NBCCEDP reauthorized by Senate

posted Thursday, 29 March 2007

Well that certainly was fast! When breast cancer is detected early, women are far more likely to survive.

By providing timely screening to women with little or no health insurance, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) saves thousands of lives. Thanks to those of you who took a moment to send in a letter to your Senator. This program was reauthorized quite easily, but not all issues regarding breast cancer do. To thank your Members of Congress, follow the link below:

http://komenpolicy.org/campaign/nbccedp_thanks

Also, be sure to check in often with Komen to see what more you can do!

http://cms.komen.org/komen/PublicPolicy/ChampionsfortheCure/index.htm

National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP)

posted Tuesday, 27 March 2007

Today, the House of Representatives voted to reauthorize the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). We are not finished yet - the Senate still needs to vote on the companion bill. Will you take a moment to ask your Senator to reauthorize the program? It's super easy -- all you have to do is fill in your name and address. I've done several of these campaigns and received letters back from my local legislators.

Click here to send a letter to your Senator today. (You'll need to click on the link that says "Click here to take action as another user")

NBCCEDP saves thousands of lives by providing uninsured women in all 50 states with access to early-detection services such as breast exams and mammograms. The program has screened millions and has diagnosed breast cancer in tens of thousands of women. H.R. 1132, which was approved by the House today, and the companion bill in the Senate (S. 624), will reauthorize the program at a funding level of $225 million, increasing annually to $275 million.

Thank you so much for your support and advocacy. We hope that the Senate will do its part shortly, and I will let you know when we cross the finish line!

For more information on this and other important breast cancer issues, check out Komen Champions for the Cure(TM)

Thanks,
LC

Another fill and poor Bella

posted Monday, 19 March 2007

Another 60 cc's in my expander and another 60 cc's of fluid pulled off my back. Lovely. Good news = I am starting to regain feeling in my back... Bad news = I am starting to regain feeling in my back (making the needle in my back a tad bit uncomfortable). Dr S says that this happens with about 30% of lat flap patients and it's one of the most frustrating complications. We just need the pocket in my back to heal up, so I'm going back again later this week. I'm also wearing a set of wide ace bandages around my back, with a big ball of gauze wedged in it to apply pressure... not very comfortable, but will hopefully do the trick!

Dr says 1-2 more fills and then I can plan for my exchange surgery in late May. Hopefully, that will go well and we won't need any "revision" surgery... after that, they wait for everything to settle down and create the nipples and tattoo on areolas... crazy, right? still not sure whether i'm going to go for all that, but people say it's nice to have the full package. and in comparison, apparently, the nips & tats are a piece of cake. my concern is that i saw my friend j suffer for weeks with bloody, crusty, nips after they were created... i should call and see how they are doing now! see, how many of you can call up a friend and ask how her nipples are doing?
Enough about me though.... my baby girl had her surgery today. Poor Bella. She came home from the vet, barely able to walk. She is so out of it - it reminded me of my first day home from the hospital.... in a drug-induced stupor. I gave her some chicken broth and she was trying to drink it and fell face-first into the small bowl of broth. She does not like being kept in the bathroom (they liked it fine their first few days at home - it was way bigger than their cage at the adoption agency, but now that they know what else is out there... they do not like being locked in there). Her belly is not great either - she's gotten sick a few times, which they tell me is normal, but still stinks, right? I can't wait to see her back to normal, wrestling with her brother and tormenting the O-man.

One month down...

posted Friday, 16 March 2007

Gosh! I can't believe that it's been a full month since my surgery. I am starting to feel much better and actually ventured out of my house on my own last night (the dr gave me clearance to drive this past Tuesday!) It felt really great to get out, but a bit unbelievable at how quickly I was exhausted and my back sore from the uncomfortable seats (I should've brought my recliner with me!)

I'm still a bit slow, but I've been out walking this week (until the temperature took a nose dive last night, bringing back snow & freezing rain!) I even scrambled some eggs yesterday (though the pan is still sitting, dirty, in my sink). I'm no longer restricted from raising my hand above my head (though my range of motion is pretty poor). I can't wait to start stretching and exercising, but for now... patience...

Breast Cancer Barbie

posted Friday, 9 March 2007

Have any of you seen Mattel's Breast Cancer Barbie?? She was released in 2006, with excellent intentions, and Mattel has promised to donate $250k to the Susan G Komen Foundation (now Susan G. Komen for the Cure).



If you can imagine, a young breast cancer survivor might have a difficult time relating to the glam gal above...

Leave it to Linnea, a hip-chick who frequently posts on the YSC (Young Survival Coalition) message board to come up with a more accurate version of Breast Cancer Barbie -- one we can actually relate to! Check out Linnea's website, with a full description and additional shots of BC Barbie here: http://rickster.rb-com.com/linnea/cancer-barbie.htm

Comments:

1. Sarah J left...

Saturday, 10 March 2007 10:48 am

I like the second picture better. The first reminds me of growing up in the 80s in Georgia... Glad you're on the mend!

Drain Drain Go Away...

posted Thursday, 8 March 2007

The 3rd and final drain was pulled today... yowza! It was a bit uncomfortable as Dr S pulled the tube out of my armpit. I could feel the 15 inches of tubing wind its way through my back until it was all out... gross! Fingers crossed that I don't have too much fluid build up in my back now... otherwise, they'll need to aspirate it.

After filling the expander with another 60 cc's of saline, Dr S drew 20 cc's of fluid off my chest... also gross! Fortunately, I can't really feel that. Unfortunately, a needle to aspirate my back would be felt, so let's all think good thoughts about my body coming to terms with the missing tissue from my back.

Overall, things are feeling better. I am still pretty tired and my back and side are quite sore. My chest feels pretty good. I'm pretty much off all of the pain meds. In general, I feel almost normal when I am sitting still... I am getting some weird pinching in my back (like a twinge of pain) that I thought was from the drain, but it's still been happening -- hopefully, once my back has a chance to relax, that will go away too!

Thanks to Heather, Char, Mom & Mike for chauffeuring me back and forth to the dr -- over an hour away.

Sandra (my friend from work) & her daughter, Isabella, came over for dinner tonight. They brought over Macaroni Grill (yum) and some nice lotion for me. I got Isabella a Webkinz -- look how "with it" I looked, thanks to my cousins Diana, Jessica & Brian! Webkinz are all the rage and she didn't have one yet! Isabella enjoyed playing with the kitties and Otis (and I think the babies enjoyed having someone new to play with too!)

Belly Rings & Breast Cancer

posted Monday, 5 March 2007

From an article in the Washington Post ("After the Tears", Emily Wax) ...

The man in the white lab coat at Georgetown Hospital's Lombardi Cancer Center took one look at my bellybutton ring and sighed.

"You can't have your CT scan with that in there," he said.
The demand for the piercing's removal last summer was just another way cancer was trying to pry away at my 32-year-old life. But the silver hoop wouldn't budge.
That's how my husband and I ended up racing in a cab to an M Street tattoo parlor hours before I was scheduled for the test that would tell me if the breast cancer had spread. And if I would have a better chance of undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and surviving, or slogging through the treatments and possibly dying.

The parlor's electronica music spinning from a laptop seemed way too loud. The hipsters in skinny jeans and puffy boots eyeing the latest Chinese symbol tattoos seemed blissfully carefree. Amid the tattoo-splattered walls, I turned as ashen and as soaked in sweat as I would during the height of chemo as I sat down on a cold metal table. "Sweet!" purred a tattooed Burly Man, a cliche with wrench: "This trend is so over."

Me: "You have no idea."

This is the bizarre world of being young and having cancer diagnosed, when at the peak of your beauty, confidence and fertility the rhythms of your life are propelled into what we believe are the problems of the old. Total hair loss, bone pain, stomach issues, and chemo-induced menopause leave you as un-hip among your friends as, well, a cancer patient.

It's hard enough being a young woman -- with the pressures to be beautiful and shiny-haired. Try it after chemo -- bald and without eyebrows or even eyelashes.

Hmm, I removed mine for the barrage of CT scans & each surgery, but I've still got mine... but then again, I've never claimed to be very trendy...

Emily Wax hits the nail right on the bald, bald head with her description of the bizarre world into which we've been cast.

PS -- Unfortunately, 4 hours of surgery, a heavy artillery of narcotics and 3 drains kept me from making it down to the conference this year (it figures! I was able to make it to Denver for last year's conference, but I couldn't make it to DC for this year's!).