Why I Don't Use My Real Name

My employer now has a blogging policy. While it mostly covers blogging (and by blogging, they mean all interaction online on social sites as well as blogging) at work, which is allowed if it advances the employer's services in some way, there's stuff about blogging outside of work with regard to what can and can't be said. Not that I'd ever insult my employer online, but it's quite clear that being careful is the prudent way to go.

Meanwhile, I had my procedure and the test results are due back on Monday. Ninety-nine per cent nothing to worry about. So of course, I'm wondering if that one percent could be me.

In writing a post on my LiveJournal, I mentioned that I can be more upfront about some things anonymously than where people actually know me. Some of my LJ friends are real life friends. My Facebook friends are all people I know in real life. While I mentioned on LJ that I had a health issue to deal with, I didn't explain. I haven't mentioned it on Facebook. And yet, while a few people I know offline read this blog, I have no hesitancy in mentioning that I had a biopsy (and the doctor took more sample this time than the last time I had this done. Ouch!) and now my boob is sore (I can see the search string now for "sore boobs"). And it's the left one, yep, the side with the frozen shoulder, so now my left arm aches and I can't do my stretches because that makes the boob hurt more and it's a big annoyance right now. I really don't want to go backward with the arm/shoulder and I don't have another physical therapy session for 2 weeks.

I should go find some fun links to share, but I'm too distracted and lazy to bother. Oh wait, I bookmarked this video the other night, of David Letterman's Election Coverage recap. It's truly amazing. I watched it live, then on a whim, Googled it and the video was online in a number of places. We do live in interesting times, immediate and connected times.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: health

The Joy of Showering

Truly, I can not begin to express how wondrous showering is. Try going without for two days. I have oily hair. Fortunately, its short, but it still was starting to resemble a squirrel's nest. I was sponge bathing, but that can't begin to make me feel clean. But tonight, oh the joy, the thrill, the ecstacy of hot water pounding on my back. I'm clean. Clean. CLEAN. And it feels oh so good.

Other than that, I still ache a bit, but can move my arm in all directions again without going Ouch Ouch Ouch and there doesn't seem to be a bruise, which happened for the biopsies. Go figure.

Tomorrow morning is an eye doctor appointment. I have a cataract in each eye (not that I can tell) that need checking up on.

And I spent most of today and tonight working on my novel, so didn't have time to find cool links and quizzes to share. An update on the novel is over on Presto Speaks! And now, I'm going to bed.

Sore But Getting Better

Yeah, I'm sore. But the biopsy they did confirmed the thing they sucked out of my breast was a fibroid adenoma as advertised and the pain from yesterday and last night subsided to an ache and is actually almost gone now. The highlight of the day was a sponge bath, while taking care to not get any water near the "area." The "area" needs to stay dry for another 24 hours. I am so-o-o looking forward to a shower tomorrow night. I am especially looking forward to washing my hair since I never mastered washing it without dripping water all over my torso.

NCIS was really good tonight and House was, well, House. I love that show. It's rare that a new show grabs me this quickly, but House had me from the first five minutes of the first episode. Hugh Laurie, who plays Dr. House, is amazing. He makes rudeness so entertaining.

If I remember, I'll also post this on my photoblog, but 26 Things is doing another round for December. Okay, it's a "Christmas Hunt," but being Jewish, I'll be adapting it as much as possible. These photo scavenger hunts are a lot of fun and some of the words are a real challenge. I've been neglecting the photo memes a bit in the last couple of weeks, so this should be a good way to get going again.

Been working on my WIP, too. These last scenes just don't want to be drafted. I think a part of me isn't ready to see the process end. I took tomorrow off work, too, on sick time to give my aching boob another day and me a chance to really get clean, so I hope to get some more writing done. I need to clean the apartment, too, but I need to not do anything strenuous for another day or so, so that'll probably have to wait a few days.

The Procedure

AKA removal of the fibroid adenoma in my left breast through ultrasound-guided suction was completed this morning in about twenty minutes. And except for the injection of anesthesia, hurt less than the biopsy did. Who woulda thunk it? I watched on the monitor and could see the probe thingie, but didn't really see (I was at a bad angle) the actual suctioning, but I could definitely see the absence of the thing after. A marker was placed inside to indicate where it was, a titanium-something alloy (I don't recall what the "something" was) and no, I won't set off metal detectors (Yeah, I asked). Instead of the stapling noise of the device plucking out samples for biopsy, this had a motor sound, not unlike the gentle ratchety sound of a wind-up toy. Dr. D, who is younger than me, thanked me after for being so good. I thanked her for making it so painless. I'm sure I'll have a helluva bruise in a day or so, cuz I bruise easily, but I'm used to that. So, no showering or getting it wet for 48 hours and no strenuous exercise, either. Oh darn. I won't be able to clean. (See Shelly grinning with delight.) I am so glad my radiologists' office has this machine. This is way better than surgery.

So I come home and get a splinter in my left hand, similar to how I got one a few weeks ago, from a wood hanger. I threw the hanger out last time; this time, I'm tossing all the wood hangers and using the plastic ones I have here that are strong enough for coats and jackets, tho I'll need two more and I think I'll wait til after the holiday shopping insanity is over at The Container Store, which is my current favorite place to shop for household goods. Bed, Bath, and Beyond is okay, but they keep rearranging things and it's hard to navigate in that store. And they'll be crowded now, too.

And the splinter's still in the fleshy part of my palm, too deep under the skin to grab with a tweezers. Right now, it's bothering me more than my breast, which is still mostly numb.

I think I need to make myself a malted.

A Tale of Two Breasts

Disclaimer: I don't usually get too personal here and there are some areas of my life I won't discuss online. Not my full name, not the names of loved ones. I won't talk about work except in the most general terms and then, I'm more likely to blog about unnamed patrons than about the people I work with. Everyone has lines he or she won't cross and admittedly, for some people online, it's hard to see the lines. Or maybe there really are folks who don't draw lines between public and private. I do. And issues of health often fall on the public side.

Which brings me to today's unfun topic. My boobs are small. Always have been. When I was in my teens, I hated that. I'd see the other girls adding cup sizes and mine stayed the same and yeah, breast envy exists in girls, same as penis envy in guys. But in my 20s, I came to accept that small breasts were kinda nice. They didn't bounce when I ran or otherwise get in the way. And they were small enough that I could go braless and as long as I wasn't wearing a see-through top, no one could tell. Comfort over aesthetics won me over. Big enough was what mattered, not how big.

But even small boobs can cause problems. A few years ago, I learned I have a fibroid adenoma in each of them. Not a good thing, but nothing to worry about. But the one in the left grew 2 mm over the last year and as the doctor said when she gave me the results of the biopsy — which were negative for cancer — anything growing in the body that doesn't belong there should come out. So it will, the procedure scheduled for a week from tomorrow.

They don't need to do invasive surgery for these things anymore. They can suck 'em out guided by ultrasound in my radiologists' office. It takes a half hour. The wonders of modern medicine. My radiologists' office just got the machine. For once, I have good timing. Aside from knowing it's gonna hurt, my main concern is that my little left boob is gonna get a bit smaller once that fibroid is gone. But I sure won't miss it.

Any women age 40 or over who are reading this and have not had a mammogram or don't get them annually, do it. Don't let fear of discomfort or pain discourage you. Get it done. It could mean your life. Seriously.