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I haven't kept up with the status of the cancer thing lately. I didn't have any new info for a while, and then I got busy dealing with the new information. When it rains, it pours, eh? I'm not sure what I said before, so I'm just gonna go over everything I know right now.

The lymph node removed from my left elbow had primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma. It is a cancer of lymph cells that exist in the skin, not of the skin cells themselves. It's not the most aggressive of cancers and we did catch it very early, so the prognosis is extremely good. I'll be doing 4 weeks of radiation therapy to be sure that no cancer cells remain in the area of the biopsy. Beyond that, I'll be watching it closely and seeing the oncologist in January for a follow-up.

I also have a related condition called lymphomatoid papulosis. The jury is out as to precisely how it works on a cellular level, but it is similar to lymphoma except that it poses little threat to my health. There are only two problems with it. The first is that it causes small lesions on my arms and legs, each of which has a small chance to metastasize into a malignant lymphoma. The second is that while there are treatments, it's currently incurable. I can only monitor it and take care of any malignancies that develop as a result.

The radiation has been scheduled so that I can go back to school on schedule, though without much time to settle in. My first appointment is this afternoon. Hopefully life can go back to relative normalcy now.