And this is helpful?

More sound bites from the October crazed media.There were two new articles on the news this morning: 'Blood test may detect breast cancer' and 'Aspirin and ibuprofen may lower risk of breast cancer'. I am not sure how helpful these two articles are.

The first one - the key word in the title is 'may'. Also, the second subtitle is - Does not replace mammograms. So what's the point? Its not a sure thing. You still need mammograms. And patients need to ask their doctors for it. Since when are patients educated enough to tell their doctors which tests they need? Do I need this test (or is it too late)? Maybe my insurance will cover it but that's not the point. Okay perhaps for high risk women - BRCA positive or family history - it would be a good idea but I really don't think we should all run out and get this new test that may be helpful.

The second article says a daily aspirin or ibuprofen may reduce breast cancer risk - but they aren't sure why. Also, this article was released on line in April of this, or probably even earlier. But its breast cancer month and they found a new sound bite to push in their daily hunt to find ways to undermine the confidence of people in treatment.

Okay, call me crabby and oversensitive but I am trying to find some logic besides the need for October appropriate sound bites for publishing both articles at this time. Is crabbiness a long term side effect of chemo? Did they take out my 'nice' with my gall bladder? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I will save up all my crabbiness and vent here.

Yesterday was sort of a long day for me. I worked from home and went for a walk. Then I went to work for five whole hours and then out to dinner. At 8pm I was sitting in the restaurant completely exhausted. When I got home, my husband insinuated that possibly I overdid it yesterday, hence the fatigue. Maybe I am pushing myself but I am sick of being sick and tired all the time. This has been going on since my first surgery on June 19, 2007 - that's 1 year, 2 months, and 20 days (but who's counting) of being tired and recovering from something. Its really getting old. (Or maybe its the cause of my crabbiness??? There's a point to ponder.)

Today, I have a much lighter schedule. I have to work from home and go for a walk, which will happen later on when it gets above 70 degrees and I can wear shorts. I have lots of other things I could do - gardening, planting bulbs, moving around potted plants (but wait I can't lift heavy things yet), cleaning the house (but I did mop the kitchen floor yesterday but don't tell Walter), vacuuming, and organizing my clothes. Or I could just sit around and watch DVD's again... Hmmm... big decision.

Its not the steri strips

Its the damn adhesive that is itchy. So the doctor took the steri strips off on Monday (but you knew that already if you had been reading along). They left behind little rings around them of adhesive - just like when you pull off a bandaid. When I showered yesterday (which I do daily) I tried to get the adhesive off. It didn't work.

So then I tried dissolving it with alcohol (which works by the way and doesn't sting because the incisions are healed - what did you think I would put alcohol on an open incision? Even I am not that dumb.) The stupid adhesive left behind nice little rectangular red itchy areas - the exact shape and size as the damn steri strips. they itch. I can't scratch them because in the middle of each one is an incision with a scab. So once again I am sitting here working on that suffering in silence business (that I do so well) and ignoring the itchy steri strip residue.

Last evening, our friend, the cat, once again decided he wanted to be an outdoor cat. We thought we had cured him of this by fixing the front door so he couldn't push it open. We were wrong. He got out. I thought he might have gotten out but wanted to eat dinner first (actually enjoy my food without his nose at the edge of my plate). Then I thought I heard a 'really pissed off cat outside' noise and went to investigate (shaking a box of kitty treats - he always comes for treats). Lo and behold, he was outside and his tail had somehow inflated to about 3 times its normal size. Yes, he was pissed off. There was someone invading 'his' backyard. I think this winter we will cure him of this outdoor business because it will be cold and his itty bitty little paws might get cold or snowy or, God forbid, wet!

Anyhow, I am also suffering in silence through this political season. I tried watching last night's debate but decided it was better to go to sleep. I did find this video on CNN yesterday - are all the spoofs of Sarah Palin actually hurting or helping her? Interesting question to ponder.

Let's see today, in addition to this suffering in silence business, I am going to go for a walk (or maybe the gym if its too cold), then work from home and then go to work. I am meeting friends for dinner - yes the social life thing is finally returning. These are the women who were in a newly diagnosed support group last year - we still get together monthly for our check in to see how everyone is doing. This means I need to stop playing on the internet and get moving so that I can get everything done that I need to do.

News flash

Now here's a newsflash from the doctor yesterday - my incisions are healing normally and my bruise will fade and go away with time. Gee. I never would have thought my bruise would go away. I feel so relieved!

Actually I wasn't expecting to hear anything exciting at the surgeon yesterday. I am not having issues and feel like I am still healing. I will say I did have another speedy visit - 26 minutes to enter the parking garage, wait for stupid lady to brush her hair before she backed out of her parking space, walk to the main building, wait for the elevator, check in, wait for the nurse, wait for the doctor, hear the newsflash, walk down two flights of stairs, and pay for parking. I barely had time to do my crossword puzzle! (The secret is I was prepared to wait for a really long time and brought a book and a bottle of water too. If you aren't prepared, you are doomed for a very long wait.)

Otherwise, I did get some work done and did go to work. Today I get to go for a walk and then work from home all day. Tonight we are having vegetable lasagna - yummy - so I have to make that as well. My life is so tough. All this stress. Hmmm... think about work and cooking or think about the economy? Which would you prefer? I'm sticking with work and cooking.

Or we could move on to politics - NOT! Only 28 days to go of 'he's a liar', 'he's a terrorist'. If you feel any need to discuss politics, please watch this instead:

Is there no justice in the world?

I just went a way for the weekend up to the mountains to see the foliage with a bunch of friends. (And there is snow in them thar hills too!)I was thinking Monday will be a good day because I get to go get my damn steri strips off at the surgeon's office.

Then, I get home yesterday, and read a little bit of the paper. I usually glance at Parade Magazine and what is on the cover? An article about scarless surgery. As my body is getting that patchwork quilt effect - enhanced my surgeries with multiple incisions - I was intrigued. Guess what? There is a new surgical technique being developed for gall bladder surgery where they use existing bodily openings for surgery instead of making incisions. It is still under development but looks very promising. Why couldn't my gall bladder have cooperated for another few years while this is finalized and then I wouldn't have my latest set of steri strips??? Why, why, why? And, why did they choose to publish this AFTER my surgery when it is too late for me!

I would like to point out that this is just another reason not to believe anything the media picks up on for medical issues and techniques. For all I know, this technique may not be appropriate for me. Blah, blah, blah. I am not a doctor. I dont know. Wah! Life is so unfair! Okay, enough whining.

While I did have a really fun weekend away (what happens at the cabin, stays at the cabin), now its back to reality. I have so much work to do this week. I will be very busy. Fall is now here. How do I know this? Because it is something like 48 degrees this morning which means my walk will be cold. Actually there are frost warnings for not too far from here as well. This means time to take apart the garden, etc. So in addition to work (where I get paid) I have to do gardening stuff and I have to do it and not lift over 10 lbs. Hmmmm... This could be interesting as my container garden plants are kind of big and heavy. I'll worry about that later this week I think.

We survived

We survived watching the vice presidential debate - no arguments, no yelling at the tv - but if you are sick of hearing about politics, read this instead. In addition to politics season, its Ig Nobel awards season.

Once again as the healing progresses, I get to go have fun. But first I have to get through my over planned day, work for four different organizations, run two errands, meet a friend for a walk, finish packing, and be ready to leave about 115 pm. Can I do it? (As the cat slows me down by sitting on my lap while I am trying to type.)

This weekend is girls weekend and I am off to the mountains. We will eat too much, stay up too late (but the Red Sox game doesn't start until 937 pm (Why 7 minutes after? Why not 930? I never understood that part.) so at least we have an excuse for staying up late - not that we need one, but we do have an excuse. We will also be in the land of no computers, no cell phones but also with peak fall foliage. We will also fit in a little shopping and a picnic I think.

In the meantime, I need to get moving because I have so much to do!

The things you learn by reading the newspaper

I read the paper this morning, just like I do every day. I learned that the Senate passed the bail out bill - not sure how much I agree with that. Wall street messed up, overpaid its executives, and banks lent money to people who couldn't pay it back and we bail them out. We managed to mess it up so much that without a bailout we would be in worse shape. Politics is all about voting for least worst - that's how you decide on candidates and how politicians decide on legislation - which one is the lesser of the evils.

But apparently there are some breakthroughs in detecting breast cancer using x-rays. Hmmm... But its only an additional set of eyes to confirm what the radiologist reads. Is this significant? Maybe it replaces a person with a machine - I believe that is called 'progress'.

I find this story rather humorous - a former notorious gang hang out - where Whitey Bulger would figure out who to bump off next - is going to become a Pentacostal ministry. The new minister said he would take donations from the former tenants as well.

Otherwise, yesterday I went to the eye doctor and got my eyes checked. They are fine but now I have a new prescription and can get new glasses to replace the ones that broke a few weeks ago (that lovely Krazy Glue repair). I also got a lot of work done from home. Isn't it Murphy's law that the one time you need to leave the house during the day, is the only torrential downpour of the week?

Yesterday I was bad. I was very bad. I ate pizza. You have to understand I have been on this stupid low fat diet since last spring. I have been very restricted in what I could eat. This has meant no pizza. We maybe eat pizza every month or so, its not like we eat it every night. Its nice to eat it when you get the craving for it. But if you are told you can't have something, then you really, really want it. Now my gall bladder is gone and I can eat what I want. So I had pizza. Just a Neapolitan pizza with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and a little grilled chicken. Yum, yum, yum.

Today I have lots of work to do. Actually, let me rephrase that I have lots and lots of work to do. And I have to go to work. Eek! I am not motivated. Actually, today I have a dilemma: watch the real vice presidential debate or wait for SNL to do a skit on it and watch that version.

Now its time to get a life

Yesterday my doctor pointed out that I seem to be running out of things wrong with me - for a change. Its about time - DO YA' THINK? She said I can go back to annual physicals instead of 3 month follow ups with her. So I should come back in April. Well, the way I count April is six months from now, not 12 months or one year. But I guess you learn new ways to count when you go to medical school so annual can mean six months. Once again, I am the mere patient.

I do have one little pesky issue that seems to have resurfaced that will require a call to the doctors office (just think of it as the one where my butt hurts and the nasty doctors look where you don't want them to). But this should be minor and not related to nasty diagnoses.

Anyhow, that means today I have an eye doctor apt, next week the surgeon, three weeks from now the oncologist and then I dont have a doctors appointment until DECEMBER! I mean now I dont have to go to the doctor for about six weeks. What to do with my time? I could work more - but that's not really fun. I guess it means I will have to get a life of all things.

In the meantime, today I am very busy (but not sure if I have a life). Walk, work, eye doctor, work, manicure, work, meeting, and out for dinner. We are having pizza for dinner. I have not had pizza since sometime last spring. I am having withdrawal. We are going to a local place and I am going to order my own small pizza with the toppings I like. Walter can get his own too. Then I get left overs for lunch tomorrow as well. Yummy.