This just in:


After a *minor incident* in WoW last night, my guild note may be being changed to "My cat wipes raids."

Oh, and my raid leader is referring to me as "Autorun".


That is all...

Got my test results in for the biopsy yesterday. Diagnosis: sclerosing adenosis (benign glandular tissue). No treatment necessary. They'll just want me in for another ultrasound in 6 months.

Thanks to so many of you for all the love and support!

...and now it's back to work!

<3

Kaiser's got a timeline for periodic checkups, so I went in for my first mammogram a few weeks ago. They asked me to come back in for a follow-up ultrasound, but didn't specify why. So Turkey Day Eve, I worked a half day and went in. After the ultrasound, they asked me to wait and brought a couple of doctors in to take a second look. Two cysts, first one all fluid and they weren't concerned. The second is a 3cm long fibroadenoma, most likely benign, but they wanted to biopsy it just in case. [about 5% of these lumps are diagnosed a malignant tumour, and not as a fibroadenoma.] I agreed, and what I thought would be a 15 minute visit turned into an hour and a half, including 40 minute outpatient surgery and a post biopsy mammogram (um, ouch!).

A 25 minute bus ride later, I was home and reeling from the experience. No shower for 24 hours, no bath for 48. No Advil or aspirin in case of bleeding. No lifting anything more than 2 lbs with my right arm. With the exception of a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner with friends, I spent a very insular weekend at home with my cat, just taking it easy. Ironically, I didn't really feel sore until today, 5 days later.

I'd like to reassure you that there is no history of breast cancer in my family, and I feel confident the results will be benign. That being said, it was a lot to handle after an hour long commute on the train. They also have a no cell phones policy in the treatment areas, so I was pretty much out of contact with my loved ones til after it was all over. I kept them in my mind though, and that helped. I didn't freak out or cry. I have always been fascinated with anatomy. Heck, I aced that section of my EMT finals when I was 19. So I was able to distract myself from any anxiety by taking a clinical interest in the whole process.

And then just before we started on the biopsy, with the ultrasound screen in front of me, I started to giggle. The doctor smiled and I asked him, "Have you ever seen Dune?" He said yes, so I told him, "I'm sorry, it's just that to me, the cyst looks like a guild navigator from that movie." And then I burst out laughing. A couple of very dear friends told me I'm quite the nerd for thinking about it like that. But I'm pretty sure they knew that beforehand... :)

And I've even got the sound on. Come visit for a few...

http://ustream.tv/channel/latchkey-artist

'til about 5pm

http://ustream.tv/channel/latchkey-artist

I need trapping and ArtPro training that's not on the east coast. Does anyone have any suggestions? Interactive media, maybe?

Please to be visiting the nifty new http://steve-hamaker.com/ He's far too talented for his own good, and apparently needs to get out more.

!Come watch and chat with me ustream.tv/channel/latchkey-artist

Lettering live. Come visit. http://ustream.tv/channel/latchkey-artist