19 days & the world spins madly on

sweatshirt.jpg

while it may look like a boring zip front sweatshirt, it is actually the sweatshirt i have been searching for. hoodless, cute gathering in the back, and POCKETS ON THE INSIDE. DRAIN POCKETS. you know, i very very very rarely shop for myself but since i found out the surgery was a 'go' i've been out every single day, at least looking. this reminds me of that nesting feeling before giving birth. i'm feeling the urge to clean and purge and prepare and be as ready as humanly possible. i started thinking about it and in a way i imagine this is what someone feels like before gender reassignment surgery (i know, bear with me). i have this odd feeling that something that has been wrong for a while is about to be righted. that this is a new chapter.

everyone on my dad's side of the family has been friends with a woman up in washington who is something of an . . . intuitive? they check in with her at major points in their lives to sort of make sure they're on the right track. all she asks is that you write down a list of specific questions for her to ruminate on, giving no background or details. my dad goes to her with big things once or twice a year. a while back he went to her about something and she said something along the lines of: 'yeah yeah yeah, we'll get to that, but there's a big fat man here with me in a chef's coat and he is insisting that i tell you to test your thermometer. i have no idea why but he says you'll know.' no, my dad hadn't sought a psychic's advice for caramel information. his question wasn't about that. but she (and the man in the coat) were right, his thermometer was way off and causing lots of bad batches of caramel. he talked to her today, asked her about a location for the shop that we've been looking at (fyi, she said 'no, this isn't the right one, lots of turmoil here. there's one with three big windows and an awning. that's the right one.'). she volunteered that i'd made the right decision about something big. that it'll be difficult but that it's the right thing. *le sigh*

i'm feeling that way too. i just got off the phone with dr. runi (breast oncologist) who told me she'd looked at my mri from yesterday. apparently there overall 'warmth', similar to my last mri. in other words, areas that lit up when they did the contrast. she's not concerned about these because they're likely benign but they're areas that i assume would be followed and checked as i age. (

IF I WAS KEEPING THESE SAGGY OLD BREASTS, WHICH I'M NOT.)

hotspots are areas with increased blood flow - tumors get extra blood but injuries and hormone changes cause hotspots too i guess. in any case, i'll be very curious to see if there's anything precancerous in there once they send them (mah boobs) to the lab.

20 days

i had my final breast mri today. the guy that put my iv in kept trying to calm me as i kept saying,

seriously, i'm not nervous. i've done this before. a bunch. also, not afraid of needles. also, not afraid of my own blood. seriously i'm fine. i took a xanax. the claustrophobia thing isn't a huge deal.

apparently my calmness flustered him because he kept dropping things and making stupid comments like, 'wow, a breast mri huh? you look young for that.' 'wow, a mastectomy huh?' 'wow, you have kids huh? you started young. me too. i'm a grandpa and i'm only 36.' 'wow, you're like the super patient.' 'hang in there, it'll be okay.

the mri itself only took 20 minutes which seriously makes me wonder why the ones at stanford usually take an hour. the actual tech was super nice, brought me warm blankets and talked me through the whole thing. the xanax i took was so effective that i think i dozed off in the machine. then, when she started the contrast flowing through the iv apparently it blew a loose connection and i started bleeding everywhere. i had no way to tell her and i could feel the contrast going in so i just had to wait until the whole thing was over. 'oh no! you sprung a leak!' i bled all over the inside of a million dollar machine and then smeared it everywhere as she pulled me out. she promised to make the chatty phlebotomist clean it up. win.

i drug mara to walmart (aka the gates of hell) with me tonight and grabbed a couple of these sports bras that close in the front. i have no idea what size i'll be at the end of my surgery. they're taking the tissue. but they're adding the expanders with a little saline. but i'll be super swollen. but for how long? but i'll be getting frequent expansions. but they'll likely be lopsided at first. in any case, i'm spending minimal amounts on undergarments until i get the implants put it...

21 days: wherein i reveal that i'm attempting to post everyday leading up to my surgery

lorenzo: will you get a wheelchair? will we get to see you in it? will you eat pine cones? will the part that hangs outside of your body (drains) be purple? will animals follow you because you have those things? i made you this picture so if you miss me you have it. what color stars do you want on your shirt. who will have to help you? will we have to move veeerrrry slooowwwly like this, so we don't hurt you? what if me and dandan are having just a boys day, can we move fast?

22 days, 23 bajllion appointments

  • april 17th - breast mri
  • may 7th - pre-op with plastic surgeon
  • may 8th - bilateral mastectomy
  • may 15th - follow up with breast oncologist
  • may 16th - drain removal by plastic surgeon
  • may 22nd - physical therapy
  • may 23rd - first expansion
  • may 29th - physical therapy
  • may 30th - second expansion

and after that as many expansion appointments as it takes to get my boobs melon-sized. then, a three to four to five month rest for my foobs (<--- see fourth definition) before the swaparoo! oh, did i forgot to mention that i probably won't be able to drive to any of these? er, volunteers? i'll buy lunch!

also, and how amazing is this, maria happened to bring me two bags of clothes from one of her rich clients today. my size, fortuitous. half the clothes button or zip ups, incredible!

23 days

started doing a little shopping for my after my surgery today. all the lists i've seen say to get button up shirts or shirts that can be stepped into through the neck hole since arm mobility will likely be quite limited for a few weeks. i thought finding clothes that fall into this category would be easier. do buttons go out of fashion? thankfully big blousy things haven't. i got a few things. 

last night i was walking through old navy with lorenzo and he started crying. he said he's scared to be without me during my surgery. i reassured him that the doctors would be taking very good care of me and that his daddy would be taking very good care of him and his sister. i told him that he and parker are the reason that i'm doing this in the first place, so i can live to be very very very old and meet his grandchildren one day. this struck him as hilarious. *waaaahhhh*

also, if i die please play harry belafonte at my funeral. loudly. and repeatedly.

24 days

lorenzo wants to know if i get crutches so he can try them after my surgery and is disappointed when i say 'no'. parker wants to know how long i'll have to stay out of the swimming pool and shrugs when i say 'about a month.' she figures dad can take her. danny says he will not be shaving my armpits for me while i can't. tickets to see my hairy armpits and my no nipples will of course be sold.

my last mammogram came back clean. i have my last mri next week. i imagine i'll be resting easy in the hammer-y claustrophobic-y tube knowing it'll be my last - at least breast related.

so, it's april & in may i'll have no/new tits

so yeah, wow, i guess i'm having a double mastectomy on may 8th. i had my appointment with my surgical oncologist a couple weeks ago and then today with my plastic surgeon. i really like both of them, am feeling confident in their abilities and am completely overwhelmed with being treated like an adult in a medical setting. i honestly expected this whole process to involve long drawn out arguments with professionals wherein i'd have to cite studies that i've been following for a decade, get second and third and fourth opinions, and generally prove myself as a rational human being. incredibly though i 'look about 16' both doctors looked me in the eyes and said (basically) 'yup, makes sense. let's go ahead.'

i'll post more tomorrow about the details...