Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Intermittent musing of a breast cancer patient's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
10:46 am	ego boost I'm having a really good Hair Day today.  (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
8:26 am	Stick a fork in me... I'M DONE!!! Yesterday I had my last follow up to my last reconstruction surgery.  MY LAST ONE.  \O/!!!! I'm on a six-month rotation with two of my doctors and a yearly rotation with the other two, but other than those, I have NO MORE TREATMENTS, APPOINTMENTS, EXAMS, SURGERIES, related to anything other than monitoring.  SCORE!!!! Final  Scar Tally: Two-inch scar on my left collarbone from the chemo port. Scar surrounding the nipple of my left breast and one from the nipple straight down to the edge of my breast from the reduction.  These are mostly faded. Scar completely surrounding right breast in a non-perfect circular pattern. Scar extending from left hip to right hip from the DIEP flap procedure. Would it be accurate to report the belly button scar?  Because, technically, it's a scar for everyone.  I just have more than normal scar tissue. Current Mood: jubilant (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 20th, 2008
9:42 pm	chemo angels I just signed up to be a card angel.  Eventually I want to be a gift angel, but I figure I'll start small.  :)   www.chemoangels.com (not chemo bagels.  :) I got cards and gifts at least three times a week while undergoing chemo and radiation, so I thought it was about time to reciprocate. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, April 4th, 2008
11:13 pm	Now with 100% fewer stitches!  Dr. R. took the rest of my stitches out Tuesday.  Yay!  Well, actually, the nurse did it.  She saw them and said, "Wow, you've got skin growing over them!" which I didn't really want to hear.  However, I don't have much feeling where the stitches were, so it didn't matter. When Dr. R. came in to check me, he had with him - guess what - an intern!  That's four!  This one was another woman, and she didn't look vacant, so that's good.  I have one more appointment with him for the surgery followup and then I'm on a yearly rotation.  \O/!!! After the stitches were removed, the nurse put steri-strips on me.  They should fall off by themselves within a couple of weeks.  Well, you know, I'm tired of adhesives.  So I took them off yesterday.  Don't tell. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 31st, 2008
2:15 pm	I'm such a doofus  So, I woke up this morning with a dry throat.  Okay, not bad on its own, annoying, but nothing drinking water won't cure.  However, I also woke up blazingly hot. Uh-oh.  Fever.  I better stay home from work. I realized about 30 minutes ago that it was probably a hot flash. *sigh* Current Mood: at myself (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
11:25 pm	Still stitched! I had a follow up appointment Tuesday, and I was all excited about getting out my stitches.   Only Dr. R. didn't take them out.  *sigh*  He wants them in for one more week.  It's so freakin' irritating. So, my newly constructed nipple was covered with medicinal-smelling bandages, and the scent would constantly be in my nose.  These bandages were also stitched to me (I had a lot of stitching going on).  These bandages, however, were taken off Tuesday.  So now I have a nipple!  I can't really describe it because it's now covered in a protective bandage, but at least that doesn't smell.  I'm also very bruised. But I'm done.  No more surgeries.  Score!! (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
10:45 pm	adventures in adhesives I had so much surgical tape on my body that my skin is now sticking to itself.  I've been picking it off for DAYS.    (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
2:13 pm	Bit more of a followup So, yesterday I had my first experience with a bed pan.  Apparently, not eating or drinking but being pumped full of IV fluids creates a need to pee.  Since I still had about half an hour before they could release me to the second recovery, I had to use a bed pan.  I know nurses are used to it, but it was still gross.  I almost had to use it again but I was in the second recovery this time, so I was allowed to get up. The nurse kept asking if I had any pain, and I didn't.  She seemed to think I did and didn't want to tell her.  My hip sites feel like I scraped them, but they only sting a little, not hurt.  I've learned a have a decent tolerance for pain. The doc ordered a shot of demmerol, and the nurse wanted to do it in my hip.  No way.  I just had surgery there!  So she put it in my arm instead.  The injection site is still a bit sore, but I'm glad it was in my arm! The put-me-to-sleep guy did my initial IV and I asked him to tell me when he was going to do the saline so I could hold my breath and avoid the taste.  Instead, he made it a slow drip, and that worked better.  I barely tasted anything at all.  Vision is still a bit blurry and I'm tired, but other wise doing A-okay!  Especially since I can get up when I need to pee. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
9:16 am	Home again! Well, I was home yesterday, but too tired to say anything. Surgery went well, which to me means I didn't vomit.  :)  Didn't even want to.  I was ready to go home almost as soon as I woke up.  I haven't looked at the surgery sites yet, as they are under multiple layers of bandages.  I'm not sure how I'm supposed to shower. I did tell the doctor to make sure he removed *all* the staples this time.  (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 17th, 2008
11:40 am	Milestones Last week I brought every mastectomy bra and camisole, padding, hat,  prosthetics and other breast cancer-related items to the Gift Closet at the American Cancer Society.  Who-hoo! I had a radiology follow up today, and she said that instead of coming every six months, I could drop it to every year.  Who-hoo!  I have three other doctors checking me out and she said I've healed so well that I don't need one more.  She also made sure I knew that I could call her ANY TIME I had a question or wanted to come in and see her. ONE MORE SURGERY.  THEN I'M DONE.  (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 7th, 2008
10:00 pm	Thank you! Instead of having ten million comments of "thank you" for my last post, I'm lumping (hee.. get it?  lump?) them all together and say  Thank you, everybody!  (2 Comments |Comment on this)
8:31 am	Two years... Today's my survival anniversary. (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
11:39 pm	my hair I put my hair into a ponytail today.  ALL of it. I haven't been able to do that for close to two years.  Yay!  (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
9:42 pm	surgery rescheduled I'm sick.  Dave's sick.  Sick leave dwindling for both of us.  Surgery rescheduled to March 19.  Edit:  On the plus side, now I don't have to worry about which drugs I can take. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
10:09 am	The Saga of My Belly Button Had my pre-op appointment today for my sugery on the 21st.  From what I could listen to without getting sick, he cuts open my breast and cuts off a bit of leftover skin from the tummy tuck, then places the skin in the open wound from the breast and it heals all together.  The scar tissue is pink and looks like a nipple.  He'll also cut off the leftover skin on my other side to even me out a bit. I asked him if he could try to fix my belly button one more time.  He looked at it and said he'd like it to heal a bit more, but he could do it later. Absolutely no way.  I told him it was now or never.  I'm not having surgery again to fix something as insignificant as my belly button.  So he'll do it this time, but he'll talk to some of his "belly button friends" to see if they can recommend a different way of opening it up, since the way he did it failed to work twice. So, belly button, skin flaps, and new nipple, all coming soon to a Gayle near you. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
10:45 pm	Damn hot flashes!! Here's the cycle: I take tamoxifen.  Hot flashes are a side effect.  They last for about a month, then go away or lessen. I stop taking tamoxifen to have surgery. I start taking tamoxifen again, experience the hot flashes again. I stop to have surgery. Start taking it again... and guess what?  That's right... HOT FLASHES! By the time these lessen again, I'll be having surgery.   This better be the last time... (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 21st, 2008
11:48 pm	navel alert! I'm giving up on my belly button this time around.  I've been stuffing it with gauze every day since my surgery, and if I go to work or bed without the stuffing, it gets smaller.  It's been TWO MONTHS.  My skin is red and irritated from the tape to keep the gauze in place, even though I use the tape for sensitive skin.   I'm giving it one more chance.  If my next surgery doesn't fix it, I'm going to turn into Kyle XY.   Wonder if Dr. R will still want pictures of me if I have no belly button.  :) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 11th, 2008
11:10 pm	Next  surgery scheduled for Feb. 20.   (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
8:49 am	curious... How should I respond when someone asks if my hair is naturally curly?   :)  (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
9:30 pm	beating a dead staple I happened to be talking to a nurse last night and he said the whole staple thing is common.  The staples are designed for medical use, as is the handy-dandy staple remover.   Yeah, still wish I didn't know.  (Comment on this)