Susan's Got Cooties!

I suppose the worst thing a cancer patient can do is not update their blog because it sends the unintended message of not being around to write. Not me, I just got lazy. On top of getting so sick I couldn't open my eyes or stand up. So forgive me for the delayed writing.
We'll see how often I'm going to update this puppy. Once a day, a week, a month or a year? Who knows?

Until then, know that I'm fine enough to have acquired another kid, a teenager. I gained about 700 lbs and walk like a granny.

We have quite a list of adjectives to describe our Christmas. We were gobsmacked then overjoyed.


Stunned and amazed at the generosity our friends who played Santa's helpers.


Flabbergasted and floored by the Persian carpet of gifts: the BjorkWear, the radio-controlled airplanes, the robo-puppies, archery sets, the mountain of Dora and all so exquisitely wrapped.


"The best Christmas, ever," the girls said. We thank all our friends for their incredible act of generosity. We are forever grateful to you.

Hi, I'm a Damn Dummy cuz I let my kid cut my hair off






Yes, Prudence, the four year-old wunderkind was the sylist and yes, she used her razor sharp precision to provide a cut only a blind drunk could provide. But, I love it and I'm keeping it until about Tuesday or Wednesday when it all drops out anyway.

Kathleen: House Slave Number 1


Laurel and Susan at The Spotted Pig -PRE-HAIRCUT

Prudy getting stoned on the ton of peanut butter sent to me by Jesse Wood, who believes said peanut butter has Lourdes-like power to heal

See how pretty and happy she used to be? It might be the last time you see her looking like this. My friend comes to me all the way from NYC just to reach my dinner plates and close the car door because after my surgery tomorrow, I can't perform those simple tasks for a week or two.

Thank you to Kath and all my friends at ILM and St. Anselm School for keeping my life and my kids life moving along while I'm unable to do it myself.

On the Town is a better way to experience NY than going to Sloan-Kettering hospital for four hours but in the end it was worth it. For those who don't know, I wanted to head to the number one breast cancer research center in the hope of being part of a clinical trial now or in the future. I met with Dr. Shanu Modi who attempted to describe chemo treatment as sweetly as possible but there's no covering up the horror of going bald and not getting out of bed for three months. Anyway, at the end of this long description she told me - and my stenographer Kathleen furiously recorded - a new trial just opened for a drug that reduces the chance of recurrence to practically nothing. It's a pretty intense drug trial that lasts for over a year and requires checkins for the next five years but it practically guarentees tumor free longevity. I say, Yahoo! Now I just have to get my sweet carcass into the study which is only following 75 women. I spent the summer alone in France with three kids, medical beauracracy is nothin'. When I assemble all the scientific details I'll post it on the Tumor Timeline page for those Cancer Phd.'s out there.

It's short and sweet people - I had an MRI and it looks like you're pretty much dealing with a lop-sided cancer patient. At present, any evidence of cancer is only on my left side - breast and lymph nodes. I was never really into my left side anyway...or maybe I was into it too much and my right-side put a voodoo curse on it's doppelganger. No matter, one more day with the scapel weilding geniuses Dr. Schrader and Dr. Goodman and I will be as good as new. Oh, except for the drinking gobs of chemicals for a few months part. It seems a bitter irony that it's likely chemicals got me into this state and now I have to ingest voluminous amounts of different chemicals to get me out of it.

So I'm scheduling a second surgery for a lymph-node dissection and will have concurrent surgeries for a second mastectomy (prophylactic due to the incidence of reoccurence with my type of cancer) and then some crazy modern reconstruction work by the brilliant Dr. Goodman. If you're waiting for me to get to the part where I describe the reconstruction in hot detail and show pictures you're reading the wrong blog. I may be an open person but I still draw a line of modesty. Besides, I had to look at pictures of my naked self at the doctors office and figured I'd do the world a favor and keep you out of the loop.

Thank you again to everyone who is helping and thinking of me. The power of your support and friendship makes all the difference.

When I have the exact dates of my next surgery and chemo I will post it on the tumor timeline page.