in my quest for being “normal”

Yesterday I’m another step closer to being "normal". I had a nipple built on my reconstructed breast! In six weeks I get to have my first real tattoo and the areola will be colored in around the new nipple. I have a fantastic plastic surgeon who is making this process really easy. Finally, after 4 previous surgeons failed me in one way or another. This one has a killer sense of humor coming in yesterday to "mark" the area with his marker and pushed back my surgical head cover and commented it had been awhile since he put one on a forehead! LOL! Then he suggested he could put one between my shoulder blades, that way my husband could have something to play with while we danced! Gotta love a doctor with a sense of humor! I had to lie still a few times while doing the minor procedure because I was laughing so hard!! Love you Dr. M!!!!

All this comes just after the 7 year anniversary of my diagnosis with breast cancer. Just after my 44th birthday I was given the bad news that it was a stage III b cancer, just 1/2 a step away from being fatal. I am still here today because I’m just to ornery! No, really, I refuse to accept that I could have died although, in going through chemo and radiation, I felt like dying a few times. At the time, while he took care of my physical needs, husband #3 was absolutely useless when it came to supporting my fight emotionally. There’s a good reason I left him 3 years ago! His emotional needs always came first, even during the cancer treatment and I could never talk about it to ANYONE because it made him feel bad! Then again, he’s bi-polar and in complete denial about it. But I digress.

I am thrilled to have my new nipple and getting back to being "normal" once again. For now, I get to wear a plastic shield over the new nipple until it is completely healed, but soon enough that will be all done and I’ll look like a real girl again. Hello swimsuit, here I come!

J