I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma under my thumbnail on July 21, 2021.  For those of you who have been following my cancer journey, you know that I am a surgeon who became at patient and then documented my journey in this blog.  After undergoing surgery, I completed a yearlong treatment plan of chemoimmunotherapy infusions, having completed my last infusion on June 29, 2022.  I continue to keep those following my journey updated, and I am happy to announce that my most recent lab work and scans were completed on September 29, 2022, and all were found to be completely normal and clear. Thanks for your support! I would like to share with you today a melanoma story about one of my favorite patients (with his permission) and then will end this blog with a few personal updates.

I have a patient named Tom who has had nasal obstruction and breathing difficulties for a long time. Just a couple of weeks ago, I performed a successful operation on him to restore his nasal breathing. However, we share a somewhat personal bond now, and his story is one that brings me a lot of hope, and to be honest, a little bit of anxiety. You see Tom has been my patient for 20 years…I have been treating his melanoma for 20 years. We have been through similar journeys, and our physician-patient relationship is now so special, with me now walking in his shoes to some degree.

Tom came to me 20 years ago in February of 2002 with a pigmented lesion of his left ear. As his surgeon, I performed a wide local excision of part of his left ear followed by lymphoscintigraphy to identify his sentinel node, and then I performed a sentinel node biopsy, which involved an operation called superficial parotidectomy to access his sentinel node. At that time, his sentinel node pathology was found to be negative for any melanoma cells. This was a very similar operation to the one I had on August 4, 2021, having my melanoma resected on my hand and then a sampling of sentinel nodes in my axilla(or armpit). Tom did well for the next 10 years, but then developed recurrent melanoma at his original primary site on the left ear. He then had to undergo partial amputation of his left ear with much wider margins in 2012. At the time, I was out recovering from back surgery, and that procedure was performed by another surgeon. Two years later, in 2014, he was had recurrent melanoma in a paratracheal node (upper chest) which was removed. He then underwent treatment with a drug named Yervoy, or ipilimumab, with a series of infusions like mine. Yervoy was a promising melanoma drug at the time, that was FDA approved in 2011, and was being used to treat patients with more advanced melanoma. It was the first breakthrough immunotherapy drug used for melanoma, and now several others have been approved. Later in 2014, after completing his Yervoy infusions, he was very frustrated because his surgical ear had so much deformity that he could not even wear his glasses, so I performed a functional reconstruction of his upper ear, which allowed him to wear glasses easier. To this day, 20 years later from his first melanoma diagnosis, Tom remains free of melanoma.

As you can read, Tom and I have been through so much together. He is a reminder to me that melanoma is a finicky disease, which often time does not behave in a very predictable way; however, he is also a reminder of hope and inspiration through his perseverance over so many years and victory over cancer.  We have had long and very transparent discussions about our journeys, and we both agree that our battles with cancer have been victorious to this day through good medical doctors and medical breakthroughs, along the way feeling blessed by God to have been given second chances. Tom, when you read this, know that I thank you for allowing me to be part of your care team and I love you for all that you mean to me!  Now enjoy breathing better and go smell the roses after that successful nasal operation.

Personally, I want to share just a few updates in my life, as I know many of my patients follow this blog. Kellee and I celebrated my completion of my yearlong chemoimmunotherapy treatments followed by clear scans with a trip to Maine, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard. I thank God every day that He blessed me with Kellee as my wife. My son, Dr. Gray Bryant, and his wife, Dr. Molly Hanna Bryant, started their medical residencies at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in July. Both are compassionate human beings with brilliant minds, and I know they will be fine physicians when they complete their training. Our family continues to grow, as my daughter Alex (husband Brad Bars) gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Caroline Lee Bars, our third grandchild on September 20, 2022. Finally, as many of you know, Dr. Scott Fortune and I have trained and practiced together since the 1980’s, and he nominated me for an award given through our American Academy of Otolaryngology. It was an honor to receive the 2022 BOG Practitioner of Excellence Award, and I was honored to attend our 2022 American Academy of Otolaryngology- Head and Surgery Annual Meeting, where I received my award with Dr. Fortune being present. I have attached the link below for anyone interested.

https://bulletin.entnet.org/home/article/22353190/2022-bog-awards

Thanks for reading. Melanoma awareness is near and dear to my heart.  I plan to mention some ways you can help in future blogs to support current and future melanoma patients and research.  May God bless you!