Swimmer Boy

We're doing the milestone count down with Joe. The last Candy Cane meet. The last Groundhog meet. Joe's last high school swim meet. Notice the milestones are all related to swimming.

Joe had an excellent final high school season. He was a captain with Jared and Kyle. He's been swimming with Jared since he was 7 years old.

He also got to swim against Steven in the breaststroke. We've been waiting years for them to be able to swim against each other in high school. It was a hoot to cheer them both on!

Joe finished up his high school swim career setting two Framingham records: 100Free and 200Free. He was also voted MVP.

He was the Bay State Conference Champion in the 200IM and the 100Free. He was also on the winning 200Medley and 200Free relays at Conference.

At the Sectional Championship meet, Joe took 2nd in the 200Free and 4th in the 100Free. He was part of the Framingham 400Free Relay that came in 4th and the 200Free Relay that came in 9th.

At the Division 1 State Championships, he took 4th in the 200Free and 9th in the 100Free. He was also on the 11th place 200Free Relay and the 8th place 400Free Relay.

Both of the 400Free relays at the Sectional and State meets placed in the top 10 from the second heat. That's pretty impressive! As is Joe.

High Honors

Wahoo! Steven did it. He made High Honors during Term 2 of his Freshmen year.

Of course, this meant much more to me than anyone else. I'll admit that I am fixated on good grades. OK - good isn't good enough. I want excellent grades. Luckily, Steven knows to take me with a grain of salt.

Steven is so unlike me in many ways. He sees the good in everyone whereas I'm more likely to view people suspiciously. He won't speak badly about anyone no matter how much I prod him. Darn! I'll never understand how Phil's good guy doo-bee genes somehow dominated my judgemental gossiping genes.

Steven is a sweet boy.

She Won!

Kate's Art teacher, Mrs. Maxwell, submitted Kate's drawing to the Framingham Town Wide PTO t-shirt contest. And Kate won!

Here is her winning design.

We watched Kate agonize over the hands in the center of the design. And getting the lettering just right. The PTO modified the lettering in the final rendering but it's close.

The original is on display at the Framingham Public Library in the Children's Room. We went to the Youth Art Month reception a couple of weeks ago to see the other drawings in the contest. Kate has another piece of art on display at Barnes & Noble in Framingham.

Mrs. Maxwell said she would give Kate flowers if she won. And she stopped by yesterday with a beautiful bouquet.

Junior Prom

Joe went to the prom with Jayno. They went as a swimmer group. Jared with Jill and Josh with Annie. We did before prom pictures at Josh's house. Jayno drove the whole group to/from the prom. They all slept over at Josh's house. I say "slept" but they stayed up the whole night.

A OK

I had my six week follow up yesterday and got the OK to do whatever I want.

I would say my range of motion is at 99.99%. I still have some minor tightness when I attempt to do a swimming streamline. That would be out of the water, thank you.

So I'd say at this point, my "cancer blog" is fini. Thank you to everyone who supported me with emails, cards, hugs, treats, blog comments, and just general kindness. It certainly made a difference.

Back to Work

I started back at work on Monday April 3rd. I haven't quite made it a full day yet. Maybe tomorrow. The big reason that I need to leave early is pain control. It's getting better each day, but still a pain - hahaha.

I also got the A-OK to do strength training with my legs and abs. I religiously do my stretches to gain back my range of motion. I do see improvements every day.

Bonsai

Nora gave me this bonsai with an original haiku:

pruned and healed bonsai
beautiful new growth appears
strong roots bring forth life

She's creative and kind.

Hopefully, I can keep it alive...

Houston Hot House

I got this HUGE bouquet from Robert, Kim and R4. So big that I had to split it into two arrangements.

I guess it's true that everything from Texas is big.

Spring Flowers from Ivy

Ivy came by on Saturday with tulips and daffodils. And cookies, and books, and magazines, and candy, and best of all - a smile. Ivy has been such a great cheerleader for me. It brings a tear to my eye how many people are behind me 100% with only good news and well wishes. I'm so lucky.

Tony and Cho

This bright bouquet came from Phil's boss and his wife.

Helicos Bouquet

These beautiful flowers came from my friends and colleagues at my new company Helicos BioSciences. http://www.helicosbio.com

Tulips from Angela

Excellent News!

I had my post-op followup appt today and I'm cancer free! My pathology results indicated that my lymph nodes were negative for any cancer cells. The results also indicated that there was DCIS in other areas of my breast so the mastectomy was a good idea. I won't need any further treatment. wahoo!

My risk of developing cancer of any form in my left breast is 1% more per year than the average person. I will continue with yearly screenings as normal.

So here's how the appt went down. Karen, the nurse practioner, removed the plastic bandage over my wound. That was like having about 5 big bandaids torn off - even though she was very gentle. But at least that pain was gone just as fast as it happened. Next came the drain removal which I had obsessed about since breakfast. At least I only started freaking out a few hours beforehand. As it turned out, Phil was cracking a joke as Karen removed the drain and I didn't even notice it was out. All that worrying for nothing. To be honest, I was more concerned about that #@$!%^ drain than the pathology results. I guess there are two types of drain tubing - fenestrated and then the kind I had. Fenestrated tubing hurts to be removed since it has little windows in it. That's my guess anyway.

I had to come home from the appt and take a nap since I was so wound up prior to getting the drain and bandage removed.

The other news was that I need to "break the pain cycle." I had stopped taking any pain meds even though I still had some minor pain. This minor pain was hindering my movement and thus my recovery. Dr I said that it was important to be pain free so that my central nervous system didn't think I always had pain which would slow down my recovery and potentially lead into a chronic pain situation.

So I'm back on narcs interleaved with alleve. It really is nice not to have any pain. Joe has become my chauffeur for the time being since drugs and driving don't mix.

I'm soooo looking forward to a solid night of sleep.

I have a followup appt at the end of April and at that point I can be fitted with a prosthetic.

R & R

So for the past few days, I've been recovering. This translates to sitting on the couch watching hours of TV and DVDs. [Keep in mind that we have no cable.]I've also been visiting with family and friends and taking naps. And I pick up the occasional magazine but don't seem to have the attention span yet for a book. My latest cover to cover accomplishment was Star magazine. It was great! Now I know what NOT to wear to the Oscars.

My back actually hurts because of so much inactivity. I'm hoping Phil will have time to take me once around the block this afternoon. Even though it's cold out there, I'm willing to give it a whirl. I started my stretching exercises to get back range of motion. Right now these are just "wall climb" stretches.

I actually put the timer on for 15 minutes and did a little de-cluttering around the house. Seeing nice clean counters and other flat surfaces makes me feel in control.

I haven't had to cook since I got home Wednesday. So many people have come over with wonderful meals or take out gift certificates. This is great because Phil is stretched pretty thin keeping up on the house and kid chores. And of course, waiting on me hand and foot. Today Joe made me a grilled cheese for lunch since Phil, Kate and Steve were out.

I'll post more pictures of the beautiful flowers that I've received as soon as the loopiness wears off. I'm down to a half painkiller alternating with 2 xtra strength tylenols every 6 hours. Today I've had zero pain but I think I'm also getting better at avoiding the things that cause me pain (e.g., getting up the wrong way.)

I think the next stage of recovery for me is to keep moving and getting back my range of motion. No weight training or vigorous cardio until I have the drain removed. I have to make my first post-op visit this coming week. Hopefully, the drain will be removed and I'll get my pathology results.

Amazon Warrior

Yes - I made it. Joe thought I was just like an Amazon Warrior since they would cut off their breast in order to be better archers. I'm not sure if I'll take up archery quite yet.

So here's how the day went. We arrived at the hospital with time to spare for our 9AM check in. My surgery had been moved up to 10:30AM from 11:30AM so right after I checked in at day surgery I had to go to nuclear medicine. When I got there, I didn't have a B&W blue card, so had to go to patient registration. By this time, I was getting antsy about getting the sentinel node done in time for the surgery. I was so flustered that I couldn't figure out the sign in log. The only rude person I met the whole day was the registration lady who said, "Hellllloooo, you put your name HERE."

Once I got my blue card, we rushed back to nuclear medicine to sit for an hour. oh well. I had my solitaire game so I was all set. Phil read some exciting Lincoln biography (yawn). When I got into the nuke room, I got 5 lovely shots that felt like bee stings. The radiology intern, radiologist and I discussed our favorite X-files episodes and the awesome SNL Christopher Walken "I need more cow bell" skit. Then I laid under an imaging machine for about 20minutes while they watched the tracers go to the lymph node. That was cool.

Then it was back to the day surgery waiting room. But since I was 30min late for surgery I got right into pre-op. I name dropped Marie's sister name and everyone was "oh yes we know Karen." Marie's sister (who is a nurse) was on vacation but normally works on that floor.

The IV which I dreaded the most was a total non-issue. I made sure to thank the nurse. Dr. I gave me my "cocktail" and after that I don't remember anything until I was in recovery. He told me I kept up my side of the conversation in the OR though.

I was in recovery for probably 2 hours between the bed and the chair. Dr. I came and sat with us for quite a while to go over the surgery and post-surgery stuff. What a great guy! We never felt like he was in a hurry to be off somewhere else.

I got home right around 5:15PM and I justed started on pain killers. It turns out the drain thing isn't as bad as I had imagined. I have a very active imagination.

And the best news is that since my bandage has plastic over it, I can have a shower right away. yippee!

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and good vibes. I'm truly lucky to have so many wonderful friends.