Be aggressive! Be, be, aggressive!
July 2, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Sometimes I hear high school cheerleaders in my head. And they aren’t particularly good at screaming on key.
Ring, ring, the surgeon called me today.
Stats from the last tumor (son of Diablo): 1.1cm, or .4 inches, mostly clean margins, no breast tissue involved.
The whole thing is very sketchy. Not finding breast tissue confounds the experts. Apparently the invasive nature of the cancer has caused it to invade my skin.
Lucky me has to have surgery next week to have skin removed. Should be quick (she said just a half hour). And since I can’t have radiation again, Dr P from Beanville will call me and discuss what, if any, my options are for chemo.
This last surgery was so easy I went bicycle riding the next day. Being lazy? Nah, that’s for wimps! I did take a pic the other day. Not very safe for public display (nudity of the boob and all), but since I’m trying to be as open as possible, why not just post them on the web?
Here is the picture: you can see the steri-strips covering the incision. The blood isn’t really there, it’s old blood soaked into the steri-strips. I’m suppose to leave them on until they fall off on their own, like a real scab, but this area is often (always) under a bra and not likely to just fall off.
There are also a few spots of scabs on the upper side of the boob. These are where the sensitive skin (thanks radiation) broke open when I removed the dressing the hospital checked me out with. There is also the bruise all around the area of the incision.
Good news is that the original scar that opened up during radiation treatments has healed back up. Thank goodness!
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A special thank you to Laurie. She wrote about how cancer is actually a chronic illness. When I read her post a few days back the meaning didn’t really sink in.
I get it now. Thank you Laurie!
Posted in : cancer
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Get out of the way!
For you Harry Potter fans, imagine Dudley Dursley…
I woke up with the cicadas this morning. It turned out to be a muggy nights, and I didn’t put the AC on. Sleep wasn’t so good.
For breakfast I cooked up a three egg special. Put a thin slice (or two) of ham in a pan. Add three scrambled eggs. Let cook undisturbed for a few minutes. When there is just a little bit of uncooked egg left on top, use a wide spatula to flip the whole thing over. Top with a slice of cheese (I break mine into pieces). When the cheese is just slightly melted, slide the whole concoction onto a soft taco wrap. Roll and eat.
Having this ‘light’ breakfast was hopefully allow me to not feel so dragged down when I went out for a bicycle ride. For the …
Get out there and train!
If the weather is nice, and I can drag my ass out of bed, this will be tomorrow’s bicycle ride.
06/30/2008 RouteFind more Bike Rides in Mashpee, Massachusetts
Then again… sleeping in is sooo tempting!
Riding along
This was my ride this morning. I still don’t have a bike computer (Fedex!!) so actual time, speed, etc., are unknown. It was a nice ride, but today’s weather is pretty muggy (and building).
06/28/2008 RouteFind more Bike Rides in Mashpee, Massachusetts
FYI: “MapMyRide” has a bunch of roads that don’t actually exist, and/or are impassable dirt roads.
The watch ran away with the glasses
I hope you didn’t think that because I didn’t blog first thing this morning that I was somehow down and out.
Who me?
I did wake up particularly early due to the crazy sleep schedule anestesia caused. I don’t usually nap that hard in the middle of the afternoon. This meant I woke up around 3:30am, and rolled out of bed around 4am. I thought to just do one thing, then go back to bed. That second part never happened.
I admit, I was in slo-mo all morning. It took forever to figure out a plan for the day seeing as I didn’t have to go into the office, or at least they weren’t expecting me to go in.
I put on my happy pink bicycle jersey, my new bicycle shorts, attached my underseat bag with patch kit & spare tube, and tucked two shots (1/2 shot …
Surgery Update: Video
You can leave a comment using your webcam and Seesmic. Below the comment box is a link for “Add a video comment. Regular old fashion comments work too.
And we’re off! Our rocker that is.
(Future posted to keep you all from going into blog reading withdrawals…)
I feel like I’m starting yet another faze of cancer treatment.
There was the first faze, let’s call it the “Holy Shit” faze. “Holy Shit” covers the time from “you have cancer” to the first treatment. For me that was from mid-January ‘07 to March 5th ‘07. That’s a long time to be in “Holy Shit”. I blame it on the old people mentality that permeates the area. If you are young, doctor’s have no clue what to do for you.
The next faze was “Phew!”. As in phew! it’s about time we do something! This faze is good because there is ACTION involved. For “Phew” I did a clinical trial that required me to travel to Beanville every week for infusions. I was doing good by participating in …
Last meal
What does a person eat for the last meal before having to fast for (too) many hours?
I haven’t finished eating yet, but strawberry shortcake is on the menu.
I’ll be be stuffing my face right up to the midnight deadline… If I can stay awake!
Soaking success
My travel to the wonderful land of Newport RI went well at the start. I made it there, did my one required stop, but then started to hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.
If there is a 30% chance of rain, there is a 100% chance I will find it.
I pulled Scoot off the road and tried to figure out which direction the clouds were rolling in. The road was wet, so the rain had fallen where I was riding through, but it wasn’t falling that second.
I couldn’t read the clouds, they were in Greek or something, so I decided to just get going. Riding up 117 (24? 77?) back into MA I did get a little sprinkled on, but nothing serious.
First extra stop was the Village Bike shop in Westport. Since the only bike shop’s around Cicadaville are small, this place was palatial. …
Housekeeping entry
No, I’m not cleaning the house today. I’m just cleaning up ideas for the blog.
Today is a travel day. More on that later.
Last night, after much weather radar consulting, we decided to try a bicycle ride along the canal between rain showers. We ended up going in PBJ’s truck because Dolce is bigger then the borrowed Cannondale and requires more rear cargo room then Zippy has (the front passenger seat needs to be more forward then PBJ’s knees allow).
We arrived at the canal’s Sandwich Boat Basin lot. The freezer plant is all torn down and the sky seems larger somehow. Once they clean up the debris, it’s sure to look fantabulous.
We started, then stopped, then started again. PBJ has some rubbing brakes issue that we eventually decided to blame on wet tires. Riding out for the first mile I kept pace with PBJ …
Live From The Field
This cicada hit me on the highway doing 55mph. He didn’t live.
In other news… my CAT scan was clear of cancer. I just have a cyst on my ovary to watch.
If the weather holds, Dolce will be on the canal tonight.
Introducing Dolce
It’s been a very big weekend for me.
Saturday afternoon I was asked to help out a bike friend with a computer thing. My payment was a small dinner.
I spent some time helping my bike friend as she told me about her morning. She had gone bike shopping for herself. She needed something that would be good to ride around in the city.
A little while later, other bike friends arrived and we all headed out to the deck to have appetizers (vegetables with ranch dressing dip. I ate broccoli and cucumbers). Bike friend Terry brought out her new bike and rode around in circles. It’s a big deck.
Robby mentioned that they (Terry & Robby) had picked up some pink bottle cages for me while at the bike store. They said it was to match my pink bike jersey (the Fatcyclist shirt). I stayed …
New Page!
Inspired by Nate, who couldn’t believe a Scooter fit on a highway, I’ve created a “Scooter” page. It has some FAQ’s about my scooter. I’m sure I’ll add more Q’s as people ask them.
See link at top of this page to get to the scooter page.
Sweet!
First thing I did Thursday morning was a short 10 mile bicycle ride. I couldn’t get out of bed as early as some people, but I did finish my ride by 8am.
When I arrived back at home I found my dad picking strawberries. He had one that had a bug bite on one side, so I tried the other side. It had to be the juiciest strawberry I have ever had. I had strawberry juice under my fingernails. The strawberry was finger licking good.
I showered, ate breakfast, and got ready to scooter to Boston. I left with plenty of time because I knew I would have to gas up before I left town. I filled up at the M@bil station, paying an outrageous $4.19/gallon.
I headed for the highway. Driving down route 151 I did my best to dodge cicadas. They seem …
2-Up safer then 7-Up
If some third world countries, the family scooter doubles at the family car. Dad drives, mom is on the back seat holding a child on each hip, and the family dog is between Dad’s feet on the floor boards.
My scooter isn’t dog safe.
I did take my first passenger for a ride today. My mom needed a ride to get her car out of the shop. I pulled my old helmet off the shelf, dusted it off, and had her put it on.
Mom rode passenger all the way from home to Yarmouth. She was surprised to arrive in one piece and thought Scoot sounded like a lawnmower.
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I received a call from the hospital today. My surgery has been finalized for next Thursday. They also want me to stop in tomorrow for a meet & greet with the anesthesiologist. I’ll be asked the 100 top …
