Happy Easter!

What's that you say? 

An Easter photo recap?!? 

Well... if you insist!

Anthony went to his first Easter egg hunt. 'Cause there's nothing babies love more than Easter eggs. And silly hats.

Honestly. What good are they if you can't dress 'em up in silly outfits? None at all, I say.

Moxie agreed. But mostly was glad she wasn't the one wearing the silly outfit.

Then {surprise!} Kristen and Ryan drove in from CT. And nothing says Easter like the Macaroni Grill.

Next was Round 1 of Easter/Birthday celebrations. Not pictured here: the birthday boy.

There he is! Along with the birthday girl. I'm pretty sure this caption goes something like "It's your birthday, too? O. M. G. Twinzies!!!"

And now Moxie's turn for the silly outfit. Did she really think she could avoid it?

So it's true. If you're married to someone long enough, you do start dressing alike.

What's that you're holding there, Melanie?

Hey, what you do with your Easter eggs is your business.

Aww... Happy Easter everyone!

What a difference a year makes: Part II

Today isn't actually the anniversary of anything. But tomorrow is. And that's close enough. So.....

On this day one year ago tomorrow (yea, you try doing that math) I had a busy day planned. I was scheduled for my first ever mammogram. And I was preparing for Comps. Comps? you say. Yes, Comps.

Comps (short for Comprehensive Exam) is the bain of every foundation year MSW student's existence. It's a 3 day exam testing your knowledge of everything you've learned in your foundation year. Or, in my case, foundation two years. It's kind of a big deal. If Comps were a t-shirt, it would look like this...

But I was ready. For both tests. My appendix, however, had other plans. It decided we needed to start seeing other people. Namely, the emergency room surgeon. That's right, my completely worthless organ abandoned me. It was all it's not you, it's me and I was all I know!

Needless to say, I did not make it to my mammogram that day. Or to Comps. Fortunately I was able to reschedule both.

And in other news...

Gratuitous adorable baby photo!

What a difference a year makes: Part I

Believe or not, we're coming up on major some cancer anniversaries (or cancerversaries, if you prefer) here. So I thought I'd start a mini-series of "This time last year..." or "Hey, you remember that time..." These are all still working titles, of course. So without further adieu...

Cancerversarie #1: On this day last year, I was sitting in my Gyn's office. I was due for my annual exam and I'd felt something weird in the evil twin the week before while we were vacationing in Puerto Rico. (Of course, we didn't know it was the evil twin yet). Dr. S felt the weirdness, too. Said it was probably nothing, but have it checked out just to be sure. And away I went with an order for a mammogram and ultrasound in hand. 

Boy was she wrong!

Rio Grande, Puerto Rico 15th(ish) March, 2012. Click HERE for the rest of our Puerto Rican adventure.

Happy St. Patty's Day...

...from our furry little leprechauns!

P!nk

As I may or may not have mentioned, Rob surprised me with tickets to see P!nk when she came through DC last night. Because he's awesome. 

What's more awesome? 

Flying over 15,000 people.

What else is awesome? 

7,000 people rocking the same haircut.

Seriously. Me and P!nk...TWINZIES!

Click HERE for the rest of my photo album chock full o' awesomeness from the show. Seriously. She can fly! It's worth a click.

Post-op: Day 7

It's post-op day 7 and I'm sporting some new NCSSS pride..

From the clearance rack, no less.

Post-op: Day 6

Don't worry, you didn't miss much on days 4 and 5. We got our taxes done. Had a big family-style spaghetti dinner. And worked on some home work.

Moxie is really good at literature reviews.

Spring Break (is that what that was?) is truly over. Today was back to work and back to school. Though I have to admit, not wearing yoga pants today was a refreshing change. And probably most appreciated by my co-workers.

Wednesday will be a routine follow up with the surgeon. And Thursday is....P!nk (I'll add a few more !!!!!!! 'cause the one in her name isn't enough.) In honor of her P!nk-ness, here's the song I sang for Rob in the recovery room last week.

I can assure you my nurse, Donna, was not being a little b*tch. She was quite wonderful actually.

Post-op: Day 3

In case you missed it, it snowed here in Virginia two days ago. I thought this was just a really trippy side effect of the anesthesia. But, no. This was honest to goodness snow. Did I mention it's supposed to be 60F tomorrow?

I was still too achey and winey and tired to go play in the snow my first day post-op. But I did do an impressive amount of TV watching. Jealous much? And by day 2 post-op the worst side effect of all had kicked in... cabin fever. Fortunately the 48 hour moratorium on showering had expired. So I made myself half-way presentable (thank you, fashion gods, for bringing leggings back) and Mom and I walked the mall. Well, half of it anyway. And then...more TV watching.

Today was a follow up with my new PCP. Turns out with all these specialists, I've neglected to establish a primary in the last couple years, so I went to see Dr. B. Even though chemo was so last year, pesky little things like anemia and vitamin D deficiency are going strong. So now I can add an iron pill and some extra vitamin D to my daily tamoxifen routine.

Next stop was Herceptin #14. Only 3 more to go. Not that I'm counting or anything. And in honor of Herceptin #14, I'll share with you a video that my breast friend Amy shared with me. She said it reminded her and husband of me. And it reminds me of my Kick Ass Cancer Playlist.

I wish I knew who to give video credit for this, 'cause she's awesome. 

UPDATE: The awesome girl in the video above is Megan K.  You can check out her YouTube channel HERE.

 

Post-op: Day 1

The full suck of surgery didn't start to kick in until about 11:00 last night. Unfortunately it's in full effect this morning. Fortunately I have some good meds and an even better hubby to take care of me. So here's yesterday in pictures...

Post-op photo-op!

Apple juice and graham crackers - breakfast of champions!

I'm trying to bring back the fanny pack. Particularly this one, 'cause it sends pain meds right to the surgical site.

Moxie is an excellent nurse. But she kinda sucks at puzzles on the iPad.

The big 100!

This the 100th post for The big "C" can suck it!

And in other news...This was the weekend before surgery.

So of course it was another CLEAN ALL THE THINGS! weekend.

When I say all the things, I mean All. The. Things. 

Goodbye stuff we don't use but has been taking up room in our house anyway. Enjoy your new life at the Goodwill. Thanks to Macklemore, it won't be long before you find a nice new home.

And! I got another haircut...

My sassy girl  inspiration this time was Charlize Theron...

Twinzies!

Surgery Update

Just finished my pre-surgical phone interview and we are all systems GO! for Tuesday. I'm scheduled for 8:00am and should be under for about 3 hours. And then they're kicking me to curb. Which I'm totally fine with, 'cause I could not get out of there fast enough last time. (In and out in 34 hours...I think I broke the world landspeed record.)

The drill is same as last time...

...I'll be in the Inova Fairfax Hospital Surgery Center. If you're coming by to keep Rob company, park in the Grey Garage for $5. Or use the valet...which is also $5. Rob will be your best point of contact that day, so if you need his contact info email me (preferably sometime before Tuesday, I'll be a little busy that day.)

As of sometime Tuesday afternoon, I'll be home all week. And will probably be really bored. You know, from all the staying hydrated and not lifting anything over 5 pounds. So c'mon by and see me!