Tough girls + PINK PUMPKINS
Wednesday, October 21st I went under general anesthesia for a second and hopeful final procedure. See my pathology report came back and basically said a few things that made my doctor want to go back in to grab a tiny bit more tissue. The tumor tail was curved weird, the tumor was only 1.4 cm from my skin surface and I had a .4 cm margin around the tumor. It could have been a local anesthesia, but like my Breast Surgeon, Jones said, I don't think Brian (my plastic surgeon) would be too happy if I started sticking your expanders with needles. So I went under general again. I joked that he just didn't want me chatting with him for the half hour of the procedure. As I walked into the OR in the MJH outpatient center, my doc was like, alright are you ready to cuss me out yet, I said Dr. Jones, "I'm not going to cuss you out...just the f*ckin' cancer and the f*ckin' close margin." I could tell he was smiling under his surgical mask. See he has this great dry sense of humor, I have liked from the beginning, which is how I knew he was the right one for the job. Well its what I think I said, I was going under at this point. And woke back up 30 minutes later. I was in and out of the Out Patient Center in less than 4 hours.
High on some oxy they gave me, I was still feeling pretty good and ended up swinging by to see my cousin run in her cross country track meet. Ironically her and her mom (who is the cross country track coach) were both wearing pink. Even if it wasn't on purpose, I felt glad I came to cheer them on. They have both cheered me on since the beginning of this whole cancer fight, good to cheer them on. And my sweet cousin ran her best run and qualified for All District! Later that night I FINALLY got to watch my waterfall scene of The Last of the Mohicans with momma A. We all knew this was one of my Grandma Tunnie's favorite movies, but my mom said while we watched this, "I think we saw this at the theaters when it came out after one of mom's [my grandma Tunnie] Chemo visits." (if you are just tuning in, my Grandma Tunnie fought the BC for years)
Another Full circle, Tunnie was definitely watching over our family that day...
Clear Tissue, Fast Legs, Can't Loose!
(Sorry for the corny Friday Night Lights reference)
So yesterday, Thursday, October 22nd, My doc called to let me know that the report came back from the tissue he took and it was clear! So he said "Go out and celebrate tonight." Obviously he was slightly joking, since it was only 2 weeks after a bilateral mastectomy and 1 day after a small surgery. But I took him seriously and headed out.
One of girlfriends started this group called the Pink Pumpkin Initiative just this month. Where they paint pink pumpkins and will sell them at retail stores and the local Charlottesville Farmer's Market (this Saturday, the 24th). Heather (my business partner) had already signed us up to be a retail partner and sell some! All proceeds will be donated to the UVA Breast Cancer Care Center and the Every Women's Life Program, which provides free screenings to low-income and uninsured women in the area. Friend and owner of The Shebeen Pub & Braai provided the Veranda for the party and donated the pumpkins and appetizers.
My super awesome and close all-girl blue grass band Pretty Little Miss performed during the event. My girls even dedicated a song to me "Hey Good Lookin" which I hadn't heard them play before, but I got to get up and danced a bit to it (as well as I could considering). If you don't know me, one thing you must know, I like to dance, so it felt good to have my "first dance" at this event to my girls playing. Oh and yeah, there is another breast cancer survivor in this band!
I walked in and saw Sarah who started this event and said what started you to decide to do this, she said, when I found out about you.
Well, damn. I'm glad I showed up then!
I got to see a lot of good friends, give updates and give the awkward butt/chest out mastectomy hugs. I painted a pumpkin, not my best work of yet, but hey, I'm a little handicapped at the moment.
So if you see some pink pumpkins floating around this weekend, buy one...proceeds go toward a good cause. And if you have one, paint it pink...awareness for a good cause.
We are selling some at rock paper scissors as well!
I know talking about boobs can be an awkward thing to talk about, but the more we talk about it, the more we can help save all our girls, our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our cousins, our friends, our aunts, even our men (yes breast cancer affects men too). So FEEL YOUR FREAKIN' TATAS!
One thing I learned last night...I need to add more pink to my wardrobe and really learn to like pink....
AND I SHOULD BE CLEAR OF THE CRAP IN MY BOOBS. next step - pump the girls back up to normal size!
xo
dani and her tough girls