Friday, May 29, 2009

The next step

Went back to Boston to see Dr. C today. She is very happy with the way things are looking and we decided go go ahead and schedule my next surgery. So August 4th it is . . . a little nip here, a tuck there then I should be near the end of my road! I can't wait to see what my body looks like when all these little revisions are finished. The only question is . . . nipples or tattooing . . . I'm still on the fence. (I never thought that would be one of my decisions in life!)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Ink before cancer . . . looking for new ink post-cancer

The first tattoo I got on my abdomen was a yin yang with fire and water instead of black and white. I got it my first year of college and when my mom saw it, she asked me if I thought about how that would look if I ever got pregnant. Aparently that didn't deter me from getting more because the next one was of Kokopelli, and the next - Japanese symbol for strength . . . in addition to piercing my navel. After she brought that to my attention the pregnancy thing was in the back of my mind . . . I thought, sure maybe a few stretch marks due to a baby . . . but never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I'd lose all my art to cancer!!

This is the photo that was taken when I got my navel pierced, you can't see all three tattoos but I'm sure you can imagine the other one. For about 12 years this is what my belly looked like (give or take a few extra pounds of course!!).


And now, this is what I'm starting over with. (Ok, not quite as this photo is only 5 weeks post-surgery, but it's an idea) The way I'm choosing to look at it . . . this is now a brand new canvas, a blank slate! So, after my abdomen is all healed up I'm thinking of getting another tattoo to replace the three that I lost. I've come to terms with the fact that I may never bear children of my own so I'm now not worried about stretch marks ruining my ink! I do know that I want the new one to symbolize my strength through all this and also my mom, who I lost to ovarian cancer. Problem being . . . I can't draw worth a shit! So if anyone reading this post has any ideas, fire away!!

Monday, May 4, 2009

3 weeks post-surgery

"Wow, that's quite a shark bite!"

Just one of the comments I've heard from friends when they see my donor site incision. I also got, "how many kids did you have?" when someone who didn't know me caught a glimpse of the incision. And to think, this is what the doctors and nurses consider a good looking incision!!

The surgeon wasn't kidding when she told me that the scar would be hip to hip!! It's been 3 weeks since the surgery and I'm hoping to get the last drain out tomorrow at my appointment. I'm also looking forward to being able to sleep comfortably. Sleepless nights are becoming old, real quick! Tomorrow I'm also hoping to talk more about revisions and what to expect in the coming months. Now that my belly is flat, my sides are more noticeable! I'm hoping that she'll be able to fix that when she does the scar revisions later on. After all, I've been through a lot and I think I deserve a nice sleek midriff!! ;)