My Nipples are Better then Yours!

Let me start by apologizing for the delay in my blogs as of late.  Life has been kind of busy, a good busy though.  And though I had a rough draft of this post sitting on my computer and was waiting til later to post I received an email from my brother-in-law calling me slacker and telling me to update my blog.  So you can thank him if you have been patiently waiting for this newest post.  So, I would like to dedicate this post to Jeffery since he seems to be doing nothing but sitting at the computer, staring at my blog and constantly refreshing the page, just waiting for something new from me.  Here’s to YOU, JEFF!!!

So all the prayers, good vibes and fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes crossing has worked.  I got the news on Monday that my bone AND cat scans came back NED!! WOOT!! I love NED. I think NED is super.  I’m always so happy when NED comes for a visit.  Days seem sunnier and brighter and life is just more blissful.  HOORAY FOR NED!! So YES my cancer is still gone.  Thought my family and I slightly suspected this to be the case it still is nice to actually get confirmation.  So a HUGE sigh of relief over here and my next scans are in 6 months. 

In other news I had my final procedure, Monday, on my ta-tas.  I had the tattooing done for my areola and nipples to be colored in.  I chose the color fo my lips because I read somewhere that your nipples are the same color as your lips.  True or not I think the color works.  Anyway, I had an 11am appointment with the doctor who was going to be the tattooing.  She assured me that it shouldn’t be to painful and if it was she would shoot my tas up with some Lidocaine.  She started by scraping a sterile needle along the region she would be tattooing to see if I had any sort of sensation.  Aside from slight pressure I felt nothing. SUPER! Away we go.

 So she starts with my left breast and at first all I felt was some pressure, then some vibrations then ZAP! It felt like an electrical jolt was sent down my nerve. I started to wince and grimace and she asked if I needed her to stop and I told her no. I was just going to try to suck it up and see if this little zinger was just a single zap.  Yeah, not even close.  Suddenly I could feel EVERYTHING. My nerves were on FIRE and I could feel the needle going in and out of my skin.  I had tears streaming down my face and all I kept thinking was, “how the hell do people get tattoos? There’s no way!”.  The doctor noticed my tears and stopped and started to reprimand me that I didn’t tell her to stop sooner so she could shoot me up with the Lidocaine.  I thought I could dean with it up but  as she put it, WHY?

 So She numbed me up pretty good and finished up on my left side. She then headed to my right and decided she wasn’t taking any chances and she immediately numbed me out.  This time around I felt pressure, vibrations and every now and then I would get a zap but it was a million times better.  She kept apologizing over and over and I kept telling her that it was fine.  Finally she looked at me and said, “you know what Jame? This is good news! I know it hurts but it means you don’t have as much nerve damage as you thought. Your nerves are trying to get themselves together and come back. They’re just a little confused right now.”  Now this would be lovely all I could respond with was, “Yeah but couldn’t they wait one more day before they decided to start working again?”  This of course made her life and then she frowned.  She needed to do a slight touch up on the left side again and was hoping I was still numb.  Well I wasn’t but I told her to just do it so I could be done with it all. 

Fifteen minutes later I was sitting in the parking lot, in my car sobbing!  I was happy that I got the good news about my scans but then the numbing was wearing off and the pain I felt was just plain nasty.  I called my dad, mom and Kevin, all of whom told me to go home.  But I refused and was adamant that I was going to head into work.  And I did.  I felt sore for the rest of the day and later that night while laying in bed I could feel my nerves zapping and I would get little tremors and jerks.  Kevin though it was because my nerves got a shock and they are trying to get it together and I just thought it was plain annoying. 

So I need to keep the area moist with bacitracin ointment for the next few weeks or else the coloring will scab, fall off and I will have to do it all over again and I refuse.  So I’m being diligent with the care and still feeling a bit sore but it’s my last and final step with all my procedures and surgeries and what not. 

Tonight I am going to my very first acupuncture appointment.  I’ve been told by a slew of people that it’s great and super beneficial so I’ve decided to give it a go.  Let’s see if it can help encourage my ovaries to get it together as well as my hair (which is still taking its sweet time to grow in) and just help with over all general health and well-being.

Also only about 2 more months until Tour de Pink.  If you haven’t donated go do it please!  I still haven’t reached my goal and could use all the help I can get.  In my next blog I will be sure top tell you about the rides that I went on with my brother-in-laws.  Both the rides were quite an experience.  🙂

Love Love Love!

PS…..you can see the AMAZING pics my friend took at my birthday HERE!  She’s THE BEST!!!

A VERY Happy 31st Birthday to ME!

This past weekend I celebrated my 31st birthday.  Honestly my birthday celebration started a few weeks ago when Kevin took me to Disney World in order to celebrate my day.  Kev, my sisters, their families and I all headed down to Disney for an absolutely AMAZING vacation.  Everyday there was a small birthday celebration for me.  From Disney characters wishing me a happy birthday, to the staff at our resort and beyond singing me happy birthday and my family making sure that my FIRST Disney World experience (last time I was there I was about 20 months so it doesn’t count) was absolutely incredible! I HIGHLY recommend everyone doing Disney at least once in their lives.  And if you can go and celebrate a special occasion while you’re down there than DO IT!!! You  can see pics from our vacation HERE.  Kev took a ton of video and as soon as he uploads them I’ll be sure to make them available.

This past weekend I celebrated my actual Birthday.  But first I had to head to the hospital on Friday to get my scans done.  I had my bi-yearly cat and bone scans to check things out and make sure that my cancer is still GONE and I wish I could say it was a quick and easy process but you all should now by now that that’s just not possible.  First my scans were pushed back because there was an emergency at the hospital, no biggie, then I had someone crazy lady who had no clue how to put an IV in.  So when the IV was taken out just before my bone scan I bled through 2 bandages.  It was awesome. (LOTS AND LOTS of sarcasm there).  The IV was pulled, a bandage was slapped on it and they sent me away to wait for an hour. While walking to the waiting room I felt something dripping down my hand.  I went to go wipe my hand on my pants and then figured  I better look at it first.  Yup, that would be BLOOD dripping down my hand and soaking through the bandage.  I headed back into the pre-scan room and pointed to my hand, “Ummm yeah I think you need to do something here.”  I was ushered over to a chair and had a new bandage slapped on it.  I was told to put tons of pressure on it and hold it over my head.  So there I am, arms over my head and pressure on my hand….. DRIP…. “Ummm I think I need a new bandage again.”  A new bandage was put on and I was told that I would be sitting in the room with them until my scans.  I was asked multiple times if I was on a blood thinner and every time I said, ‘Nope, that nurse just has no idea how to put in an IV. That or you don’t know how to pull one.”  I’m a smart ass, I know.  So a few hours later I was on my way home with all my scans done, a new bandage and a nice little hole in my hand.

Saturday I did dinner with Kev, Zanzia and her fiance Tom.  We ate at one of my favorite restaurants, 121! YUM YUM YUM!! After dinner we headed to a local bar where a small gathering of my friends were, to throw me a little “surprise” party.  Sunday My parents took Kev and I to my VERY favorite French restaurant, Le Chateau, for brunch.  I can not begin to tell you just how delicious their food is.  I had THE BEST, crepes and french toast that has EVER been made. Seriously!

After brunch we headed into NYC to meet up with a few of my dear friends.  You see Kristen’s boyfriend is a captain on one of the Circle Line boats and he not only got us a ride on the boat for free, but we had all our meals and drinks comped as well.  I know the Circle Line is a total tourist thing to do but I absolutely love it! You sail around the island and even make your way around The Statue Of Liberty.  It was gorgeous!  After our cruise we wandered around the piers, eating ice-cream and taking picture.  Kristen is an AMAZING photographer and she got awesome shots of us.  I promise to post a link to them once she posts them herself.

Today I received the best birthday gift I could ever ask for.  At 9pm my oncologist called to tell me that he got my bone scans back. ALL CLEAR!!! WOO HOOO!!! So now we wait for my cat scans and Dr. M promised to keep an eye out for them.  So one result back and one more to go.  Fingers crossed!

Love Love Love!

A Call to Action………

Calling all prayers, meditators, chanters, wishful thinkers, positive people, and the hopeful!  I have scans tomorrow to take a peak and confirm that my cancer is still, indeed GONE! So if you all would be so kind as to end all prayers, ju-ju and positive thoughts in this direction I would be most appreciative of it.

My scans come just 2 days before my 31st birthday and if I was to be told that I’m still ALL GOOD, well, that would be THE BEST birthday gift EVER!!!

Love Love Love!