...that it was my name on the report...my date of birth...yes it was me on all counts. I just turned 53 this last June. Way too young to die or to be dealing with something like this. I have too many things that I want to do, too many places that I want to go to...all of these things to share with Veronica. It just can't be...it is someones idea of a really bad joke. I guess it would be proper to mention at this time, what I would call a "public service announcement"...I have always heard stories about people getting sick, getting cancer or some other disease and thinking that it will never happen to me or I am too young for that. I think that if you look inside of yourself honestly, you would have to admit that you have told yourself the same thing. I think that we all have. The unfortunate thing is that it can happen to any one of us, at any time and that there is no rhyme or reason to who it happens to. Then I keep telling myself that if only I had really tried harder to quit smoking even a month sooner..it might have made a difference as to whether I would have got the dysplasia or not. Who knows. After going through everything in my mind, I decided to call Dr. Cross. Dr. Cross is someone that I trust very much. He is an Oncologist that I see for another disease that I have been dealing with...Mast Cell Disease. I was diagnosed with this about 4-5 years ago. There are a couple of types of this disease and mine is the type that is in my bone marrow. It is not considered cancer ansd it is kind of hard to explain. Here is a link that can provide more info on the subject: http://www.tmsforacure.org/patientinfo.shtml
Dr. Cross works at the Virginia Oncology Associates at the Cancer Center that is about 20 minutes from here. I was very lucky to have found Dr. Cross. This Mast Cell Disease is rather rare and not too many doctors have had any experience dealing with patients that have this disease. Luckily, Dr. Cross has. I made an appointment for tomorrow morning to see Dr. Cross and discuss the results of my biopsy with him and to find out if there are any alternative treatments besides cutting out the bad area of my tongue. I will let everyone know how that visit turns out.
Also, after getting home, I thought long and hard whether to even mention any of this to Veronica. I was really torn about this. Part of me did not want to burden her with having to worry about all of this and I figured that I would keep it to myself for the time being or until I absolutely had to tell her. The other part of me wanted to fill her in so that she would not be caught off guard and that I could have someone to talk to about it all. Sometimes those types of choices can be difficult. I decided that it would be best to tell her what was going on and what I found out from the oral surgeon. I have my appointment with Dr. Cross tomorrow morning and Veronica will be going with me. I will make my decision on what I need to do and when I need to do it, by the time I leave Dr. Cross office. I will keep you updated as things transpire. Take care and have a good afternoon. Rick