Do you not know what causes that?

Worried

I tossed and turned all night, worried for M & T. Wish I lived closer to go over, bring tea and soup and just sick and talk.  Lots of prayers for them and B.

WhyMommy Update

So many of you have followed WhyMommy's journey through cancer, but here is a really nice article that sums it all up in Health magazine:

http://living.health.com/2008/06/01/fighting-the-cancer-a-mammo-cant-catch/

Thinking of WhyMommy Today...

I just got the twitter that WhyMommy was wheeled into surgery.  She's having a double mastectomy today, after 6 months of chemo for inflammatory breast cancer.  Think of her today and catch up with her updates here.

Edited at 6:55 p.m.:

WhyMommy is out of surgery and itching for an Internet connection - she's my kind of friend obviously!  Keep her in your thoughts and prayers as her healing continues. Heavy on her heart is the six long weeks until she can pick up her sons again...

Chanukah (Night #6)

Well Hilary's night of Chanukah coincided with our annual Chuankah Party!  We enjoyed our friends, good food and lots of laughs.  The kids played nicely together.  Hilary enjoyed a birthday gift of a talking watch - it speaks Japanese.  She likes that.

We got her a book on health (Our Bodies, Ourselves).  Jana gave that one a nod.  She also got a 2 GB flash drive.  She was mostly fun to be with and seemed to enjoy the company despite a hard week.

I love that the kitty cat was playing dreidel too.

Fun!

I had a lot of fun last night.  It was about an hour, which is the perfect length for me.  It was funny and I really enjoyed it, even though he is so not PC. My friend and I sat in the car and talked for a bit.  Then when I went to leave realized my key wasn't working.  (There was an elaborate car switching scheme involving Skyline Chili.) So Kevin came up to Skyline with his key to get me.  All was fine then I went to bed. I'm such a wild child...

A Night Out on the Town

Last week I heard that Santaland Diaries was coming to town.  I'm a relatively new fan of David Sedaris, but was really excited.  So I sent a couple of my friends a note with ticket info - "Let's go!" I said.  Half didn't write back, one wrote to say it was performed by David Sedaris and 2 wrote to pick times that didn't quite work.  I was saddened that my friends had abandoned me.

Then my dear friend, Eve called and said that she had won tickets to Santaland Diaries and wanted to know if I'd like to go too.  I was thrilled.  So she and I are going tonight - just the two of us.  A special treat for me because not only do I get to see Santaland Diaries - but I get to talk to Eve!

Where do I start?

Well, it's been a wild couple of weeks to say the least.  It started off at the Lamaze International Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.  The good news is that I figured out how to fly and NOT drool on myself for days afterwards - Xanax!  I actually worked on a plane.  It was great to not have panic attacks.  And lest you believe it to be a one time trick - it worked every time. I rode four, count them, four airplanes in two weeks!

In AZ I gave two presentations and lead two special groups. They were fun and exciting. I also enjoyed just relaxing with my good friend, Pat. I also picked up some goodies for friends who are CBEs. My room was way far away and it felt like a real hike, but it had a nice view of the mountains.

I came home for about 40 hours.  In which I went to HS open house, had a dinner date, shopped like a mad woman, fixed dinner for 15 guests for Rosh Hashana, did a radio interview, and went to services. I left services to go to the airport, and changed my clothes in the parking lot.

ICEA was fun, though I was wiped out. I had a good time with my room mate, Teri Shilling, even though I think I drove her a bit nuts.  She did get some good laughs in, mostly at my expsense. We had dinner with Penny Simkin, Kathy McGrath and Rachel Miller one night which was so fun to just sit and talk. We also spent a lot of time talking to Debby Amis and Jeanne Green while at ICEA, though they had led a training seminar at Lamaze, but they were busy then and unavailable for converstaion. I did two more presentations and helped Teri lug her two 74lb (EACH!) suitcases to her sessions.

I made it home in time to spend some girl time with Laurie and Paula.  We stayed out until 2 a.m.  Then back on the road with the kids for school, brunch, our first book club and stamping!

Some memorable highlights from the week:

• Ada insists on telling me how to drive. If I go the "wrong" way she tells me all about it.
• Hilary apologized for a flare up she had - which was very mature of her.
• Grandy (my mom) had a birthday and I took grandma to see her.
• Grandma informed Mom that she wouldn't live much longer. (Grandma didn't know why we were laughing so hard.)
• Clara and Owen are loving soccer and ballet.
• Lilah has fallen and scrapped up her knees again!  Poor baby. Though she is pleased with her new shoes.
• Isaac is not liking homework, but glad to be back in Tae Kwon Do and chess.
• Benjamin, after a lengthy conversation about the role of electricity in the body, including the ability to pass that electricity on, concluded: "So if it's a lightening storm outside, don't walk around holding hands..."
• The fish is alive, even after I cleaned the tank, but the boys declare that the tank still smells.
• Kevin is very, very, very glad I'm home.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

I forgot to blog about this at this blog for the other people in my life.  This is from my new friend from BlogHer, Why Mommy from ToddlerPlanet:

We hear a lot about breast cancer these days. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes, and there are millions living with it in the U.S. today alone. But did you know that there is more than one type of breast cancer?

I didn’t. I thought that breast cancer was all the same. I figured that if I did my monthly breast self-exams, and found no lump, I’d be fine.

Oops. It turns out that you don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer. Six weeks ago, I went to my OB/GYN because my breast felt funny. It was red, hot, inflamed, and the skin looked…funny. But there was no lump, so I wasn’t worried. I should have been. After a round of antibiotics didn’t clear up the inflammation, my doctor sent me to a breast specialist and did a skin punch biopsy. That test showed that I have inflammatory breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer that can be deadly.

Inflammatory breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as mastitis because many doctors have never seen it before and consider it rare. “Rare” or not, there are over 100,000 women in the U.S. with this cancer right now; only half will survive five years. Please call your OB/GYN if you experience several of the following symptoms in your breast, or any unusual changes: redness, rapid increase in size of one breast, persistent itching of breast or nipple, thickening of breast tissue, stabbing pain, soreness, swelling under the arm, dimpling or ridging (for example, when you take your bra off, the bra marks stay – for a while), flattening or retracting of the nipple, or a texture that looks or feels like an orange (called peau d’orange). Ask if your GYN is familiar with inflammatory breast cancer, and tell her that you’re concerned and want to come in to rule it out.

There is more than one kind of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is the most aggressive form of breast cancer out there, and early detection is critical. It’s not usually detected by mammogram. It does not usually present with a lump. It may be overlooked with all of the changes that our breasts undergo during the years when we’re pregnant and/or nursing our little ones. It’s important not to miss this one.

Inflammatory breast cancer is detected by women and their doctors who notice a change in one of their breasts. If you notice a change, call your doctor today. Tell her about it. Tell her that you have a friend with this disease, and it’s trying to kill her. Now you know what I wish I had known before six weeks ago.

You don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer.

P.S. Feel free to steal this post too.  I’d be happy for anyone in the blogosphere to take it and put it on their site, no questions asked.  Dress it up, dress it down, let it run around the place barefoot. I don’t care.  But I want the word to get out.  I don’t want another young mom — or old man — or anyone in between — to have to stare at this thing on their chest and wonder, is it mastitis?  Is it a rash?  Am I overreacting?  This cancer moves FAST, and early detection and treatment is critical for survival.

Thank you.