Sunday, January 27, 2008

Progress


The "way too dark" part of the winter is over already. Now I admit it is cold - about zero. There is plenty of snow. The redpols in my back yard are eating half a pound of sunflower seeds a week.

But there is Daylight! Not enough maybe, but now that we are above seven hours and gaining more than four minutes a day anything seems possible.

I had a follow-up visit with the surgeon this week. Everyone came in to admire my breast (I used to be shy about such things). Actually, it looks better than the good one and I no longer have a matching set but I'm not complaining.

Marilyn said very few women were opting for the short course of radiation (twice a day for five days instead of five times a week for six weeks). I was the third woman in Anchorage to go that route. It is in Phase 3 trials now and is not yet standard therapy. She said when the radiologist said "long term results are unknown" that seemed to scare women off. I never thought twice about it. Marilyn suggested that we health care providers know damn well how little we know about anything and therefore worry about it less. That might well explain my attitude.

I can come up with dozens of questions that can't be answered. What's one more?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

yet another obsession


My mother introduced me to this. The circle knitting loom. This is a variation on the spool with four nails we used as kids to create long, useless yarn cords. I have instructions to actually make stuff with these, but all I do is go around in circles and make simple knitted hats. This is very absorbing and it is hard to stop. There are many groups that collect winter hats, baby hats, and chemo hats. This is fortunate, because I'd be drowning in these things.

I actually wear one of these hats myself and like it very much.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Good Mammogram


I never used to worry about these things. But I don't wait for results anymore. The test was done Friday, and when I looked at it I was worried. On Monday I went to the hospital to pick up the report. A good report!
One dot is the radiopaque thingy over the nipple. There are three gold bead in the incision site.
The stuff I was worried about was just scarring.
So far so good...

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Plan B


I watched "The Simpsons Movie" on DVD this week. Its not as good as the average television episode, but I loved it when they moved to Alaska. They were homeless and penniless when Homer announced, "I always knew I would need a Plan B for my life eventually" and pulled a big poster of Alaska from his pocket.

Yup, it was just like that for me.