Breast Exam Followup

Two hours, two squishes, two ultrasounds later and I'm finally out if there! Good lord that was trying!! So it's true. The right side is also in full mutiny. The good news? Due to my "history" it's just dubbed "simple" and I head home for another year! Yeah. No 6 month follow up!! I guess 6 years of continued visits and revisits have jaded me and I figured this would be the outcome.

Guess I should count myself lucky that they worry so much about the girls.

So on that note I'll be thankful for the pain in the ass that these exams are in that they can save a life with early detection.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of the lovely boobies and exams, I brought home the lovely BB Pasties today :D

They are sooo pretty, don't you think - they crack me up every time!  I mean, really folks, are the flowers supposed to make me feel better that you're flopping the girls all over the place and placing them in a vice grip while telling me to "hold still".... hum... even if I wiggle, the girl in the vice is going no where anytime soon!!!  Yowza!!  I also brought home a home exam shower card for the not so little girl to know what to look for.  Ah, the joys of being a girl, eh?

Cancer Awareness

Saturday I went to a cancer study that I had signed up for in the summer... a LONG time back, however I was feeling that I should give back to the world in some way at that point and mom had spotted this blurb in the paper about a cancer study. She couldn't participate due to age - they wanted people in the study for long term - still not sure what that REALLY means as it was never really spelled out in years.

Fast forward to Tuesday; I get a phone call asking me to come back for a follow-up mammogram and ultrasound with the local Imaging Center. Ok, this isn't THAT shocking as I have had one aspiration and multiple checks on the left since 2007. It was funny because when I called to set up a routine mammogram they ask when my last one was and I said a year ago in July ... she looks and looks and looks and states, no, the last one you had was in 2007. She came back on the line with an "oh, wait, I see, you have had diagnostics every year since then." Yep, that's me and my very loved and examined left breast. Sigh.

I go in and they have changed their approach, there is no more draping of the teeny tiny top. No sir, now you go in with bare breasts and let's face it gals, there is no modesty in those teeny tiny tops anyway... they are a joke to modesty!

I finally had a "normal" mammogram, no ultrasounds, no extra decorated BB dots on odd spots of my breast that when pressed with that vise grip leaves divots that last a full day. Those same said BB's that I tease the technicians that if they squeeze ANY harder will shoot across the room and take an eye out and I can't be held responsible for that! While we're on the topic of those BB-Band-Aids - who in their right mind thought they should be decorated with flowers... I laughed and told Butch one day I was going to wear those bad boys home to him - hahahaha. I'm sure he would really appreciate the little flowers more than I do.

Anyway, I digress. I got the call on Tuesday for a follow up and the message was a little garbled and asking me for follow up and right. Ok, that can't be right. The left has known issues that are always getting more and more attention. So, I have Angela listen to the message and ask her, "did she say "RIGHT"?" To which the child was mortified... but with a 14 year old having boobs now, this is the perfect time to discuss self-exams, etc.. Then I start feeling my boobs and muttering "right?" Hum... I don't feel a thing. She walked out shaking her head - poor child will be scared for life with the things she sees/hears around me, I'm sure!

So... the exam is set (27th), the Right shall join the team of "problem children" and we'll see how this one plays out as I still can't find the "issue"... watch, I'm going to go in, they'll try to find where this mystery spot is on the right and find they mismarked stuff and it IS the left!! Ha!

Until then I'll continue to look like I have a boob fetish and randomly feel around my right breast for this mystery lump/bump/issue - ha!

A shot In the foot

Stylish, don't you think? I finally gave up after fighting Plantar Fasciitis for a bit over two years off and on, I gave up and went to the podiatrist. After a shot in the foot and a stylish boot to wear at night to hopefully resolve the issue. Lets hope this des the trick. I wait two weeks and go back to see how I'm recovering. Fun, fun, fun. Gettin older sucks. Just sayin. :(

Day 5 post - op and almost back to "normal"

Not too happy after a HOT day on the band practice field to catch up on what she missed with the tooth removal.

maybe she won't flub it all tomorrow at "official" band practice?  Hum... follow the leader Liz, follow the leader!

Liz has lost her wisdom...

Wisdom teeth that is.. poor Liz!  She went in last Wednesday to have it done.  It went OK for her, but she sure puffed up like she's hoarding marshmallows!

 Shhhh - you're not supposed to take pictures in there :)  Couldn't resist!

 All trussed up and ready to go!  No IV just yet.. but it's coming soon!

 AFTER - no more wisdom teeth!  Not sure where the before is... somewhere in my archives of stuff :D

 Looping our way home... NOT happy with my taking a picture of her at the stop light!

 Settled into the bed her little sister kindly set up for her... favorite blanket and all - ah, the life!

 Later in Day 1 when she can actually walk better and not 'tilt' so much - ha!  Slightly puffy... but not bad.

 REALLY puffy on day 2 - we did the walking thing a bit... get out and move and get out of the house...

Day three - either I'm adjusting to the new "look" or she's going down just a bit on the puff factor.  She's able to eat easy to chew things - even wanted and was given hash browns for dinner tonight :o)  Ah, to be the injured spoiled one.

I QUIT!

Well, I finally did something I had been thinking of doing for quite some time.  I quit!
Quit what?  One of my outside jobs.  I had been saying for quite a while I wanted to do just that and an incident over the weekend was pretty much the clincher to let me know it was time.  Time to quit getting upset, time to quit stressing and time to move on. 
So... I took a deep breath and did it - I quit.  I did it as nicely as I could.  I hate conflict which is why I guess I had avoided the inevitable for as long as I did.  There had been incidents in the past that had me flustered, enough so to get mom to asking why didn't I just quit.  The weekend incident was the kicker.  I don't typically work on Saturday's at all, however due to a snafu on Friday, I left my folder at the house and knew I wouldn't get a chance to get to that shop becuase of their hours until Wednesday or Thursday the next week and I was the one that didn't want to do that. 
In hind sight I should have just stuck to my original working hours and acknowledged that there was a snafu on the delivery and arrange for a later delivery - everyone is told to not tell their customers of delivery because it is ALWAYS "if the rivers don't rise and the kids don't have issues" and in this case I didn't have the luxury of backtracking that day due to kid obligations. 
So.  All in all, I had some guilty feelings due to a pending order, however, in my defense it was a partial order.  Two of the three part had been submitted, however not the third part.  I just wasn't comfortable prolonging the inevitable and I'm not comfortable with shifting orders/partial orders. 
And today?  Well, today was the day I went by to pick up the book and the posters from the shop.  It was uncomfortable.  The owners car was in front of the store, however she was nowhere to be seen.  I gave them the refund and thanked her for the poster and book and sample and left. 

All done.

Ear update....

Last visit I said no more updates, but really, you HAVE to see this.  No more need to warn those with weak stomach's - the ear is looking quite healed.  I know it's not quite there, but I "wear" it and know how tender it still is, but the results on the front are outstanding.

 The back looks bad, but in all reality it is 1,000% better than it's been.  There are still little "lesions" but nothing horrible, and not really notice unless you are morbid and zooming WAY in like I do to see how well it's healing.  To my defense I had a VERY hard time staying out of the pool this weekend, and last weekend as well, staying out of the ocean.  Looking at this now let's me know that every time I have NOT gotten in the water it's been a good choice.

There are a very few spots that are in need of more healing time.  It's almost "normal" on the back now.  I figure in about two or three more weeks it will look as good as the front as it seems to be healing that direction - front to back.  The front looked horrible for a while, and it healed, so there is hope for the back as well.  Now if I could just not SLEEP on it.  There's the million dollar investment - someone needs to invent a way to get a molded ear protector for those having ear surgery to allow them to sleep at night and not crush their poor ears.

Day 13 post op

Ok, I think I need to give up on the idea that I will KNOW what healing looks like.  Just when I think that things are looking good in my eyes, they change and I think everything looks worse.  Weird.
I used to think the side looked really good, but now that I can zoom in on the side, it's ify at best.  There are just spots that to me don't look healthy, then they will surprise me and pink up and look good again. 

I've heard from a number of folks and I'm always surprised to hear that they had something similar, if not worse done to their ear/neck/lip and I have had no clue about it. I guess until you see it in action, you don't know it has occured. I'm a very visual person and looking through the internet on skin grafts for skin cancer were far and few between with NO detailed steps of "this is what it could look like during the healing process." That's what I wanted to see... I want to see what is "normal" what isn't. Is this right, is this wrong, should it look like this and if it looks like this, what is the true story. I like to be able to look something up and know for sure this is what it should look like if it's healing right. That the gross parts you are seeing here and there aren't the end of the world, that it will heal, that it will look better. Just somethign that would show me that at this stage of healing, you're almost on target. And if I'm OFF target, just how bad it is so I can prepare myself for what the outcome will be. I'm still not sure, looking at everything on the websites. I see some shots that look healthier than mine and there is talk of debriding the dead skin off of those... so I wonder at 2 weeks post op - is this normal.

I guess I'll know tomorrow morning as that is when I go back to the doc and they can tell me if this is normal, if I have to have any of the scab removed. If it's all healthy, or only partially healthy. And the countdown continues.

 Case in point, the back.  Just a few days ago, there was a VERY large dark red spot on the lower half that had me convinced that it was necrotic and dead... now looking at it, it's looking better.  Go figure.  My chiropractor will insist it's the light therapy that he gave me on Monday for healing.  Could be, could be.  I won't discount anything at this point.  It ebbs and flows.

Where the Bolt was removed ;)

Well, the neck was unveiled on Friday and not as bad as all that - although the blue stitches leave a little to be desired.

I feel like Evander Holifield.....

Well, as you all know - it's Cinco De Mayo!  Happy Cinco De Mayo Day everyone!!!
 oh, wait, that is NOT the news you were looking for is it? 

Today was the Mohs day and not the good Moe's food place, Mohs surgery. Dr. Sharkey day, and yes, I still chuckle at that too.  I had been looking at some of the options on how they can repair after removal.  Most were noses and such.  Some of the ear ones were pretty drastic with pinning down the ear to allow for blood flow to re-establish to the transfer site.  Some were simple removals, others were not.  I started to get very concerned, so stopped looking.  There you go, way to solve a fear.  Avoid it!  Yep.  I played ostrich for a while there.  Plus, let's think about this logically.  What was I to do, really? Can I change the outcome, can I change the procedure?  Can I truly choose how they will repair was was damaged in my youth?  nope.  So I chose instead to wait.  Why worry about something that's not going to change.  Even *I* can feel the good sized deformity in my ear and my estimates turned out to be right on track on the size and just about how it would all look.

So, why all the rambling?  Well to drop all the VERY graphic pictures off the screen if you so choose to NOT look at them, of course!  Because I debated if the doc would take pictures for me, or allow a nurse to take pictures.  They quite happily agreed to do so for the gory side of me (and my family members).  So, you will get to the see the procedure in almost all it's glory.

You've seen the before, I had estimated it would be a good 1/4 to 1/2 inch of removal.  I was right on target for that.

All marked up and ready to go 

 The doc enjoyed getting up close and personal on these shots :D

 Quite the healthy CHUNK cut out, eh?  YIKES!  I thought INSIDE The lines - nope to the outside.

Good news?  They only had to cut the once (thank goodness) they checked and clean margins in and outside of the removal area.

 The white on the ear?  Well, that would be the piece of skin they had just removed from behind my ear.  Loverly, hu?  could have been worse, they did debate "pinning" the ear - where they take the flap, allow blood flow to remain and have it attached to the head.  Then they come back after it's healed to the ear, and cut it away from behind the ear and sew it all back up again.  Thanks, this looks worse from this perspective, but better than it COULD have been.

All stitched up and almost out the door.

They took an equal size chunk off the other side of my neck.  I didn't get shots of that, however had discovered I could "watch" using my cell phone to see the entire thing in reflection.  Pretty cool.

The WORST news of the day?  I have to keep the graft site DRY and covered in the SAME bandage for a WEEK.  GAG!!!  So - with it being on the ear, the natural thought is how am I to wash my hair?  Now this will be a good trick.  I think I'll get some help in a few days to stand in the shower with the ear covered in plastic and have someone else wash it for me... or maybe resort to the old talcum trick if it comes to it.  They wanted me to wait until the 16th.  Look at a calendar and tell me I didn't immediately say HECK NO!!  That would have been ELEVEN days with this issue of not being able to just jump into the shower.  Eleven days without my wonderful, glorious rain shower, that I will miss so early for the whole seven I will have to wait as it is.

Hair and Ear update

Linda wanted to see what I do with my hair now that it's MY hands and not the hair dresser... the answer is not a lot... I blow dry and go.  I do use a bit of shaping "wax" to get the part to behave, but other than that, it's blow and go.. It's a good thing I prefer a messy look.

The ear is healing nicely - now that it's on the mend just in time to get really wacked apart... poor ear.

The offender(s)

In some ways it doesn't look any worse that just having a biopsy done..

Then you get the side view and note there is a bulge to it... but still you wonder if it's not just the biopsy doing this.

Nope, it's not... it's just a whacked out ear.  I'm thinking that they'll take that whole red area, then another 1/4 inch above and below - I have NO idea how they will fix it, but from diagrams, I think it best NOT to think where they are going to get the skin to cover the gap, thank you very much!

The neck.. this is the strangest one... it looked like this before the biopsy with the slight exception of what looked to be an ingrown hair... so I figured I would just have it removed before it became a cyst like the other two spots I had removed had done (chin and arm)... yeah, good in theory - the skin looked pretty much the same as it does right this second...

The Little C

Why is the word cancer so wrought with fear and concerns.

Today was the results from my biopsy for my ear (aka – holes in my body post)… and it came back as Basal Cell Carcinoma.  I’m met with a lot of sympathy, but I guess of all the cancers, this is the one to have – slow moving – doesn’t spread.  What could be better, I mean if I MUST have it?  Better than the Melanoma since this is the red-headed-step child of cancers.

I can live with that… quite literally as I commented that I had been in last year and was corrected that it had been 2 years.  I guess that’s fairly fast in growth in my book.  2 years ago it was “pre” cancer.. This year it IS cancer.  Crap.

So… I had 4 spots removed.  Chin (non), Ear ©, Neck ©, Arm (non)  So.. I’m at the 50% mark now.  I had one frozen off today and one removed… let’s hope that this one does not go to 50/50 as that part that was taken in for exam (back) doesn’t ever see the sun.  If that one is cancer, I’m sunk!

So… there it is folks, the good, the bad and the ugly.  I’ll have a kid take a before picture of my ear… right now it still has the scab from the biopsy… but we’ll still get that one out here posted.

I have holes in my head!

I now have 4 more holes in my head (body to be more exact)  L

My ear has a “notch” out of it…maybe I’m being marked like cattle?  The dermatologist's statement was that he didn’t like what it looked like – then he went back in my chart and it’s been two years… yes, YEARS since I had it burned off originally… sigh.

My poor ear…

But while there, I had him remove three of my “bumps” that bug me… one on my chin (been there for YEARS), one on my neck (new comer) and one on my arm (again, been there for years!)… the one on my leg (new comer) and side (not so new, not so old) will have to wait to the next visit as they won’t do more than x amount a visit…can you say “Cha-CHING”?  Yeah, another ploy to get more money from me, I’m sure!  Oh, well – Thanks insurances companies!

So.. two more weeks, I go back, get the results on the ear and get the other two removed.  Fun, fun, fun.