You can milk anything with nipples

Last week I met with Dr. M for my 3 month-ish (okay, it was more like 11 weeks) post-op follow up. Everything has healed really well from the last surgery... so you know what that means... it's time for the next one!

Next up is nipple reconstruction. Yes, you read that right.

Dr. M will use a local flap, none of that crazy donor site or skin grafting business. I'm scheduled for July 5. Mostly because I'll be finished with my Ethics class by then. And only partly because nothing says Happy Independence Day like a new nip!

I'll be under for about 90 minutes this time. And as a bonus, Dr. M will take my mediport out for me... 'cause after this Friday, I won't be needing it.... ever... again! That's right, my 18th and final dose of Herceptin is just 3 days away.

So, 4 to 6 weeks after the port is out and the new nip is on, I'll have my date with Vinny. Vinny is a former Soldier who tattooed his way through the Army, then eventually found his place as the resident expert on nipple tattooing. Proof positive that you never know where your career will take you.

In the mean time, send me some good vibes today. Dr. S has got me scheduled for a D&C (or, as Mom called it, a dusting & cleaning) with hysteroscopy (hystero-what?) to keep an eye on that endometrium hyperplasia. Whew!

What do we have here?

Why, yes. Yes that is a 4.00 for the semester.

Take that, chemo brain!

Operation "Social Life"

...has been in full effect this past week. It didn't hurt that it was birthday-weekend-apalooza for Rob. 

We started the festivities by catching Chuck and Sean's band StumblKrow.

What down on the farm shindig would be complete without a bonfire...

...and some homemade wine?

Next up was a celebration at Firebirds (the wine bottles are a dead give-away).

Round 3 was ice cream cake...

...with this little guy.

Then it was back to the real world of medical appointments. Last week's ultrasound came back with some good news and some we're not sure what that means so we're going to keep poking around news. The tennis ball sized cyst is now more like a golf ball. Which is a good indicator to leave it the heck alone!

But... this scan and first one both showed adenomatous endometrial hyperplasia. Endo- what? Super common in tamoxifen users who have been on the drug 2 or 3 years. For 4 month tamoxifen users like myself, slightly less common. So the hyperplasia can, possibly, sometimes, on occassion be pre-malignant. And the tamoxifen does double the risk of gynecologic cancers. Now I know double sounds really big and scarey. But when I say double I mean the average risk for a non-tamoxifen user is 0.5 in 1,000. So 1 in 1,000 doesn't sound all that bad. Particular when the rate of reducing BC recurrence is much higher. So the benefit outweighs the risk. See, it's like saving money buying stuff all over again. But it does mean going in for yet another test at the end of the month. Seriously, the poking and prodding never ceases.

So... I celebrated this with a new pair of sandals...



...and dinner with Stacey. Where I ate All. The. Sushi.



It's only weird if it doesn't work

You know those policy analysis and social justice classes I've been slaving away at? Oh yea, those are D.O.N.E. done. As my social work mentor once said "You come up for air at the end with a Masters degree in one hand and no friends in the other." I figure surfacing for random gasps at a social life here and there is better than nothing. So I plan to spend the next three long, luxurious weeks I have off from academia catching up with all of you. My dance card is wide open!

And how have I celebrated this retreat from mental rigours so far? Well, with another ultrasound, natch. No word yet on what's going on in ovary town. Monday-ish, hopefully, for that. But, as the ultrasound imaging place just so happens to be one-in-the-same as last year's mammogram imaging place, I've made it a special point not to park in the same parking spot or sit in the same waiting room chair as last year. Superstitious? Maybe. But it's only weird if it doesn't work, right?