Twenty-first

Really nothing new to report. Oh wait, yes there is. My wound has a baby brother. Dealing with weird fluids bursting from my skin on a regular basis has apparently made me blase about the whole thing.

This new hole is a couple of centimeters to the left of the big sore. The big one is a result of the tumor pushing up through the skin, this little one just broke open out of smooth skin - no discoloration or other warning at all.

It's only about half a centimeter in diameter, and doesn't have any tissue poking up through it. It just burst and drained lots of fluid and necrotic tissue (kind of like the one in Oct 07 but on a smaller scale). It doesn't seem to have any physical connection to the big one - there's a definite division between the two on the inside.

I went to the wound clinic and they tested for infection, cleaned it, and now I have two holes to pack with gauze every day. It also continues to drain so it has to be kept open. Yay! I'm glad my body provides me with these little projects to keep me busy everyday.

On a much happier note, my sister's all knocked up and I will be an aunt again sometime in July. She wants a boy over the emotional trauma of raising a girl. Her husband wants a girl because he thinks they are sweet and quiet and easy to deal with. They'll try and find out the gender in a couple of months. One of the many exciting things about this pregnancy is that due to the miracle of modern medicine, this little parasite growing in my sister has tested negative for the breast cancer gene that runs in some members of my family.

Some of you know we lost my mom to breast cancer, and her mom, and some great-aunts and other relatives, and that my aunt is a survivor. Before you ask, no, my cancer's not related - I've been tested for all known (breast cancer) mutations and I don't have them. I just had to be different. I don't really understand that, you all know how much I live for conformity. ;P

Cheers