I am in week two of radiation and so far so good. My skin is starting to feel tighter, but so far the skin itself hasn’t changed colors or feels like a ‘sun burn’. Today will be #8 of 33. I was able to meet with my Dr. on Monday and I asked about the discrepancy of originally being told 28 and then graciously being given 5 ‘booster’ treatments. He was very apologetic on the miscommunication. The booster treatments have nothing to do with ‘maybe they found something on the scan’ or anything like that. It’s simply standard procedure to zap the area where your tumors were. He put me at ease, which is nice because his fill-in Dr. last week was useless. I didn’t even bother asking him questions because I had zero confidence in him. He walked in wearing his jacket like he was asked to quickly talk to me before he left for the day. He asked me a question about my lumpectomy, seriously? Did you even pretend to read my freaking chart? I had a double mastectomy you jag-off! Hopefully I’ll never see him again.

Last week I also received some wonderful gifts that really brought a tear to my eye. My godson, Ben, played hockey in a fundraising event at his high school and he chose to skate in my honor. 🥰 To think that he thought of me and then took the time to mail me the event t-shirt and personally let me know he would be playing for me. Love you Ben! By the way, he got two assists and they won the game. I know you all are really feeling the ‘feels’ on that story. I’ve been so excited to acknowledge him for his thoughtfulness by posting about it here.

From my Aunt, who is also a survivor, sent me a Guardian Bell. The bell is used as a channel for positive energy and according to legend, the bells have twice as much power when given as a gift. I proudly have the bell placed next to my, ‘Never Be Defeated’ award. You all are just too much! Every. Last. One. Of. You. Whether you’ve sent a gift, a note, a text, a phone call, or even good vibes, I am humbled by the love and support from everyone. You really know how to make a girl feel special.

As I continue on this journey, shit show, sometimes I’m taken back at things that get me excited and things that piss me off.

Exciting… Hair on my head is growing back!

Pissing me off… It’s still patchy on the top and I look like a Cheetah. Here is a completely unflattering picture of my head. I’ll share though, because maybe someone is reading this and having the same struggle and is wondering if this is normal or not. Totally normal to have a cheetah head. Never thought I would wish for a ‘chia head’ because at least that all grows together and not in patches.

Exciting… I stepped out of the shower the other day and get this, I literally was able to tuck the little hairs around my ears BEHIND my ears. What, what, what?!?!? Seems so silly, until you’re not able to do that for months.

Pissing me off… The little hair that was starting to grow back on my eyelashes and eyebrows. Completely gone again. Painting on my eyebrows is even harder now because I don’t even have a guess as to where my natural brows were. Fuck you Cancer.

Sometimes I feel like I’m going back and forth in terms of my progress trying to get back to what normal is for me. I know I have to be patient, but there are days when I don’t want to be patient and I don’t feel like I can be patient anymore. BLAH!

Exciting… Halloween still happened and weather was great. I participated by dressing up as Penny. 😉

Pissing me off… I got a tattoo! Why is that pissing me off? Because it wasn’t the design that I wanted. Still totally inked up and a bad ass.

See that little dot? I’ve got 4 matching dots around my winking hooters. Barely noticeable. It’s like when Phoebe from Friends got the whole world tattooed (Friends fans will get that reference). The (world) dots are used to help line up the “lasers” for radiation. Prior to the tats I had stickers, which was annoying because they obviously would get loose from showering and lathering up on lotion. Happy to move onto tattoos instead. All these little things you learn about.

The biggest thing that I hope everyone has learned though is, GET YOUR MAMMOGRAMS. I love when people reach out to me to tell me they’ve recently gotten their mammograms, or when friends and family text me pictures of them in their starchy robes ready to get smashed. Thank you to all. Grab a boob!