M is for Melanoma

This summer is off to a dizzying start! We have enjoyed spending time with Penny, playing outside on the playground or in the pool, or in the cul-de-sac with neighbors and their kids riding bikes with Penny. Family photos, which turned out great. A little movie time with Ashleigh. Fun stuff!

I used the time to schedule my annual physical, and my doctor checked out an unusual mole on my right shoulder that Ashleigh had noticed back in the spring. She referred me to a dermatologist who biopsied the site and it turned out to be a superficial spreading melanoma. The tumor had extended 1.3 mm down into my skin. 

Today I met with a surgeon who will perform a wide area excision on the site to remove any potentially lingering melanocytes, and will do a sentinel lymph node biopsy to ensure the cancer hasn’t spread into my lymphatic system. He said the likelihood of that is low, but still worth checking. He also seemed very positive that the procedures would work out and that I’d be melanoma free afterwards. This has left my head reeling, and even though the outlook is good, I’m still feeling anxious about the whole thing. 

Melanoma is such a weird and sneaky type of cancer. What looks like a mole on your skin can turn out to be so much more. I had never been to a dermatologist before, and I’m glad I took Ashleigh’s advice and got it checked out! 

More info: American Cancer Society

School's Out (24/25)

This school year was full of personal and professional growth for me, and was a year of healing for myself and (I think) many others at school. I learn how to be a teacher more and more each year. Building good relationships with the students is so important, and I think I did a better job with that this year. Our admin was super supportive, and that went a long way toward making things run well and helping teachers maintain motivation throughout the year. 

The 24/25 8th grade students were an amazing group of kids who were curious and fun, and that made teaching them rewarding. One of my science students found my "See The Good" stone someone painted for me a couple of years ago, and hid it on top of my marker board - just out of sight from below. I found it today while I was cleaning up, and even though they have only been gone a couple of days, it made me miss them. 

My classroom is cleaned up and ready for summer, and so am I. So long, 24/25 School Year! You were pretty good, if exhausting at times. 

Breath of The Wild, Breath of Fresh Air

In the first few moments of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you emerge from a cavern into a post apocalyptic Hyrule 100 years after your failed attempt to stop the calamity which had befallen the kingdom. 

You failed. And the world as everyone knew it ended. 

Your friends are long gone, because of you.

Of course, these memories come creeping back as you follow the storyline through the game to its conclusion. From no memory of what happened to the unbearable pain of remembering everything. 

All that can be done is to try to remove the calamity from the kingdom, like excising a cancerous tumor. 

First you have to gain access to the innermost chambers of Hyrule Castle, where you find Calamity Ganon. He's tough! But I did all four of the Guardian Beast dungeons, so he starts with half of his health. Even so, this was a tough fight! 

Once Ganon is defeated, it doesn't end there! Like any good final boss in a video game, he transforms into something larger and more horrible than before. As Dark Beast Ganon, he strides tall, looming close in the field outside of the castle. You are teleported there and are given the magical arrow, the only means of defeating this world-ending terror. From horseback, you must strike several weak points on Dark Beast Ganon's blight riddled body before he destroys the last vestiges of Hyrule's survivors. 

In short, it is brilliant! From the moment you emerge from the cave in the beginning of the game with no memory to the final acknowledgement from Princess Zelda that you are indeed the Hero of Hyrule, Breath of the Wild is a work of art. It took me quite a long time to finish the game, because I wanted to wander the breadth and depth of the kingdom. It is an extraordinary video game experience. A breath of fresh air.