Tickety Boo(bs) and Pay It Forward

My surgeon topped me up today. We forgot to take a camera so TB took a quick snap on his phone…yes the one that’s rattled around in his pocket for four years and has dust under the lens. So, apologies for the poor quality picture.

Here you can see the needles in BOTH ports which are under the skin. A syringe filled with saline is attached to the end of the tube and hey presto…boobage! I will have one or two more tweaks over the next couple of weeks and then wait with bated breath as the newest breast settles. Then, when I’m happy with them both, I will have the ports removed. Some women leave them in but mine show so I’ll let them go. The left breast will always be a little more pronounced at the top as this has been subjected to radiotherapy which has caused the muscle to tighten around the implant. It’s really only noticeable in certain garments, hence wearing a bra today so I could see how it looked as it was being expanded.

My surgeon has given me a new nipple on the latest breast. At the moment it looks a bit iffy but will look better when the wound has completely healed. However, I will have the option to have a nipple constructed on the first side to match or to have the existing one smoothed out instead. Watch this space. (Watch my nipples…ooer)

Oh and see those hands? Those are the HIS hands…the man who has given me two wonderful boobs back. I have no idea how to thank him so I just smile insanely. I will pass on my good fortune to whomever and whenever I can. I am a firm believer in Pay It Forward, the national day of which happens to be today, but I like to do it every day.

Fig rolls and Herceptin

Last week I had another intravenous Herceptin dose.

I took Jacob’s Fig Rolls (which are vegan and the best and less calories than most biscuits) to have with the hospital coffee. They do look after us in the chemo suite…endless cups of coffee and biscuits but I can’t be sure their biscuits are vegan and their sandwiches definitely aren’t. This time it only took three hours.

I also saw the pharmacist who explained the procedure for having the next fourteen doses administered at home. I think this is a fantastic service but he seemed to be almost apologetic about it. I get the feeling many patients see this as a cop out by the hospital but I see it as a caring way to make this treatment easier for me.

All things being well, I won’t be going to the chemo suite again. I shall still see the staff there as my oncologist appointments are in the same department.

When I got home I had this :o)

I love Fevertree (and Waitrose) tonic water as it doesn’t have sweeteners in it. All the others, even the Fat Tonic Waters have saccharin or aspartame in and I don’t want that stuff in my food and drink…it also tastes vile. There are a lot of things I don’t want in my food and drink. To this end I try to avoid processed or intensively farmed/grown produce. I’m buying organic when I can (Jeez that stuff’s expensive sometimes) and, as ever, I make our meals from scratch.

I’ve been advised to avoid dairy as this contains too many hormones which have been given to the cows to increase yields. Lucky I’m vegan then and knew all this and wouldn’t want to have something which had caused the cow to suffer anyway. Lucky I also don’t eat any animal flesh as this is so full of growth hormones it’s scary. I’m being given drugs to block all these things where they occur naturally and I don’t want to introduce unnecessary extras.

TB has downloaded to his Kindle (there must be a verb for that…Kindled) Eat & Run by Scott Jurek. He’s an ultrarunner (wow…there’s an actual word for him) and a vegan. TB is wondering if a vegan diet will improve his triathloning…well, yes, of course it will.

My fingernails are getting worse…hey ho.

Three days till I have my boobs evened up…

Sans Nipple…

Here it is…the moment I’ve been waiting for…the first sight of my scar and I am so pleased.

This is the first time my surgeon has seen it, too and he was very pleased.
There’s no fluid, very little bruising, the implant hasn’t moved. the port hasn’t moved
and the scar is wonderfully smooth. Some of the areola has been saved and this will be used to make the new nipple and a new areola will be tattooed around it. Good, huh?

This photograph was taken after I’d had another 40ml of saline injected into the implant.
The breast will settle in time and look less like a football!
The injection and fill-up didn’t hurt at all; in fact, we were all laughing about it. However, by the evening, the tightness and stretching of the muscle was very painful but this has now eased and the painkillers helped.
Next week, I’m having the final top up…not 40ml, I don’t want to poke TB in the eye.

EDIT: Just in case you were wondering, I will be having the other breast worked on so it will match!

Thunderbirds are go!

Today’s blood test was fine and surgery is tomorrow!

All packed and ready to go. Yikes…

Halloween blood…

My blood test results from Thursday show that my counts
(neutrophils, white cells, platelets and some other things with strange names)
are currently too low for next week’s surgery. I’m having another test on Monday. So…..

COME ON BLOOD, GET YOUR FLIPPING ACT TOGETHER!!!

Macmillan Coffee Morning

Today is the day of the Macmillan Coffee Morning.
I hope you all have a great time