Little Vinnies: Part II

A few months ago as I was getting ready for nipple reconstruction surgery, I started to mention a little something about nipple tattooing. Short story is, there's this interesting gent outside Baltimore who started tattooing while in the Army. One morning, he woke up and said to himself, "Self, what you need to do is tattoo nipples back on to ladies who don't have them no more." I'm not sure if that's exactly how the conversation went. But I feel like I'm not that far off. For the slightly longer story, try this ABC news segment from about a month ago.

Being all world-renowned and what-not, Vinnie books up fast. So when I called in early August to schedule with him, today was the first slot he had available. For anyone curious, his shop looks exactly like any other tattoo parlor I've ever been in. No, wait. This one had a pool table in the middle of the lobby area. And it was a lot cleaner. None-the-less, it was in a tiny strip-mall. Sandwiched between a veterinary office and a beer-alcohol-wine-tobacco shop.

Ahh...Maryland.

Vinnie explaining tattoo after-care procedures. Photo expertly cropped by Rob. (Yes, yes those *are* shark teeth in the background.)

And a post-tattoo photo with the artist himself.

Little Vinnies: Part I

Blogspot just kindly reminded me it's been the better part of 6 weeks since I've blogged. I feel like with most blogs that's really not such a big deal. I'm mean, c'mon. Sometimes you just don't have anything that friggin' exciting to write about. Or sometimes life gets in the way and you're too friggin' busy to sit down and write about how friggin' busy you are.  I'm going to claim the latter on this one. And trust me. Even though this is a blog about cancer - no news is almost definitely good news. Honestly, if I have something to b*tch and moan about, y'all be like the second or third to hear about it. You're in the top 5 for certain. 

So I could catch you up on the last 6 weeks worth of awesome. But even just thinking of everything we've been up to kinda makes me tired. I will say this, though. I just wrapped up my second-to-last-ever semester of grad school. There are no words for that 16 week suckfest. Don't get me wrong. The courses were amazing. I now know more about International Social Development than I ever thought I wanted to know. And now consider myself a burgeoning program evaluation guru. (Also, I use words like burgeoning. Correctly and everything.) But that was brutal. I'm talking, "I got a B" brutal. Yea. 

And I'm totally not blaming that "B" on stupid cancer or anything. But! I did have to go back in for another revision surgery during the semester. Of course the week of Thanksgiving - aka "the week before Finals" - was the most logical time to go in for surgery. Paper writing on pain meds... what could possibly go wrong???

Anyway, back to that surgery. On the right side, the inframmary fold had, well, kinda come unfolded. I"ll spare you any images and let you use your imagination (or Google!) on that one. Let's just say, one wasn't as perky as the other. So Dr. M went in and perked her right back up. Not for nothin' - he's used the same inframammary incision on that side 4 times now, and it still heals up like a champ every time. Which is really helping my "I'm part Wolverine" story.

<Side note for anyone who is a) intollerant to morphine, and b) will be in need of morphine any time in the near future. My stomach is always at odds whenever the two happen to meet. To prevent the throw down (in which I inevitably throw up) the lovely hospital folk give me some anti-medics. One of which, this time, was a scopolamine patch to wear behind my ear for 48 hours. And it worked great! I would, however, have appreciated a word of warning that it could, might possibly make my vision blurry. Temporary side-effect that went away within 48 hours of removing the patch. But c'mon - you gotta warn a girl!> 

Now I realize I've rambled on-and-on and have gotten no where near to the subject line of this post. Yup... looks like this was meant to be a two-parter. Stand by for the sequel, Little Vinnies: Part II. Which hopefully will not take another 6 weeks. I make no promises.

Whew!

Well, y'all, we finally made it through Pinktober. And none the worse for wear, I'd say. It is safe once again to go to the grocery store without running into this...

Mmmm....biscuits for the cure!

...and the autoparts store without seeing this...

Huh...pepper spray to cure breast cancer? If only I'd know it was that easy. Kinda makes all that pesky chemo nonsense seem silly now.

...or the breast surgeon's office without this...

Go home, JCPenney, you're drunk.

And while I saw very little of this... 

Fear not, I'll be carrying that torch again next year.

Pipe down!

Now this post is only 4 days overdue. I had grand plans of a Halloween edition Throw-Back Thursday post for you. But ummm....yea...can I still blame this one on chemo brain? No? Okay, fine. Then I'm totally blaming it on being an overwhelmed graduate student. Btw, 9 credits in a semester and an internship and working full-time... maybe not one of my better ideas. I've clocked more hours sitting at this desk in the last month then I care to mention. But! There's only 5 weeks left in the semester. And I'll still graduate on time (have I mentioned May 17th 2014? Mark you calendars!). And I've figured out a brilliant (if I do say so myself) way to redistribute my final course load next semester and do a little traveling. More on that later. 

Left: Halloween 2012. Right: Halloween 2013. Both: Dogs sincerely displeased with their costumes.

Wake me up when Pinktober ends: Part II

So here's a little hodgepodge of things I thought I'd share with you, my dear readers, while I procrastinate the other writing I should be doing right now. 

1. Since Tuesday's celebratory post, I've received some much better suggestions on how to identify the fairly major milestone that is an awesomely cancer-free year. 'Cause Cancer Birthday just doesn't sound quite right. So instead...

Happy 1st Suvivor-versary Day!

or

Happy 1st Survivor Birthday!

But, hey, it's my first time around at this so what the heck do I know? Wait 'til this time next year. I'll have this thing down solid. And speaking of having it down solid...major, major, major high-fives to an awesome young lady we know who has done just that! Congrats on 21 years free of childhood leukemia!

2. Remember that article I shared with you a couple weeks ago? It's been picked up by the Baltimore Sun and shared by the fine folks at Stupid Cancer.

3. And finally, how do you know when it's entirely time for Pinktober to be over with for another year? When you're driving to work and see this license plate.

And your first thought is... BRCA positive??? Why on earth would you announce to everyone on the highway via your license plate that you're positive for the BRCA gene mutation and are predisposed to breast cancer???

Happy...ummm...birthday?

I have officially been cancer-free for 365 days!!! And while out celebrating tonight with the fam, our waiter - Phil - asked if there was a special occasion  for our get-together tonight like a birthday. Well... yeah, I guess it kinda was like a birthday. There was family and cake and candles and gifts. Sounds like a birthday to me. 

Family? Check!

Cake? Check!

So I got to wondering how other people have celebrated an entire year of being foot-loose and cancer-free. In case you're curious, too, here are a few results you get when Googling "how to celebrate 1 year cancer-free". 

• You get oddly specific greeting cards commemorating the occasion.

• You get a list of 20 Ways to Celebrate Cancer Survivorship. With suggestions like:

1. Get a tattoo
2. Plant a tree
3. Organize a blood drive 

•  Then you come across some really well written blogs like this one. And this one, that also includes this comic.

"A Year in the Life of Cancer"

So none of that does much to help answer Phil the Waiters question. But, a birthday? Sure! Why the heck not? Happy 1st Cancer-Birthday to me!

Pink Ribbons and Pink Slips: Day 13

Lucky number 13. What's so lucky about it? you ask. What's lucky is my forlough only lasted 4 days and I've been back at work for a week. Allow me to recap...

Last Saturday, we were partying the night away, celebrating the wedding of these two fine folks.  When, low and behold, our SECDEF had had about enough Congressional foolishness with this shutdown. Shortly thereafter, they passed the Pay Our Military Act, which called my butt back into work bright and early Monday morning. If only ol' Chuck could do something about the rest of the Congressional foolishness. 

Awesome wedding, y'all. You should totally get married more often.

And now I've got to do a little bragging about the good kind of pink ribbons. Today my oldest brother, niece, and her beau participated in the ACS's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. If there's one cancer organization you support this year, let it be the American Cancer Society. They don't play favorites when it comes to cancers ('cause there are no "good" cancers, they all suck!) and I've had the benefit of their programs and services first hand.

How awesome are they?!?

Really hoping that is far less permanent and painful that it looks.

Aaaaaannnnnddddd...remember that Chicago Tribune article I mentioned a couple weeks back? <drum roll please> It's been published!

Click HERE for the full article.

Pink Ribbons and Pink Slips: Day 2

In the true nature of The Big "C" Can Suck It!, I feel a certain obligation to point out the ridiculousness and hilarity of this overlapping Pinktober and Government Shutdown. Of course, my inner social worker won't let me not pass on some good resources as I come across them. Starting with this handy dandy fact sheet on how and when to file for unemployment insurance benefits for my fellow Virginia furlough-ees. So this new mini-series I've titled "Pink Ribbons and Pink Slips" will (hopefully) be helpful, definitely be irreverent, and maybe even a little entertaining. Starting with this...

Is that a young, adorably disheveled Chris O'Dowd? Aka my other pretend boyfriend?

So what have I been doing with myself as I officially approach hour 24 of furlough (our offices were shutdown at noon yesterday)? If you've followed this blog for any amount of time, you already know the answer to that question...

Sick of this meme yet? Yea, me neither.

Wake me up when Pinktober ends.

+

Wait...the federal government is shutting down today AND it's the start of Pinktober? Talk about the double-whammy of suck! In lieu of the ever-present pink ribbon, this year for Breast Cancer Awareness Month I've decided to adopt a logo that I think better represents the suck-fest that is cancer. I think this is a better fit...



Yup, kicked its ass.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't appreciate the pink ribbon sentiment. It's just a little inaccurate. For all of it's fundraising and awareness-raising, the ACA still predicts over 232K new cases of breast cancer in 2013 and almost 40K breast cancer deaths. So, instead of the pink ribbon and, well, pink everything else in the Northern hemisphere, try this on for size this month.

Guess what day it is!

No, it's not actually HUMP DAAAAAAAAAAYYYA! But it is the one year anniversary of my last nasty chemo treatment. Allow me to refresh your memory...

Remember that? It was a good look, right? Right!?! And here we are a whole year later. Like the hair? I grew it myself.

So what else is new? Well...we made it all the way up to Connecticut and visited these fine folk...

Then made the annual pilgrimage to the Eastern Shore...

These dogs are like American Express. Never leave home without them.

And then there was the event at the Pentagon where I got to meet this guy.

Let's see...what else? It feels like I'm missing something...
Oh, yea! Then I was contacted by a reporter from the Chicago Tribune who's read this very blog right here and wants to include my story in an article about young-ish people who have experienced the suckfest that is cancer. Or something like that. I might be paraphrasing a bit. More details on the article (hopefully) to follow.

Post-Op Week 5(ish)

What? I've only been MIA from blogging for three measly weeks. And trust me, you haven't missed anything exciting. Just a six month follow up with Dr. B. That's right, it's been six whole months since my last check up with her. In fact, it had been so long since I'd seen her, I completely forgot that my last appointment with her was pre-exchange surgery. Yea, remember that way back when? So she and I had a lot to catch up on. And she actually spends enough time in the appointment with me to catch up on everything. 'Cause she's awesome. But, long check-up short, everything looks really good and she'll see me in another six months.

And today is my six week post-op check up with Dr. M. I won't actually hit the official six week mark until this Friday, but we have something much better planned for the weekend than sitting around a doctor's office (more on that later). So I'm getting it out of the way early in the week.

Oh! But I do have something slightly exciting to report. And also a pretty darn good excuse for my blogging MIA'ed-ness. My final grades for the Summer semester. 

Just two semesters away from graduation! Mark you calendars for Commencement ceremonies on Saturday May 17th 2014.

Post Op 2 weeks and some change

The last week-ish has been pleasantly uneventful. Thursday was another follow up with Dr. M, who removed the last of the sutures. So the results are looking less and less like franken-nipple. Dr. M for the win! 

He also cleared me to gradually increase activity levels and decrease weight restrictions. So Saturday, we went here...

...were the rocks be trippin'.

High Rock Lookout, MD. I'm told the hang gliding is amazing.

This is gradual enough, right?

"I thought you packed the spray paint???"

Post-Op Day 5

Follow up with Dr. M today and everything is looking fan-freaking-tastic. All of the dressings came off the good twin and most off the evil twin. Though the evil twin is still left with some sutures and the splint. So it kinda looks like this right now...

But by next week's follow up, I should be rid of the remaining sutures and splint as well. And the good twin continues to heal at a record setting pace. Further proof that I just may be part vampire. Ooh! Or maybe part faerie. If I'm not careful, vampire Bill just might try to synthesize my blood...

Cancer humor and True Blood references... where else are you going to find that? I'll tell ya - no where - that's where!

Post-Op Day 3

If you're paying close attention, you may notice post-op days 1 and 2 are missing. You and me both, sister. 'Cause I think they both slipped by me pretty quickly. Time flies when you're still under the influence of anesthesia. But! Friday's procedure came and went with little-to-no excitement. Well, unless you include continuing to beat my personal record for getting kicked out of discharged from the hospital: 6 hours flat this time. 

Pre-op and post-Sharpee. A matching set of "yes" on each clavicle.

Post-op. Clearly still feeling the love of pain meds.

Two days post-ops... goodbye nubbin!

Not pictured above: A fresh, new incision underneath the good twin. There was some asymmetry that hadn't evened out from the exchange surgery in March, so Dr. M re-opened the old scar and swapped out that implant for one that will match the other. Also not pictured here (because this just isn't that kind of blog) the newly constructed nip on the evil twin. The big unveiling won't be until my follow up with Dr. M on Wednesday. Until then it's still "dressed". Complete with plastic splint. You read that right. My new nipple needs a splint. (I guess this is *that* kind of blog.) If you're curious how one creates a nipple where one didn't use to be (or rather, where one *did* use to be but then had to be removed), click HERE. But seriously, it's so not pretty. 

Ahh....now, if I could finally get around to posting all those completely non-surgery related photos from the Fourth. Hope you all had a great holiday!

Deja vu all over again

I had my pre-op phone interview with fine folks of Fairfax Hospital yesterday. Which was pretty quick and easy because it was mostly "Has anything changed since you were here in March?" and "Do you remember where to park?" Yup, same place as last time.

Huh. Not sure how I feel about that. I do kinda feel like me and the anesthesiologist are BFFs by now. I mean, this will make trip number 6 to chemically-induced sleepy town in the last 16 months. Maybe there are frequent flyer miles. Or one of those punch-cards like at the carwash. You know, buy 5 procedures get the 6th one free! That definitely sounds like an amendment to the ACA to me.

Hmmm.... time for a trip down memory lane, shall we? Starting with...

Getting my medi-port in May 4th 2012

Then, the big surgery October 22nd 2012

   

Reconstruction on March 5th 2013

And in just 3 short days I'll bid a fond adieu to the nubbin and put the finishing touches on recontruction.



As Rob would say, "In true Kiki fashion", I just had to squeeze in a summer class before this next procedure. Guess who got herself an "A" in Ethics...


Say it with me now... SUCK IT, CANCER!



July 4th

July 4th may be the day before my next surgery (this will make number 4 for those of you counting along at home), but that's not going to stop us from enjoying the kick-ass fireworks display our neighborhood puts on every year.

Well worth the HOA fees.

If you can't think of a better way to celebrate your independence, 

c'mon out and join us! (Email invite to follow.)

What did you do yesterday?

Did it rhyme with meeting General Colin Powell?

Good, good, good..good vibrations!

The other week, I mentioned Dr. S had me scheduled for a hysteroscopy and I asked you all to send me some good vibes while I'll snoozed my way through the procedure. Short story... you all are awesome, 'cause you're good vibes worked and everything is a-okay! 

The slightly longer story is slightly more graphic, so if that's not your cup of tea stop here at this gratuitous adorable baby pic...

... 6 months old and already half as tall as me. Clearly no blood-relation ;-)

For the rest of you, here's the scoop on the 'scope...

Chemotherapy can potentially send a pre-menopausal woman (as opposed to a pre-menopausal man?) into early and permanent menopause. I'm unsure of the rates and the likelihood - one doc when I was first diagnosed said it was 50/50 (like I couldn't have come up with those odds on my own) - and I'm up to my eyeballs in research for an Ethics class (lethal means restriction in suicidal clients, anyone?), so we'll just go with 50/50 on the whole menopause thing. Amenorrhea during treatment is very common, and can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months post-chemo for a cycle to return. If it's going to.

At roughly the 6 month mark Dr. S (OB/Gyn) wanted to take a little look-see and ordered an ultrasound. The first one showed some ovarian cysts and some endometrium hyperplasia. After a minor freak out on my part, we waited a month and followed up with another ultrasound. The cysts were a lot smaller - suggesting they're going away on their own, as they frequently tend to do. But the second ultrasound still showed the hyperplasia. Which can be an indicator of a small handful of things. One of things it can be is pre-cancerous. So it's a really good idea to take an even closer look-see. 

That all brings us to last week's procedure. Caught up to speed now? Good! So this week I had the follow up appointment with Dr. S to go over what she found - or didn't find - while I was knocked out. She had some awesome news, and some let's-wait-and-see-news. 

First, the awesome news. No signs of uterine cancer! Woohoo! Combine that with a clear pap (screening for cervical cancer) and an a-okay CA125 (blood test for ovarian cancer)... this gal is still foot loose and cancer free!!!

Now, the let's-wait-and-see-news. While Dr. S was all up in my bidness, she said I look post-menopausal. Meaning, the ultrasound images were quite deceiving. What looked on an ultrasound like a very thick endometrium (seriously, you could have stopped at the baby picture up there), IRL is actually quite thin. Evidently this is one of those times when you don't want to be told how thin you look. This trompe l'oeil is likely a side effect of the Tamoxifen. Now all of that is contradictory to hormone blood tests that are all systems go. 

So what does that all mean? Your guess is as good as mine! It could be my system is still shell shocked from all the crap dumped into this last year. And it's just taking a little while to get back to pre-chemo normal. Or it could be that this is part of the post-cancer new normal. But for now, it means we wait and see.

Kinda Crazy. Kinda Awesome.

I have to share something totally wacky with you all. Yesterday was my 18th and final round of treatment (more on that in a minute). In honor of, I rocked my Stupid Cancer shirt to the infusion center, and shared a pic with them on their Facebook page. Which they then shared with their 78K followers...

... and here I am, less than 24 hours later. With 58,621 "likes", 504 "shares", and 973 comments. They weren't kidding when they said it'd go viral. So thanks for all the internet love!

UPDATE: I received a message from Stupid Cancer that mine was their most viral photo ever. Viewed over 4 million times, with 450K likes, 6K comments, and 3.5K shares. Not too shabby.

Now, more on Final. Infusion. Ever. By some wild twist of the universe, not only was yesterday my 18th and final treatment, by it was also the one year anniversary of my very first treatment. 

See, here's I am with nurse Lynn May 31st 2012

And here we are one year later. Don't we look fabulous?

The center didn't have a customary end-of-treatment bell to ring... so I improvised with and iPad app. Sure am going to miss these ladies. The chemo... not so much.

Mom was there to keep me company...

...and take me to lunch.

Then I came home to this...

...and these. What can I say? He's a keeper.

Make it a great Saturday, friends!