ok.... ok... I know

It's been a long, long, loooong time - sorry!

Busy living life again. What's a girl to do?! {shrug}

But real quick like, I thought I'd post some pics of the 5K walk I did today! That's right, last October I was still bald, in the midst of chemo treatments & this year I'm happy, healthy and walking in a 5K to raise money for Breast Cancer Research!

It was a Making Strides for Breast Cancer event and took place at Crystal Lake Park in Urbana. Reba, my girlfriend from Kentucky happened to be here visiting.... so she walked with me and took a majority of the pictures : ) Mark would have gladly gone, but had to work : (

About a week ago, a friend sent me the link to this BIG pink ribbon - to wear! So I ordered it & it arrived just in time. Yeah, I got a few looks, a lot of sweet comments and even called on stage before the walk began (by the MC, a local newscaster) that was fun! I raised well over $1000 for this cause and thank every single one of you that were able to contribute! I've never done anything like this but must say, it was enlightening, inspiring and so much fun!

In St. Louis again...

It's Mark's birthday and we've come to St. Louis with his kids, daughters beau and sons bff.

Because I am such a GENEROUS girlfriend (and because the Cardinals are not playing the Cubs tonight) I made this t-shirt to wear .....

a new do

Couldn't stand the mop of curls anymore.... yes I was grateful to have them, but gosh my hair has always been thick and I tell ya, I would wake up looking like Don King! Not kidding! So instead of getting it colored this week, I just got it all cut off & I like it much better. Eaaaasy to take care of for sure!



In my last post, you saw me removing border from the top of the dining room wall. This morning, Mark and his friend Brian put trim up (which covers very old wallpaper gap) and this week I'll roll the rest of the room.



While they did that, I hung beach border in the other room....





And this afternoon, Mark (a 30 year volunteer fireman) competed with his friends, and four other towns, in a Water Ball Fight..... that was a lot of fun to watch!





Had a great visit with old friends Jon and Judy Reynolds! Funny thing is... Mark has known Judy forever (Leroy native) and Jon a very long time, through the fire departments. Yet another way our paths have crossed throughout the years!

what I've been up to .....

Wallpaper work at Mark's house (oy vey!)

He is in the process of moving the dining room into a front room and putting a new pool table where the dining room table was. So I volunteered (what was I thinking?!) to take down the border in what will be the dining room.... and repaint it. Well I love painting, that's not the problem! I started stripping border and found ANOTHER border hiding underneath - yikes! It has been a three step process (at least) and taken most of five days!






Because that work is all on a ladder, I also started to take down the border in what was his office/exercise room (which will be my Sanibel / scrapbooking room) which thankfully is at eye level!





It has been incredibly tedious work but I've actually enjoyed it! I think it's more manual labor than I've done in a long, long time! We have paint for the dining room and a new border ordered for my scrap room. This week will consist of washing wall, painting (hopefully) hanging border and roman shades!

I guess I should check in .....

and tell you that everything is going well!

I had a follow up appointment with the plastic surgeon last week and she was very pleased with the results. As am I.

I actually went to Victoria's Secret today, for my first fitting.... that was fun!

Have been out and about (as usual) having fun! Will post pictures soon ~

All is well on the home front. Will post more whenI have the time : )

and..... they're..... soft! LOL

Yeah, the tissue expanders were rock-hard & I'd gotten used to it. But yesterday Mark and I went to Springfield for the "unveiling" and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome!

Last week was the first that Mark had met my plastic surgeon by the way & he liked her very much! He said he could totally see how and why I chosen her to care for me.

I'd been given the orders to bring a sports bra for Fridays appointment. I had to guess at the size (LOL) since I was wrapped in gauze and knew I couldn't wear anything I had before. But I guessed correctly and was told to wear the sports bra 24/7 until I see her again next Friday. Dr. Sommer was pretty pleased with her work as well. She said her only concern (and she even said she'd lost some sleep, thinking about me the other night) was that area of thin-skin. She'd fat grafted where she needed to, but was worried in how it might look when she unwrapped me. It looks great. Little to no redness in comparison to what it had been.

I'll add some pics that I took last night. Seems kind of odd to post 'boobage' pictures ..... but then again, that was my whole reason in starting this blog in the first place. And thankfully, here I am, 15 months post-diagnosis ...... nearly done with my journey - yaaay God!

Yes, I wore this shirt to my appointment & all day yesterday. I got numerous laughs and comments on it of course : )

24 hours after

and I'm doing well. I'm sore, but that's to be expected.

We got to the clinic by 12:15 and I was checked right in. It took two pokes to get my IV in (which is typical) and then we waited and waited....

At about 2:30 I actually walked back to the operating room - yeah - that was a first! The procedure took a bit longer than I'd expected it to. I think Mark said the doctor came out to speak to him around 4:45. He was able to come see me shortly after 5 and it was 6 or after by the time we got out of there.

I never saw the doctor myself (well not that I know of anyway : ) but she told Mark that everything went well. She said there was no sign of any infection whatsoever - good news! I had some fat grafted from a thigh, to pad that area where my skin was so thin. No matter how much I begged, she wouldn't lypo both thighs for me : ( oh well.

We grabbed a bite to eat at Culver's on the way home. I like their pot roast sandwich but my mouth was so dry from the anesthesia, it took me forever to eat it.

My chest is wrapped until I go in for a follow up appointment on Friday. Today I'm just laying on the couch and taking it easy......

August 1st

Had a fantastic time in St. Louis!

And though I had an appointment in Springfield (with my plastic surgeon) on Wednesday.... I gave the nurse a call on our way home. Telling her I still had redness, but it was no worse & no better & asking if they'd like to see me today, since we'd be coming right by. She said yes. So we stopped there and just as I'd expected, she wants to get the tissue expanders out and put the implants in. I'd prepared myself for this and think it's the right move too. Obviously something is causing irritation and hopefully this will take care of it. After some discussion with she and her nurse, they pulled up a calendar and asked if I would be available tomorrow afternoon.

Yeah, that's right. Tuesday, August 2nd. And I said yep!

Mark talked to his boss afterwards and is taking me down there at noon tomorrow. I would expect surgery to be sometime between 1 and 2:00. It is an outpatient procedure.

Will let you know how it went afterwards. Thanks for all good thoughts and prayers!

quick update ~

Wednesday -

Infectious Disease was not in any hurry to get back to me (but hey - I figure if they're not worried, why should I be?) But finally got a call this morning and they said as long as I took all of my Zyvox (which I did) then that should have taken care of it; therefor he's not so sure it's an infection. He suggested I contact my plastic surgeon and see what she thinks in regards to the tissue expander.

In the meantime, I had realized I still had some prescription antibiotic (Clindamycin) left over, from before the Zyvox (that they switched me off of) so I asked the nurse about taking that. She said it sure wouldn't hurt anything - so I've gone back on that.

The plastic surgeons nurse asked some details about how it looked and took the "let's wait and see" attitude. Fine by me : ) She did say though, that if it rapidly deteriorates, to call them right away and they will remove the tissue expanders to put the implants in. We are thinking (hoping) that it is the tissue expander itself which is causing me problems. Tissue expanders are hard and have more of a "frame" or edge to them than implants do. The redness always occurs on that 'corner' where my skin was thin & where she feared it may end up poking through (which thankfully it never did).

So there's the update and plan. Though I'd thought I would wait until October for the surgery to switch them out, it now appears as if I'll do so sooner rather than later. That's fine too. As long as I can keep them I don't care : )

Will keep you posted as to any changes ~

redness returns : (

My antibiotic ended last Wednesday. This Monday evening, I noticed redness where it had been (infected) before. Ugh! I called infectious disease yesterday morning, to see if they'd prescribe another antibiotic - or more of what I was on before.

I will NOT be admitted to the hospital at this time, as Mark and I have a four day weekend in St. Louis coming up - which includes a Cubs/Cards game on Sunday : )

A nurse returned my call yesterday afternoon, asking for more specifics and saying she'd check with the doctor & get back to me. I'm a bit upset that I've still not gotten that call back : (

Will keep ya posted ~

is anyone still watching?

If you still check in here to see what's going on in my life.... leave me a message so I can feel the love : )

Just seems like every time I come back to update, I'm apologizing for it having been so long. I was never a blogger before this journey of mine - and it was obviously started to keep people up to date (in my own words) as to how things were going. I feel so fortunate and blessed that things have gone so well! And my lack of updates is simply that there is little to report (as far as my breast cancer journey goes) though I am out and about and living a FUN-filled life!

Most recently I enjoyed having Brittany here for a long weekend visit! She rode back to IL with her bff Mallory and her baby Kale; I picked Britt up at Sabrina's on Friday afternoon and our first stop was the house we lived in for twenty years. We'd talked of stopping by numerous times, as we'd seen them doing all sorts of work on it, so on the spur of the moment, we did. The couple who lives there were incredibly cordial and welcomed us in..... they've done some fantastic remodeling and it really is nice! Britt's eyes welled up as she stood in the doorway of her old room and looked at the changes. As we left, Britt said "that was the perfect way to start her visit!"



After dropping her bags off here at home and taking the dogs out, we headed to Leroy to spend the evening with Mark. Britt had not been to his house before, but loved it, saying it reminded her a lot of grandpa Bob's. It is an old two-story farm type home (though it's in town) with a lot of beautiful wood work - it's comfy! After checking out the house & extra large garage (aka Mark's man-cave which holds numerous collectables & interesting vehicles) we headed to Bloomington for Monical's pizza, and went bowling afterwards.







After a couple of games (which Mark won & Britt came in second - ugh!) we went into the bar area where karaoke was well under way. Though Brittany has a great voice, we could not convince her to join in : ) but it was great people-watching time! She and Mark did play a game or two of pool & I do believe she won those.

Saturday was tattoo day! I'd decided a long while back, that I wanted a pink ribbon tattoo & that's what I got on my right wrist. Believing wholeheartedly that I'd not have survived the whole ordeal without my faith.... I also got a cross on my left wrist. As the first picture indicates - they hurt a LOT (on the wrist) but I love them. I also added 'Sanibel' under the seashell on the back of my neck, have wanted to do that for a long time as well & got to do it in my own handwriting : )











Mark had an older tattoo lightened, and had his pink ribbon (that he got last year) made even more pink. He also added the text (one of my favorite quotes) 'Big C-Christ little c-cancer' above and below the ribbon. Brittany got the pink ribbon / Hope tattoo on her wrist (that she got a year ago) repaired (he did a beautiful job!) And she got a scripture and some flourishes on her foot - really pretty - but she said that one hurt a lot!

That evening Mark fixed rib eye's on the grill and we had his kids over for dinner with Britt. Numerous yummy side dishes, lots of laughs and good conversations around the dinner table.... then we decided to go play pool again : ) Well ok, I don't play but I like to watch - LOL. It was a great day, lots of fun!

On Sunday Britt and I hung around home awhile and then went to the Leroy pool to get some sun. She went for dinner at her dads that evening then headed home early Monday afternoon. It is fun sharing life with Brittany as a responsible / mature / young adult now! Much different than the roles we used to have - and much more enjoyable for both of us I believe!

Monday I had a follow-up appointment with Infectious Disease and they said everything looked good. My antibiotics were done on Wednesday (of this week) and he said I'd not need any more. I saw my plastic surgeons nurse after that, and we discussed the timing of my next surgery, which will be to switch out the tissue expanders for silicone implants. Though the ID doctor said it would be safe to do so in early August, I've decided to wait at least a couple of months. Being summer (and that I like to be out and about / riding the motorcycle, boating, swimming, sunning, etc.) and knowing I'll have drains afterwards.... I'm probably going to wait until October. Besides that, the plastic surgeon and I believe it would be best to let them "sit" awhile, to be sure all infection is long gone, before going in & messing with them / possibly stirring up trouble again.

So that's my update for this week. If anyone is interested in me doing so, I will try to keep up with this a little better than I have been. I appreciate any interest in my blog and my journey in general. I enjoy sharing my experiences with others - I always have - that's just who I am! Have yourself a great weekend..... I know I plan to : )

and - I'm home!

Yaaaay! It's about time! Whew ~ so glad to have been released this afternoon. And SO thankful to still have both tissue expanders!

Have a prescription for ten days of antibiotics. Will go see my plastic surgeon for follow up next week. In the meantime, I intend to have a fun, fantastic, 4th of July weekend with friends!

Thanks for the prayers and well wishes sent out for me ~ they are really & truly, greatly appreciated!

still here....

Yep, still in the hospital, but still improving : )

They drained 30 cc's of fluid off this morning, but said it was clear and looked good.

Infectious disease doctor just came in to tell me the sample (neither Fridays, or todays) has grown anything worrisome.... just coagulase (a common) bacterial skin infection. As far as he's concerned I can go home tomorrow, on oral antibiotics. Now, let's just hope the plastic surgeon will be in agreement and I'll ditch this place!

It's not all that bad; just boring after this long! Miss my boy, my beau, and my dogs!

way, way behind in writing!

Sorry for the delay :(

Mostly good stuff's been going on & keeping me busy, although I did experience a minor setback yesterday. I've been having my "fills" (aka expansion) once a week.... Well day before yesterday, my plastic surgeon was really inspecting the redness that was left behind from having had the infection in May. She rubbed on it with her thumb but thought it looked ok. Unfortunately it got a brighter red and started spreading that afternoon & evening :(

I am assuming the infection was laying dormant and she just irritated it / stirred things up and it reacted angrily. So when I called them to report this yesterday morning, they asked me to come down to Springfield and go to the ER - not that this was an emergency, but most likely the quickest way to have me seen and admitted. So that's what I did, I got here around 2 p.m., was finally taken up to a room around 5 and started on IV antibiotics.

They outline the redness, to see if it dissipates or expands, and it seems to be getting a bit smaller in size. It is not as bright red as it had been either - which is good news! The doctor with infectious disease just came in and told me he's guessing another day or two on the IV, then they'll probably be able to send me home on oral antibiotics.

Whew!

My fear was, that they would need to remove the tissue expander, leave it out.... and let me heal for a few months without anything. That would be very discouraging. I've come this far, am nearly done, and don't want something like that to delay things. So hopes and prayers would be appreciated, that the infection responds well to the antibiotics & that the TE can stay put - thank you!

Memorial Day weekend

Has been fabulous. I've spent much of it with Mark, grilling ribeye's one evening and pork chops the next.... On Saturday evening we had friends over to play euchre. Neither of us had played in probably 20 years but it all came back to us and it was tons of fun. Girls beat the guys which made it even better : )

The "lovely" central IL weather has not cooperated a whole lot. Saturday was a wash. Yesterday wasn't too bad. We did ride his Harley to Champaign for lunch & were able to sit outside. From there we went to Ashley Furniture and ordered a sectional for his house. But riding back towards Leroy, there were clouds all around.... Thankfully it never rained on us but a cold front came through and it got COLD. This morning is bright and sunny though, so we plan to ride again : )

I'm still on antibiotics, but all signs of infection are gone! Sabrina rode down to the doctors (in Springfield) with me on Thursday. The only concern has been that the infection wore one spot of my skin thin - and it's right where the corner of one tissue expander sits. Her concern is that it may end up poking through (no!) We do have a plan B though, if that should happen. They went ahead and gave me saline in both sides & everything is still fine. I will call them on Tuesday and make an appointment to have my stitches out later this week.

Thanks to all of those who serve - and remembering those we miss -

I am home : )

Drove myself home today : )

Yes, I am rather independent.

But that was a-ok with the nursing staff; there was no reason for me not to. I really felt fine the whole time I was hospitalized.... sure, a little sore the day of & after surgery, but other than that I was just killin' time while the antibiotics killed the infection!

The immediate culture was negative - and nothing has grown in the petri dish since - so that's all good news. I was sent home on oral antibiotics and my only restriction is not to lift more than ten pounds, especially with my left arm

Not a problem!

I've taken a bath and washed my hair (can't shower because I have a drain in) but feel 1000 times better already! Going to Mark's daughters for dinner and to sit outside in the fresh air for awhile.

Ahh..... it's good to be home!

doing fine ~

They actually took me down for surgery around noon - earlier than scheduled! Of course that meant that Mark hadn't gotten here yet :( but I made some quick phone calls, gathered my thoughts and was ready to go.

Surgery took just over two hours I think. Left side of my chest hurt like 'hello' when I woke up in recovery. I've been told that everything went well and they've sent samples to the lab to pinpoint what type of infection we're dealing with.

The doctor did put in another expander. Don't know how long I'll be here. Thanks for your love and support!

do-over

I am scheduled for surgery this afternoon at 2:45. Will have one (the left) tissue expander removed, all of the infection cleaned out, and a new expander put in.

Let's hope, pray and believe that this is a success!

well shucks :(

The "sort of a rash" that I'd mentioned last week, did not respond to the oral antibiotics they prescribed. I went back to the doctor yesterday (one week later) and saw my own plastic surgeon (she had been gone the week before). She immediately said I'd need to be admitted to the hospital & receive a stronger IV antibiotic for the infection. So I moved my car to the other lot and walked myself right into the hospital yesterday afternoon : )

Thankfully my phone had enough charge on it to notify those that need be, right away..... Then after work, Jeremiah gathered all of my necessities and Mark brought them over last evening. I can only have the antibiotic every 12 hours, so I got the first dose just after 1:00 yesterday and within half an hour I was itching and turning red - yikes! Come to find out it's probably not an allergic reaction, but something that's called Red Man Syndrome and is associated with this Vancomycin (antibiotic). They gave me Benadryl right away which seemed to help a bit. So for my 1 a.m. dose, I got another dose of Benadryl and then a slower infusion of the meds. I either had less of a reaction this time, or I slept through it!

When the resident doctor came in to see me last night, she asked me not to eat before she saw me at 6 this morning..... that if I wasn't better, they'd put me on the surgery schedule to have one tissue expander removed :( Thankfully when she looked this morning, she said "It mayyyyyy be a bit better (?)" and certainly wasn't any worse. I asked if they might give it another day (figuring I'd only had two doses of the heavy duty / butt kicking / super antibiotic) and she said yes, they'd do that.

Whew!

They guaranteed me I'd be here a minimum of three days, regardless .....

So let's just hope this medicine does its work and I can keep this expander!

Thanks for all prayers and well-wishes, and I will keep ya posted on the latest.

wayyyyyy overdue for writing!

But just wanted to let ya'll know I'm alive and well here in cloudy, windy, cool and grey Illinois :(

Yeah - yuck! Makes me wanna go back to FL!

Our vacation / celebration was awesome! A fantastic time, beautiful weather, great people, good food and an amazing party.... I will post pictures here soon (promise).

Have been busy with domestic duties since I got home a week ago. Just the typical everyday stuff. Have spent as much time as I can with Mark : ) and restocking groceries after having left a 19/year old at home alone for ten days!

I've developed sort of a rash on my chest - just redness though - it's odd. Went to the doctor last Tuesday and they put me on an antibiotic for it. It's not gone away, but isn't any worse either. I have an appointment to go back this Tuesday anyway. Hopefully for a fill (if they'll do so with this going on).

I don't think I posted that I've begun helping my friend Sabrina with her photography work (?) I do lighting and really enjoy it; fun to spend time with Sabrina as well.

It was an adjustment being back home (from Sanibel) having been in the land of sunshine and surrounded by friends and family for ten days straight.... definitely an adjustment being home alone again but I'm getting back in the groove. Well ok, Jeremiah is here sometimes & that does help. He's starting a new job tomorrow - so best wishes to him on that!

More later ~