Bunny is hot!

Look where I found Bunny. Bunny either drank way too much Champaign or he just doesn't like the heat.

I know I said I was not going to post for the next few weeks but once I found Bunny I decided it was time to update all of you. I feel great. I am still bald and as a bonus 30 days after my last chemo I have lost 75% of my left eyebrow. Yes just my left one. What the hell? I was so proud bragging how at least I kept my eyebrows and eyelashes... Well crap! I lost 50% of my eyelashes as of last week, 75% of my left eyebrow, and 25% of my right one. The good news is I am cancer free blah blah blah.. I want hair people. Hair for women is very very important and I want it back. To quote a very famous person, " Daddy, I want an Umpa Lumpa NOW!!!

As many of you know I am back to feeling spunky and attempting to get my big butt in shape to run in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure Sept. 17. Today I ran my first mile without stopping. Hooray for me!! It hurt a bit cuz, well I am fat and my boob is still healing. I have to wear two sports bras to try to keep it from moving at all. It works pretty good but it still pulls just a bit. So many of you say what the hell does that thing look like. Well I think this blog has not been just to keep you all up on Bunny but it is also to keep you informed. As you all know knowledge is power so..... This brings me to a photo I thought many of you would like to see. May I introduce my new and improved cancer free left boob. . You are looking at my left underarm which has a 2.5" scar from the lymph node surgery in March and the left upper section of my left boob which has a 3" scar from the two surgeries in May. The tumor was about the size of a walnut. Please consider that to take this photo I had to raise my left arm and shoot the photo with my right hand... not an easy task. As you can see the two scars are not much different from each other. We are hoping that within the next 6 months to a year neither are going to be visible much.

We are waiting for my scar to heal so we can get started on radiation. I am hoping that by the time I can run 3 miles without stopping (aka passing out) that I will be done with radiation and my hair will be back. I am now hoping for September. I really don't want to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary bald.

Thanks for checking in and keep your prayers coming. Remember love yourself and your family and get your mammograms yearly.

Great News!

Sorry I haven't posted sooner but we were waiting to hear back on my second surgery biopsy. On Tuesday we got the great news. The second biopsy showed no evidence of cancer. Now you say to your self Tammie you just won the lottery! What are you going to do next? Well I began to look for bunny to share the great news. As of late bunny has been in hiding. I personally think the first surgery may have pushed him over the edge with stress. He may have turned to that old faithful companion - the bottle. So even though he was surprised I was not when I found him like this.

What I didn't realize until I got a better look at him was he was "huggin the bottle" shall we say, attempting to open champaign to celebrate our great news.

Apparently bunnies have exceptionally good hearing, I think it's those ears.

So our friends, let us all "hug a bottle" and say a toast to good health, good friends, and happier days ahead.

For those of you who would like to know, my boob looks exactly the same as it did before any of this started except with about a 3" scar. Unfortunately that ain't like a 25 year old but hey it is still there. You know, as Martha use to say before she got put in the big house, "That is a Good Thing". Have you noticed she doesn't say that anymore. I wonder why sometimes.

Please ladies don't forget to schedule your mammograms if you have not already done so in the last year. I know they aren't a 100% in diagnosis but let me remind you when it comes to cancer any percent is better than zero. Love your families by loving yourself enough to get your mammograms yearly.

I still have 6 weeks of radiation to undergo but it can't begin until my wound heals. So we will be on hiatus for the next 4-6 weeks enjoying summer and taking a break from being sick. May I suggest you all do the same. You all deserve a little "cancer free worry" time if I do say so my dang self. Without all of your support and love there is no way Tom and I would have been able to get this far. Enjoy your next few weeks and please check back with us sometime in July to see the truth about radiation. Most say it is a breeze, I will be the judge of that and report it all to you.

All of our love to you

Surgery

Our surgeon thought I did so well on my last surgery she thought it would be a hoot to have me come back in for another round next Friday. Oh yes my friends it is true. We thought we were home free but Phyllis has thrown us a curve ball and we need to go back in one more time to get "cleaner" margins. For us non doctor types that means the glob they took out Tuesday was not scar tissue as first thought, but in fact it was a big mucus cancer glob (2.7 cm) which needs to have a 2mm cancer free zone around the edges to be considered "clean margins". On one side I have only 1mm free of cancer cells so they have to put me back under and take another mm.

I am sorry I didn't post info sooner but as many of you may have already heard we were thinking the news would only be good so I wanted to wait until we got the final word from our doctor. Ooops!

As all of you know this is has been a real learning experience for both Tom and me. The most recent thing we have learned and my friends you can take this to the bank. If your doctor tells you to phone the office to get pathology reports and when you call they tell you they can't find it, or it is isn't posted, or some BS like that hold on tight cuz it isn’t good news. The first time we called we were told this same BS and it was cancer. This time the exact same thing happened. When they can't find your info it is because they can't tell you the bad news the doctor has to.

The good news is my prognosis is still good and no different today then it was two days ago. I did my chemo, I will have the entire lump removed, and I am doing 6 weeks of radiation. Women who follow this treatment plan live long healthy lives and so will I.

My next surgery will be on 6/9 we think. Check back in with my blog after the 9th to see how it went. I don't have much to report these days except my days are filled with looking in my 10x magnifying mirror to see if I have new hair and watching Perry Mason for two hours a day. A girl has to stay busy you know.

Keep me in your prayers because this is far from over.

Love to all of you