jive turkey cookie.

i got good news. pathology came back. all negative. there was some fibrous & scar tissue that i'm sure would have warranted future biopsies. so i'm glad it's gone for good. went for follow-up today. still have drainage tubes for at least another week. and i'm in more pain than i expected. but otherwise i am healing very well.

and to celebrate.... leroy cookies (courtesy of amber rook). sugar cookies fashioned in the shape of turkeys. we might even feed ol'leroy a few tomorrow. would that be cruel?

11/09/07 note: there was a photo attached yesterday. it has since disappeared. perhaps because we fed cookies to leroy today. i have no idea. but i hate the internet. also been trying to upload a video of leroy eating the cookie. but it is tied up indefinitely in net-land. technology has gone to the birds.

radioactive girl as played by lil'scar face.

so a recent follow-up with my oncologist earned me a trip to hospital for a slew of tests. some due to my recent GI problems. and one due to new breast cancer screening guidelines. i started my day with a breakfast of a radioactive contrast iv. then a long and loud not-so-relaxing nap on the breast mri table for some scans. next i headed down the hall for an ultrasound of my gallbladder. i got to hear my liver (or at least a blood vessel in my liver). it sounded just like a heartbeat running through a distortion pedal and a phaser. never knew my liver sounded so cool. next i got to sit in the ct scan prep room. for 2 hours i got to drink some really nasty flavored lemonade and watch daytime tv. then for lunch i received another radioactive injection. and took a power nap on the ct scan table. finally i finished the day off with some good old fashioned xrays. when i left the hospital, i swear i glowed in the dark.

good news is, i survived last week's colonoscopy. and pathology of polyp came back completely benign. big sigh of relief.

not so good news. my mri showed some suspicious spots. i need to go back to hospital for an ultrasound for comparison. i know that a mri can often show false positives. so i'm trying not to worry. but that is easier said than done. thankfully i am equipped with plenty of bubble bath, xanax, and red wine.

i will leave you with a picture from a recent trip to my in-laws. a new batch of pups were born. we have no idea who the father was, but he obviously wasn't a beagle. i'm afraid the mother has a bit of a reputation. none the less, the pups are inherently cute and naturally photogenic.

how i spent my birthday.

i kicked off my birthday weekend with benign biopsy results. what a relief! i figured that deserved some celebratin'. so mom and i went out friday for some pints of bitter at a local welsh pub. and i pretended i was back in the UK.

then saturday morning....

mr donkey helped me open presents

then we drove to joe & linda's tater patch in rolla, mo

to see our friends the dirty 30s play
and i did my leprechaun-prince impression

then jason did his gene simmons impression

then i blew out the candles on my completely truthful cake


then choppy got irish

then amber did too (ew... choppy was just wearing that!)

B9 !!!!!!!!!!

happiness is a smiling beagle and a benign biopsy.