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:

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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.

Hm. I'll take this slow moment for the three-peat.

I had my very first pedicure today and, sadly, the experience sucked major ass. Too first-world to go into detail, but it has prompted me to write a letter to the spa's president/corporate headquarters. Fie on them.

Later though, I met a really interesting fellow in my search for a mentor.

He really pushed me on a topic that, before now, I would not have considered... I changed my first name when I was about 19 mostly because the evilness of my childhood seemed tied up in it. I even joked that if anyone called me [birthname], I knew instantly that they were not someone I wanted to talk to.

As the years went on, I came to love my chosen name, odd spelling and all...it's a conversation starter, it's memorable, I've used it so much it really is a part of me.

But this fellow pushed me back on my heels by saying that I am kidding myself about having completely integrated my past if I refuse to use that name.

Something feels really true about that, at the same time, I just don't know what to think about what feels like (but probably would not be) a major life change by going back to the old name.

Weird.

Then, a random stranger on the Metro, who knew nothing of what was on my mind mentioned the importance of names. It seemed like a sign.

yay meara!

yay for Karen!

ma to mom , Hil

I spent about three hours today trying to get my internet connection back. After I had gone through the usual check all the connections, turn modem on and off, rebooting, lather once, repeat, I called Earthlink to see if there was a problem with the service. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone, about half the time on hold and the other talking to one person with a nearly indecipherable accent, who, after having me go through all the things I had already done, finally decided it must be the phone line and transferred me to another person. I was on hold about 20 minutes for the transfer to get another person I couldn't understand. She finally checked with the phone company, which told her they had changed settings on the line and it would be fixed by 9. They couldn't have checked that before I went through the tortures of the damned? Somewhat ironically, I was talking to people in India, which I know is where Earthlink has outsourced its tech support, in order to find out what was happening to phone lines in Atlanta, the home of Earthlink.

The drain is absolutely the worst part. Three nodes is not too bad, Hec, but I know she'll feel better after she gets the scan results. The other factors are whether it's HER2 positive, which is more aggressive but for which there's a new drug that seems to be working great, and whether it's hormone positive. Okay, that's probably more than you wanted to know. I'll be thinking about her.

Yay armpits!

I have been thinking about my last name quite a bit lately. When we married my husband and I each took the same name, a name we decided had special meaning for us. If I had taken his name I would have changed it back right away but I feel like the name we took is half mine. I also dropped my middle name, Jane, which I hated. Now I kinda like it. Also my maiden name is Irish and I do miss being a Mc. The deciding factor for me originally was that it was cheaper to keep the name I had. I'm not sure what's making me ponder my old name lately.