what an insane and very productive day!

Part 1:
The day started normal, and only one appointment scheduled for the day with my plastic surgeon- and not for boob related stuff, rather- to repair my stretched out ear piercing so that I can get my ear repierced and wear earrings since I will be bald!  Well, I was in enough pain under my arm and really- a LOT of swelling, so I was going to mention that as well.  I got there and told the nurse what was up, undressed, put my robe on (nice robes- I want one!) and he came in.  I asked him about my underarm and he looked at it and asked what my problem was with it- I just kind of made a noise and face but he just looked at me and said what does *dr doing same noise and face* mean exactly? oh man, he IS funny!  I said- it means bad things are going on and I am pretty sure it is NOT normal!!! He poked around and examined and said that the surgeon had done alot of digging in that same area getting more lymph node samples and it was all normal swelling that nothing but time would help.  Poo!  I am glad it is nothing serious but I want it to at least be something I can fix pronto :(
Then- he decided it was time for a fill (although he told me last week that I needed to wait 2 weeks- which makes my fill next friday) I wasn't really in the mood for more pain today BUT the thought of one less appointment next week was quite tantalizing!  So, he then used this magnet to find the 'button'  where he has to stick his needle in to fill the expander.  His magnet contraption reminded me of one of those forked sticks that people use to 'magically' find water.  It pointed the way and then ding!  He took out his needle (very tiny) and then the syringe (HUGE) and started filling it from a bag of saline.  50cc- that is a hell of a lot of saline!  And I told him so!  His reply- no, not really.  Whatever dude, it isn't going in your body now, is it? So he began to fill and really a little over halfway through I started to feel 'something' but not pain really.  The crazy thing is I was looking down, watching him drain the syringe, and my boob is growing right before my eyes.  I kid you not- that is some freaky shit!  And in my personal opinion, if you are putting so much fluid in someone that you can see them grow....it is too much! LOL! 
I then told him thanks a lot- I spent a whole day and a tantrum trying to get my foob stuffed right to put in my mastectomy bra, FINALLY got it about right and now he went and screwed it all up and I had to destuff and refluff, and reposition....ahhhhh!
 Finally it was time for my ear.  He numbed it, and went to work.  It wasn't bad or painful at all- but then he had to do the back side of my ear, so he lifted my lobe up and pressed it against my ear drum.  I could hear all the nasty scraping and scratching he was doing.  It really made me feel kind of queasy to hear that noise for so long.  Then he stitched it up.
As Dr. Ethridge was working on my today he was talking to the nurse about a drug rep that he knows, and he was telling the nurse that the people at the hospital give him a hard time because he is young and really cute.  Now, I think I have mentioned here before- but this guy is NOT ugly.  So, I told him that it was funny he was telling me that story because the friend that I had brought with my to my first pre-op appt had seen him and as we were walking out she told me 'yea Tara, I would let him touch my boobs too!'  Really- the dr is cute and a plastic surgeon so I figured he got that kind of thing all the time....He got all embarrassed and blushed!  Haha!  It was so cute!  Then the whole time he was doing my ears he was making jokes- saying my ear would be pointy at first but that it would even out as it healed and to please not let my friends see my ear while it is pointy because he wants to be able to touch their ears AND their boobs if need be! Oh man, we were rolling in fits of laughter in there.
Part 2:
I was already on 'that part' of town, so I decided to drive over to my oncologists office.  I had called earlier to see if I could find out info on my next tests and also get a tentative start date for chemo.  I didn't hear back so I decided I would just go in real quick and find out.  I can never be there 'real quick' and I know that now.  Apparently, when my echo got rescheduled and done on wednesday (much earlier than originally scheduled) we started a chain of events that were not good at all. Because I am in a research study there are TONS of rules and regulations.  My echo has to be done within a certain number of days of me being randomized, and then I need to start chemo within a certain number of days after being randomized...yea- so that just made a big mess.  So they were scheduling and unscheduling and I had about 6 people in there brainstorming on what the heck to do because now we are on this timeline that is even sooner than they had planned on and my tissue sample from the hospital still hasn't been able to be aquired yet so that it can be sent to Italy to assure my place in the drug trial.  OOOOPS!  While I am there and they are figuring these things out they decide I need an EKG too so they wisk me off to get an EKG.  After that, they give me a schedule with a bone scan, a checkup, and also a chemo start date which is September 5.  If the sample doesn't arrive in time they will have to bump my date and redo my echo but hopefully THAT won't happen!
After all that, I talked to Pam; the nurse navigator.  I asked her some questions about the chemo room- mostly wondering if there was more to it up there rather than just staring at the person across from you.  She said- WHAT, you haven't had a proper tour? Lets go!  (see, I said I can never do anything real quick there!) So, upstairs we went.  There weren't any people up there that looked like they were dying, and there was a couple in there laughing.  Pam went over to say hi to them.  I could tell she was a breast cancer patient because she had a BC shirt on.  We chatted for a bit and she told me it was her first treatment- I told her 'yea, I know!  You still have hair!' LOL!  Many chemo drugs don't make you lose your hair, but all the ones given to BC patients do.  
After that, we were off to research to find a nurse that would tell me just how long I would spend my chemo days there.  When I asked Dr. Young on Monday- she said to plan on being here all day long.  She never gave more info than that.  So, the research lady printed off a schedule for me and holy shit!  All.Day.Long. is right.  a MINIMUM of 6 hours...And that is just for the chemo portion, I have to get there before hand and get an appt with the doctor, and have blood drawn to make sure that my counts are high enough to get chemo that day, then wait- THEN start chemo.  uh huh, all day is right.  Finally after that craziness I left!
Part 3:
Finally home! And now my boob is starting to ache, then pretty quickly after that it HURTS and I am pacing around.  Finally I take a valium(for muscle relaxing) and a norco.  I didn't really get 'high' from the meds after my mastectomy but I have been off them for enough days that I sure got high tonight!  I decided to order pizza for dinner since I felt achy, and it took me a damn hour just to order pizza off the computer!!! Yea, I would say I was pretty loopy.   I am feeling better now though and hopefully that will continue.  Only one more mishap- I absentmindedly itched at my ear and I did *something* to the stitches I think- and it bled alot, for quite a few minutes.  The stitches still look the same in the front but I am not sure about the back.  I ended up putting some gauze and medical tape on it to make sure I didn't do that again.  Ears are very difficult things to bandage....

If you actually read all the way through this whole post you deserve some kind of medal!

Oh, and the thing that spurred me to go to the onc's office today to get a clear date for chemo is because my mom is coming out!  She decided to come out for my first treatment and that next week, then go back home and then come out just in time for my 2nd treatment and stay through the end of October!  Yeah!  My kids will not be neglected while I am laying in bed deathly ill and tired :)   (yea, I know- they say I won't be deathly ill- I will believe it when I see it)  I knew she would be out in October but her coming in September was a nice surprise. Thanks mom!