Neupogen Injections (or, "How to make your husband prove he loves you, one injection at a time")

For size
Originally uploaded by meredithk02

Mmm, delicious caramelly Neopogen injections.

Here's what goes on with these (http://www.neupogen.com/pi.html):

Ken takes the needle out of the fridge about an hour ahead of time. It's optional to store it on top of delicious caramel marshmallows for motivation.



Ken warms it in his hand about ten minutes before injection time to let it get closer to body temperature.



Then swabs a fatty area with an alcohol wipe, counts to three, pokes the needle in, then slowly plunges it in. It only stings a little. I take Vicodin or Tylenol the following day to help with the bone pain.

Mastectomy Day (or, adios boobs!)

I had the bilateral mastectomy September 8th. I didn't have large breasts until my late teens, so I wasn't that attached to them. Emotionally attached, I mean...they were plenty physically attached! I went in for surgery September 8th planning to have a lat-flap transplant with implants (where they take some fat and muscle from your back and use it to cover a smaller silicone implant). Unfortunately, one of the sentinel nodes had cancerous cells, so the doctors canceled the reconstruction and closed me up with a skin-sparing mastectomy. All this time I'd been getting the worst diagnosis (not a cyst...not a fibroadenoma...cancer...grade 3...) that I figured I was due for some relatively good news at this stage: "The operation was great, and your new boobs will be amazing!" instead of "There was some cancer, so we weren't able to do the reconstruction." Ever wonder what a skin-sparing mastectomy looks like? Not particularly pretty.