Puckered Up Team Strides Again and An Update!

 It's October and I am doing well.  My last check up and MRI in September came back clear.  I am so grateful, relieved, empowered, and supported by my medical team, family, and friends.  This amazing group of people continues to inspire me to power through as each challenge is tackled.  Kicking ass and taking names for each step in this process.  I wish the same for every cancer patient.  Gathering information and getting yourself heard can be so difficult for some.  I hear it, and read it all the time. 

My experience as you all of you know has not been like that.  With Bill by my side, we have checked off so many items on the checklist to good health.  That continues.  Still on Tamoxifen there are continued conversations about what that means long term, how treatment protocols have already changed/advanced this year, what combinations of meds I will need, (do I really have to do another trial of an aromatase inhibitor?), what possible surgery may be pursued, and generally how to live life after chemo, radiation, and eight surgeries.

 

I continue to follow some warriors and send prayers and good vibes to Judy, Brad, Carl, and Pam who continue through their treatment.  Millions of folks with cancer fighting every day.  The American Cancer Society is an organization that helps so many.  Please take a minute to read the note below from my beloved childhood friend Janet Manning Smith about the small part The Puckered Up Team will play to support that organization.  So many of you have been long term supporters.  Thank you for all that you do.

 

Puckered Up for Tracy Team

c/o Janet Smith

11 Prospect Street

Dover, NH  03820

 

UNREMARKABLE!

I am almost 3 months out from my April surgery.  After giving my Flex HD a tightening up to put the implant back where it's supposed to be anatomically, changing out both implants for smaller ones, cleaning out some scar tissue, and getting me all back to rights again I remain unremarkable.  Ha ha!  We had Dr. Ras for the ultrasound guided boob tour.  He was there in 2010 when I had to go back for the added details of my original diagnosis.  Great guy who has a wonderful demeanor and gives you the straight story.  Nothing better than being unremarkable.  He explained the little pocket of fluid - nice and clear.  It's tucked in under a little area of the implant.  Bill says to think of it like an under inflated dodge ball.  Yup kinda that same feeling.  No reason to cause any further disturbance.  Don't want to repeat the Infection Year of 2012!  Getting farther away from that year feels great.

I have some funky stuff still but all easy breezy considering...  Neuropathy that has really been humming.  Whooee!  My fingernails are still coming off again because of all the high dose antibiotics post surgically.  They have the appearance of what I call Casper waves underneath what is left on the nail bed.  I just have to be careful with them as they lift easily.  The trick is to do the gentle emery board over the area to prevent any unintended hookings.  The scars across the breast areas remind me of my situation as one scar leads into another, and the scar tissue does build up again.  It is like continental plates colliding inside me.  I try to think of them of as reminders of how far I've come.  Power surges! 

For all your wonderful thoughts, hugs, kisses, cards, emails, calls and notes thank you.  They do make a difference and three years later they absolutely still fortify me.  Please send your good vibes out to Pam and Brad who are fighting brain cancer.  They fight a horrific fight.

Enjoy the fourth of July!  Celebrate each day!

Deja vu all over again...

June 2010
pre-diagnosis,
puckered skin...

We're baaaaaaaack.

Sort of got taken aback this morning here at EH. One of the pesky residual things left over from Tracy's #8 surgical procedure is what appears to be a pocket of fluid which has not been absorbed over time. Today's fun & games is a trip to the Imaging center in the Women's Health facility here at Exeter Hospital. The plan is to  poke Tracy with a large needle guided by ultrasound to hopefully aspirate any remaining fluid.

Yep - loads of fun there. ( NOT )

June 2013
3 rounds of chemo,
1 round of radiation,
8 surgeries later...

What caught us off guard is that the waiting room the staff put us in is the same room in which we were planted on the day Tracy had her initial biopsy done resulting in her original diagnosis. I asked if they had another room (karma thing). They said no.

Same decorations.  Same plants. Same plum colored johnny. Same nurse. Same couch. Almost three years to the day.

Much to think about as well as be thankful. 2013 is the year we finally are able to climb out if this hole.  

Heartbreak in Boston

April 15, 2013

May you and yours remain safe and sound.

Rocked the Surgical Socks

 Well I got through surgery on Wednesday with flying colors.  Had a reaction to the anesthesia so we closed the place.  Got home and crashed.  Don't even remember leaving the hospital actually.  I had a check up on Friday with Dr. Marble's NP Carol and everything looks good.  I'll see Dr. Marble this Tuesday.  I even got to take a shower this weekend.  Woo hoo!  Got my antiseptic cleanser and hopefully the 2012 year of infections will not repeat in 2013.  Bill remains my everloving care taker and I am trying to be a patient patient.  I have this week off for recovery and all I want to do so far is sleep.  That should ease up in a few days.  I will lay low and be as good as gold.  I just want to be able to get to enjoying a nice spring as the weather eases up.  Thank you all for the lovely out reach.  It always helps to know such an amazing group of folks is out there sending such great vibes my way. 

Spring? My Flex HD has sprung!

Well it's been a mental hurdle to get back on the blog.  I had finished up with all the antibiotics just by August of 2012.  Took a cross country trip with Janet and Abby in October and then it seems the little niggling thoughts kept creeping into my mind.  GI distress had begun to occur - particularly with a vengence right after Christmas.  My present was I got myself a new specialist in GI Dr. Tomkins and her nurse practitioner Heather Lamire.  My mind told me it was a true success to be able to complete a colonscopy.  How many folks do you know who are excited to have one done?  Me!  I passed with flying colors.  Nothing awry just a general disturbance in the force.  Got myself some kind of mutated Norovirus and lucky me it would last more than two months.  I am reminded by everyone on my medical team how sick I was, how my immune system was wiped out, how well I am doing. All points taken.

As fate would have it the last week of February I noticed one day after my shower a physical failure in my left breast.  The implant had begun to head toward my left hip.  The Flex HD had either stretched or failed.  Lucky me to be empowered and knowledgeable...  My team warns you of rejection of parts after a mastectomy.  They coach you through every single phase.  They tell you how common it is to have the reconstructed parts end up in your arm pit.  Well aren't I different?!  Anyhoo, I got assessed again by Drs. McKee and Marble and Howe.  No recurrence thank God. 

So that's where I am.  Thankful.  I will have my 8th surgery tomorrow.  Does it make me sad - yup.  But does it make me take stock in what I have - you better believe it.  I have met two more folks with brain cancer. One of them has to have a feeding tube, maybe permanently.   I've seen  a number of folks in treatment pass away.  I need new implants and some new Flex HD construction. 

I am ok with that.  I am so truly grateful for the strength to get past this.  I am so grateful for all that you do for me.  I am blessed to have such wonderful support, emails, calls, cards, hugs and kisses, texts, and yes now tweets and facebook postings.  Abby built me accounts for the trip and I am trying to figure out how to use them!  Bill or I will update after surgery.  Thanks for the amazing vibes.

Jenn's Doing Great

Jenn finished her radiation on March 1, 2013.  She is doing well.  She has skin that is more fair than mine so the calendula get worked well but she did have a couple of spots that looked like a bad sunburn.  She got all the itchiness that can drive one mad.  Her team follows up with her this month and she may be doing Tamoxifen.  On the lighter side we got her all moved into her new house in Dover.  It's the perfect one for her.  A small cape on a quiet street, a large beautiful yard, room for her, the kids and the dogs!  She is settling in well and marching on through it all like a trooper.

We're still here... Don't worry...

Yeah - been a tad off in posting for the last few months.  One of those things where everything conspires against you. Holidays, life, work, weather, Biz travel, InfoSec Cons, etc..

I / we *promise* to get something more substantial regarding an update out in the next few days / this week.

Oh - and for any weather geeks, we now have a WX cam up and running.  The position has yet to be finalized as I am still designing a weather tight enclosure, but for now - it is looking almost due west out to the back yard. http://www.wunderground.com/webcams/N1TON/1/show.html


Bill