I'm "udderly" thrilled.

Life is funny. Today was a tiring day, traveling the whole hour to Kalamazoo to see Dr. Nancy. I went smelling like someone who hadn't taken a shower in almost a week, and someone who had a bloody drain hanging out of her pajamas. And we even stopped at Olive Garden and ate lunch. No one was the wiser. But off I went.

And I came home with three boobs. Yes, you all thought I was coming home with just one, but alas, we were wrong. I have three! Let's start with the larger perky one. It looks like a bullseye with stitches all the way around the areola. Bruised, yellow, but oh so perky. That is the left side. Then we go to what I call the central boob. This is actually the area of the expander that is sort of sticky out like a shoulder blade. I saw that one coming as I could see it through the bandage. But then there is the third boob. I absolultely laughed out loud when I saw it. Even Dr. Nancy giggled when she touched it. What it is is a nice little crab meat rangoon-sized pocket of SKIN sewn in a nice little pouch that she had to save for the next phase of reconstruction. It's hanging just below my armpit. The funny thing is it is just hanging there, like it belongs or something! I told Nancy (Brawley) that it looked like I had three udders! We laughed so hard. She thought maybe I could rent out a booth at the Apple Festival to show off my udders--Jim said "naw, everyone has seen those before on cows and stuff". I think Shade had memories of puppyhood when she saw me.

But the drain came out, the incisions look fine, we reviewed the path report and it looked good. I do go back to Dr. Nancy in a week--she just wants to see how I am doing and I am to just keep looking for infections. I do have a drain hole that needs to be covered with a bandage as it will likely leak a bit but other than that, I am bra less and bandage free. I have taken my shower and feel great, albeit very tired and shaky.

Dr. Ansari will be the one to make the decision about radiation but Dr. Nancy believes it will be a no. With typical cancer, any tumor over 5 cm automatically gets radiaiton but in my case there is no data to prove that it would be effective. It will be interesting to see what he says. I may get a second opinion if he says yes, as it goes against all the literature that I have read. I want to keep radiation as an option if there is a recurrence near that area. Once you have radiation in one area, you can't ever have it there again.

I am still taking an antibiotic for the tissue expander (it's a foreign body in my body so you take an antibiotic for that) and have my Darvocet for pain if needed. Havne't needed any today. I want to get off that stuff as it makes me just a tad loopy, if you haven't noticed!

I want to go to the game Friday night but will probably sit in the press box. I will have to stuff my bra just like in junior high. (ah no, I am not wearing a bra and have never had to stuff my bra anyway) But I do want to go to the game.

Other than that, I think I need to rest. Love to all of you...the meals I have been getting have been wonderful --Jim is working his butt off keeping this family running and everything has helped so much.

More tomorrow.

Molly