Congratulations, meara!

Boo! meara is leaving D.C.!

Those heels would be useless for me.

See, what you need is a cross-dressing BF/houseboy/cabana boy/man-candy/etc., because then he wears them and you get to watch in appreciation. It's a win-win.

what you need is a cross-dressing BF/houseboy/cabana boy/man-candy

well yeah but my C-DBFHCBMC store is always out of stock.

Lost a meara, gained a Sparky.

Got an update from Karen. Since you're all giving her big -ma, I thought I'd just share her group email (not private) so you can hear what she sounds like:

**************

My surgeon removed the drain today--yay! I had no idea how much it was irritating me. No, I mean, I know it was bugging me, but I didn't realize how much of the discomfort in my armpit was due to the little plastic tube up there. Now it's out and I feel better already. :-)
Bad(ish) news--the margins on the tumor were a bit close, so he wants to go back in and remove more of the edge around the existing "cavity" (where the tumor was). (The tumor was about 2.5 cm.) Since there definitely won't be lymph node involvement this time, it actually *will* be same day surgery. But, of course, we have to go through the approval process (again) first. So, everyone be thinking positive thoughts along the lines of "surgery next week, surgery next week, surgery next week".
And of the 18 lymph nodes they removed, 3 of them were positive.
This makes me T2 and N1 in the cancer staging. We're assuming (hopinghopinghoping) that the M (metastisis) is a 0. Hopefully the CT scan taken last week confirms this. I'll know more, I'm sure, when I meet with the oncologist on Monday.
The surgeon says they're staging this as a 3A. Not fantastic, but not end of the world, by any means. And, we're lucky enough to live in a nice metropolitan area, with access to extremely fine care.
Meanwhile, we continue to be touched by the genuine help and good thoughts we're continuously receiving. We can't thank folks enough. Please just know how much we do appreciate your thoughts and words.

Fingers crossed. It sounds like she's in good spirits. So much of this process is like those crazy brainteaser puzzles: given this, what could the next step be? It sounds like, overall, some of her signs are better than worse, so, yay? And definitely YAY on getting clear of some of the irritations and frustrations. So I think she'll understand if I say YAY ARMPIT!

So I think she'll understand if I say YAY ARMPIT!

Exactly! Also, three cancerous lymph nodes out of 18 or so is pretty good. Not ideal, but could be worse. Suggests at least that it hasn't spread far. We'll keep our fingers crossed for that. Chemo hasn't started yet.

How wonderful David. Moving firmly forward into health ~ma for Karen.

And kudos for you my follicular guru...my hairdresser shore my locks in the exact style we talked about yesterday and I quite like it. She asked me how I decided on such a great cut for my face-type and I said that a man I've never met, but who loves giving women advice on hair chose it for me.

Her eyes flew open and she squealed, Really? Is he a hairdresser?

Not professionally, that I know of, he just likes to do it.

Weeaall He did a great job!

So, there you have it...more blinvisible appreciation.

Congratulations meara! Easy travels and great success ~ma to you.

I'm glad I got to meet you in the flesh before your flesh moved to the other side of the world. Gosh, I hope those two events aren't related.

Much healing ~ma to your Ma, Hil.

Hil, I wish all the best for your mom.

Seems like Karen has some sort of good news. Yay armpit indeed.

Boo meara, especially since I haven't met the DC crew yet. Oh well. More in Seattle to visit.

My dad gets to take a break from the hospital and go home for the weekend. I think. He isn't being released for good, just for a little bit. Still, that should boost their spirits.