The appointment we were waiting for!

March 29, 2011 - We met with Dr. Brian Clary, Chief of Hepatopancreatobiliary and Oncologic Surgery, at Duke. He looked at my scans and told us that the melanoma in my liver is about 2 inches big. There are three main blood vessels that travel to the liver and the melanoma is located in between two of them. The best way to go about getting it all is to remove half of the liver. No worries, the liver is a regenerative organ and will grow back. Dr. Clary said it could grow back to normal size in as little as 3 week...thats right THREE WEEKS!


Picture 1: Picture of my liver. The dark spot is the melanoma that is appx 2 inches big.
Picture 2: Another picture of my liver. You can see the doctors drawing which shows the part that will be removed.
Picture 3: This is my PET Scan. Melanoma's show up in bright colors on a PET scan. The brain, bladder and kidney's always show up in bright colors but the liver melanoma is the bright spot on the left side of my body in the picture.