Sorting it all out

So it turns out that “reconstructed” boobs aren’t quite what I had in mind. They’re not like Baywatch implants. They’re pretty much just as good as the plastic surgeon can get them with whatever he can salvage of my own breast own skin and pieces of cadaver or animal skin. A patchwork-quilt boob, you could say.

And do I want saline or silicone? Silicone feels more real, but saline, I think, is safer. But they’ve made advances with the silicone, so they might be OK. But I don’t really know because I don’t have time to research this thoroughly. And no matter which way I go, they won’t last forever. Eventually I’ll have to replace them, like a beat up car.

I’ll just come out and say it. This blog is more for me than anyone who might be reading it. If you’re an acquaintance or coworker and you’re not real comfortable reading about my boobs or my figure, feel free to skip over stuff or not read it at all. If you’re family and you read this and you want to give advice, maybe just hold off for a little bit. I’m posting these and making it public for the girl who’s diagnosed after me and does a Google search for “breast cancer at 33.” Like I did. I found some other 30-something woman’s blog, and I found it comforting.

I have to get all the scary stuff out of my head. I’m scared of the number 9, which is the “total Nottingham score” of one of the tumors the pathologist found. It basically means the cancer cells are dividing like crazy and that there are even some dead cancer cells, which isn’t good b/c cancer cells evidently live longer than normal cells. So if a pathologist finds dead cancer cells, it means the cancer has been there a while.

I’m scared of the word “extensive,” which is how the girl from my breast surgeon’s office described the results of the breast MRI I had on Thursday. Thankfully, there’s nothing in my left breast, but “extensive” cancer in my right breast means that the cancer isn’t contained in a nice, neat little tumor. It’s all throughout the tissue.

I’m scared of the “something” on my liver that the ultrasound tech found. I know I shouldn’t have asked a tech about what he was measuring during my abdominal ultrasound, but when he started clicking around a bunch and zooming in on a particular area, and then using some instrument that made the computer screen turn red and blue, I knew he was on to something.

When I asked the girl who called me from the breast surgeon’s office about this, she said that the ultrasound results weren’t ready, but that it could have just been a cyst on my liver. “You’d be surprised how many people have cysts on their liver,” she said. Yeah, I was surprised when I Googled “liver cyst” to learn that only 5% of the population has liver cysts. Stupid Google. Stupid me for Googling everything.

When I look at Miles sprawled out in his crib, I’m worried I won’t see him grow up, and I’m worried about who will get Allie ready for her first day of 1^st grade.

I’m probably fine. They’ll probably just cut my boobs off, biopsy the right breast, and tell me they got it all and that the cancer hasn’t spread and that I won’t even have to do chemo. That’s really what I’m praying for. But these are the fears that just sort of hang out in the back of my head all day.

I try to compartmentalize the cancer thoughts so that they’re not always there with me, so that I can focus on work when I’m there and my babies when I’m with them, and on Mario during the hour or so a day that we have totally to ourselves. But it’s hard. I’m hoping that getting them out on paper will help me separate the scary thoughts from whatever I need to be focusing on. I’m sorry if I’m at work and I’m not doing a good job of compartmentalizing at the moment.

Now, here’s what I’m grateful for. I’m grateful that I found this stupid thing. What if I never did that breast exam? Who knows how long this cancer would have growing before I found it?

I’m grateful for my family, who is staying strong and keeping me focused. My mom talked to me last night and told me that we are going to get through this. We are going to take one step at a time and get through one thing at a time, and we will get through it. I’m sure she’s told me that a dozen or so times before when I’ve gone through something difficult, but this time, it really stuck.

I’m grateful to Tony from Einstein’s. There is an Einstein’s in Lewisville that Mario and I have been going to since we moved to Flower Mound in 2006. And since we started going, we seem to always run into a group of men, probably ranging in age from their 40s to 60s, who are there when we are. One of the men, Tony Gonzalez, started talking to us one day and told us the group of men he’s with are all from the same Catholic church. I think he said they go to mass in the morning together and then go to Einstein’s to solve the world’s problems.

We’ve been friends with Tony since I was pregnant with Miles. He always asks us about our kids and how we’re doing. It is a treat to see him there. I told him last Thursday about my situation, and he said that this weekend, his group of Einstein’s dudes were going on a church retreat and that they would pray specifically for me.

I can’t believe that some random group of men would pray for me. I think what I like so much about these guys is that they remind me of my Granddad. My dad’s dad owned a pharmacy in Seymour, Texas, and he knew every single person in that town. When I was little, probably around 5 or so, he’d take me with him to the pharmacy and sit around some tables and chairs and visit with other Granddad-looking men. My Einstein’s men remind me of my Granddad. I bet Granddad’s coffee buddies would have prayed for someone like me.

I’m grateful to my friends who’ve said they’d pray for me and/or send good ju-ju my way.

I feel like maybe if I don’t have time to do all the research in the world on plastic surgeons and breast surgeons and hospitals and silicone vs. saline, that with all the prayer going out on my behalf, maybe God will put me in the right hands. I would research all this stuff, it’s just really hard when you don’t have much time to decide because you just want your cancer-boob cut off as fast as humanly possible, and you have a full-time job, and two kids and a husband. Not that I am complaining. Believe me, I would much rather spend time with my family and my job than I would researching cancer.

I feel like I don’t deserve all the prayer, because I’m not the world’s most devoted prayer person myself. I always thank God for what he’s given my family, but I don’t always remember to pray for others outside my family. Somehow, I’ll make it up to you.

And I promise not to post such downer posts all the time. 

 

I got the cancer

So, most of you know by now that I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Invasive ductal carcinoma, to be exact. Two tumors in the right boobie. Grade 3 with a score of 9. Most likely stage I or II cancer.

In an effort to keep friends and family updated, I thought I'd start posting to The Funky Cold Medinas blog again. 

And to keep today's posting time as brief as possible (as I am supposed to be working, not blogging, right now), I thought I would just copy and paste an email that I sent to a group of women I've begun referring to as The Trice Women. These are the women on my mother's side of the family, and we all share the same (or close to the same) boobs, genetically speaking. 

At any rate, I sent them an email explaining what's been going on with this whole cancer thing over the last few months. I've copied and pasted the contents of that email below.  I'll keep everyone posted as I learn more information.

Many thanks to all of you who have prayed for me, sent me good ju-ju, warm thoughts, good vibes, etc. I am grateful. 

* * *

To The Trice Women:

...And just to keep everyone up to date and on the same page, I thought I'd email you guys instead of re-telling the story several times. Again, I'm sorry this is so impersonal.

Anyway, here's what went down the past few months:
1. Friended Margie on Facebook during Granny's last few weeks.
2. Asked Margie a few questions about how we're related, etc.
3. Margie mentioned that Granny had a sister, Anne, who died of breast cancer at age 35.
4. I realized that with our family history, I should be doing breast self exams... something I had never once done.
5. I happened to find a pamphlet in my files that explained how to do the self exams.
6. I started doing the exams. I did one in early December, and didn't notice anything.
7. I did one on Christmas Eve Day, and I noticed a lump in my right breast.
8. Scheduled an appointment with my OB/GYN to have it looked at.
9. He said, "I'm 95% certain this is a fibroid." Even so, he wanted me to get a mammogram, just to be sure.
10. I get the mammogram, and radiologist says, "This looks and smells like a fibroid." But still, he wanted me to get a biopsy just to be sure.
11. On Jan. 31, I had the biopsy.
12. On Feb. 3, my OB/GYN called me on the phone and said, "It's cancer." He said the next step is to see a breast surgeon.

That news came last Thursday. Mario and I just waited and waited until we could get more information.

So, here's what's gone down the last couple of days.

1. On Monday, I had to pick up the pathology report, mammogram films and medical record so that I could take them with me to the breast surgeon.
2. OB/GYN translated the pathology report, which is very scary because, in a nutshell, it says the cancer cells are dividing very rapidly.
3. Mario and I furiously start Googling every term on the pathology report, and it just gets scarier and scarier.
4. FINALLY, today, we met with the breast surgeon, Dr. Alison Laidley, at Medical City.

So, here's what Dr. Laidley said:

1. I have two tumors in the right breast, which are somewhat far apart from each other. This means I am NOT a candidate for a lumpectomy. Instead, I will have a masectomy of my right breast.
2. Very soon (I hope this week), I will have a special type of MRI that focuses on my breasts. I will also have a chest X-ray, abdominal ultrasound and genetic testing. The MRI, X-ray and ultrasound will help determine if the cancer has spread anywhere beyond my right breast. The genetic testing will determine if I have a hereditary gene mutation that leads to breast cancer. This won't change anything as far as my treatment goes, but it will let us know if the Trice Women (including Allie), need to have genetic testing.
3. Because cancer in young women (younger than 40) tends to be aggressive and fast-growing, I will most likely have a double masectomy. This will lower the chances of the cancer recurring in the future.

And here's the bottom line (and the best news):

I will get new boobs, as insurance covers reconstruction. Yay new boobs!

Getting Ready for Miles

Only one full day left until Miles gets here. I'm so anxious I can't sleep. It's 2:47 as I write this post. Thought I'd try logging onto Blogger and testing a post since it's been so long since I've logged on. I'll try to keep everyone updated via The Funky Cold Medinas blog.

Take Two

OK, now I'm a video editor. I've pieced together two separate clips from the trusty ol' Flip camera. In this lovely montage, you'll see Allie headbutting Spanky Mae, and Allie crunching on some tasty SunChips (and yes, Mom, I do feed that baby healthy food sometimes).

The best part of this video? The music. The Flip camera comes with about a half dozen free songs that you can use with your video footage. I thought the Top Gun vibe of "Speedway" complemented the scene where Allie headbutts Spanky Mae. See? It's all about editing.

Yippee! A video this time. Yes, it's cheesy, too.

This is all experimental, folks. I know millions of moms before me have posted much more sophisticated videos than the one you're about to see, but I'm just practicing right now--getting used to all the gadgets. I used a Flip Cam, and this took me all of about five minutes, including shooting time.

I promise I'll deliver more serious fare in the next few weeks, but given that this is the first time I've even turned on the Flip Cam, it's not too shabby.

Cheesy Slideshow, Testing, Testing

OK, folks. Like I said in the previous blog entry, Mario and I are writers. We like to challenge ourselves in our profession. Case in point: I'm taking an online course through MediaBistro. It's a course about multimedia applications in journalism.

Why am I taking this?

1. My employer is paying for it.
2. If you haven't noticed, there are lots more ways to tell stories these days--way beyond the written word. But since it's been almost 10 years since I graduated from journalism school, I need some help using some of crazy new storytelling tools:

• digital photography (OK, that's not new, but it is for me)
• audio (again, not new)
• audio slideshows (relatively new)
• video (not new)
• mixing all of the above (kinda new)
• tools that the reader provide feedback (pretty new, if you don't count good old fashioned letters to the editor)
• throwing all this stuff on the Web in one nice, neat little package (new and ever evolving)
  

So, for my MediaBistro course, I had this great idea to tell a story via video about a patient at the hospital where I work. I have the storyline planned out, the Flip Cam set up, permission from the patient's family, buy-in from the patient's docs--the whole nine yards. What I didn't count on was the difficulty in scheduling a 17-year-old high schooler who works, dances 30+ hours a week, and is about to start her senior year.

In other words, chances are slim that I'll be able to pull that story off for my MediaBistro class.

Good thing I have a back-up plan: The Funky Cold Medinas blog.

My assignment this week was to post some type of multimedia file to my blog. Below, you'll find a lovely slideshow of Allie engaging in her favorite pastime: spending time outside. Since the day this kid came home from the hospital, she has loved looking up at trees, feeling the bricks outside the house, picking up leaves, going on walks, pointing out squirrels and rabbits along the trails around our house, splashing in the pool, you name it.

Please pardon the cheesy music (Mario hates Jack Johnson*). This is my first try at an audio slideshow. Please stay tuned for much more sophisticated work.


*Speaking of Jack Johnson, Jack, please don't sue me for using your music on my little family slideshow. I mean no harm. Also, I like your music. Mario's not crazy about it. He says it's boring. He's a musician, though, so he's a big critic of all music. Don't mind him.

Meet the Funky Cold Medinas

Welcome to the first blog entry for "The Funky Cold Medinas." Let me start by introducing myself. I'm Melanie Medina.

I'm married to Mario Medina.

We have one daughter, Allie Medina, aka "Pieface."

We have another Medina on the way: Embryo Medina. Our first child, a pug, is Spanky Mae Medina.

Mario and I are both writers, though neither of us writes much these days. Mario is a big cheese at a custom publishing company, and I have sold out for a marketing role at a children's hospital in Dallas.

The topic for this blog is what it's like to be a funky cold Medina. I'm not real sure what that means right now, but I invite you, World, to follow me on this adventure as I figure it all out.