Year in Review: The Original Baby

The last post was about Bliss' newborn twins and the impact that had on me.

And this post is a continuation of that post. But it is about Bliss' 16- year-old daughter.

We can pretty much stop right there. Bliss has a teenage daughter AND she was busy preparing for twins.

That's a lot going on.

And you know how we were when we were teenagers. Teen angst galore.

And I wondered how this teenage girl was feeling during this time?

I myself once was a teenage girl.

Yes, that sounds silly. But let me rephrase and put it into context: I was once a 17-year-old teenage girl whose mother was expecting a baby, my brother Milk and Cookies.

And I thought back to how I felt around that time. And I asked Bliss if I could send her daughter a card and write her a letter about how I felt about it all. Bliss gave me a slight text "side-eye", expressing that I didn't need to reveal any tricks. LOL. Of course I wouldn't. I just told her that it would be positive and helpful.

I wrote about who I was and what I was doing around that time. I am sure it was a little different from her situation. I was 17 at the time, and I was beginning my sophmore year of college (I started college when I was 16). I was in school full time and I had a full time job. And I was running behind my boyfriend.

So I had a LOT going on. (My goodness, I wish I had half the energy I had back then. Wow.)

Anyway, my mother told me she was having a baby. I didn't really believe her. (She had a tumor or fibroid or something. They took a ultrasound, and lo and behold, there was a baby behind the tumor).

So my circumstances were way different (I didn't detail all that in the letter). I wasn't pissed about it, but it was all a lot going on. I had a lot going on myself so I just did my thing.

But I detailed in the letter that her little sisters would be in such awe of their big sister. I know because my baby brother was in such awe of me. The reason for that is that by the time these little ones become old enough to talk and walk, their big sister would be an adult.

(Now I also have a sister who is 11 years younger than me. We didn't get along well in our younger years. My sister saw me get in just as much trouble as she did, so she put two and two together. I was a mere child, just like her.)

But my brother has ALWAYS been wide-eyed when I came around. Even to this very day. And when I see him now, even some 25 years later, he still looks to me just like that little baby laying in his crib looking up at me. And that is how she will remember her baby sisters, even as adults.

She will be a superstar to her sisters, and with that comes great responsibility. Like I did with my brother, she will be able to break things down to her baby sisters much better than their parents... and she will have ALL the personal stories to back it up. She will have them saying amongst themselves, "Our big sister knows everything!"

I wrote about how it was such an important assignment from God, this being a much older big sister.  She will sow so much into their lives. And later on in life, they will sow so much into hers.  I wrote about how my brother has a special kind of wisdom from his experiences fighting in the wars overseas. He has seen things that I have not, nor will I ever see. And her little sisters will have life experiences that will benefit her life, also.

And that's a wonderful thing.

My three page letter to her was one of encouragement during a time where it may seem like much attention may be given to the newborns, and not so much to her. I don't think that is the case, but you know how babies are: everythingn is about them. Everything. And rightfully so. We were all babies once, and had to be taken care of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I wanted her to have something that she could go back and read from time to time, if need be. Or maybe it is something she can tuck away with her other keepsakes. It was something just for her.

You know what felt nice? Writing a handwritten letter. How often do we do that these days? I thought about typing it out (mostly for her mother to proofread and approve first). But I decided to just put pen to paper. And I liked that. We live in such an email and text age. Writing a letter like I often did as a child was a good feeling.

And you know me. I also made a card.

It is a little simpler than I like... But It conveys what I wanted it to convey...

Now, you know I am LadyLee. LadyLee is not only my blog name, it is also my street grafitti tag name. So I also put the card in a package that I tagged with some of my world class grafitti art!

Looka there, man! That makes me want to go climb a building with a can of spray paint, and...

Nevermind. I am too old for that. Might fall and bust my tail. And we don't need that.

Why don't I just write on paper...

I sent something else too...

A scarf.....

 A nice pretty scarf!!

Uh no... It's not a scarf.

Not a scarf at all.

No, no, no. It's something better:

It's a blanket!

Now... how on EARTH would I make the newborn twins four baby blankets..

And NOT make a blanket for the "Original Baby"?

Even though she is 16 years old, she is still her mother Bliss' baby.

She will always be her baby.

Always.

And I wrote that in the letter.

I name all my big blankets. This blanket is the "Honeydew and Cream Dream".   I have a ton of Honeydew yarn, as it is my best friend LadyTee's favorite color. I have a bit more than I need and I didn't know what I was going to do with it. So I made this blanket. I am gearing up to make another one just like it for LadyTee.

And the Original Baby needed something of her own, something to remember this time by.

I am sure she got so much more from so many family and friends during this time. And this blanket is something else she can add to her collection to commemorate becoming a big sister.

It was my favorite gift to give in 2013, as I kept it a secret from Bliss also. I wanted it to arrive out of the blue. And that it did.

So, the birthday sweepstakes continues. Make sure you get in on it!

And have a good weekend... On purpose!

Year in Review: Thoughts and Babies... and Thoughts

Come January of each year, I ask myself a question:

Who's gonna have a baby this year?

Someone once said, "You are, LadyLee!"

Uh, no. I don't believe so. But you never know about these things. Heck, anything is bound to happen.

But it never fails that I get the wonderful chance to crochet at least 2 or 3 baby blankets per year.

And I like doing that because it involves giving a very unique gift of something made with my own hands.

And last year was no different. I made 5 blankets. That was a lot.

Four of those blankets were for blogger Bliss...

It began as one of those things where she was just thinking about having a baby... and she was blogging about it.  And I remember thinking "Whelp! Guess it's time to do a yarn run down to the southside for baby yarn."  And even then, it was just a mere thought in her mind.

Why did I do that? Because I realize everything starts with a thought.

And a thought is merely a seed. A seed pregnant with fruit... and possiblity.

A thought meditated on eventually becomes reality. Hence... it was time to do a yarn run.

And that Bliss... I have seen over the past several years, whatever that Oldgirl get ta thinkin' on, it comes to past. Quickly.

What a wonderful thing to see in a person. Sure, it happens with us all. But my goodness, she has always been amazing to watch. Her goals are so lofty... big and bold, in 3D IMAX HD... Just big stuff.

So the baby desire was no different. I knew that would come to past. Pretty fast. So I needed to be thinking about blankets.

And hence came the Four Bliss Collection.

She was having trouble conceiving, and after a few tests, it was determined that alternative fertility methods were necessary, namely in vitro.

That could be a bit scary.

But you know, that Bliss... when that Bliss starts thinking about things... hmm.

It was fascinating to read blog posts about her in vitro fertilization treatments. I am a scientist, and I love all things science, but this fertilization process was O_O. Technology is something else! It was so fascinating to read about the different medicines and their purposes and all that. Fascinating.

She posted up pictures of the 2 embryos selected for implantation.

I was in awe of that. They can take pictures of embryos? Well of course they can. With a good magnigying microscope. I used a few in college biology class. I even took an x-ray picture of a perfectly crystallized chemical for a class in grad school. And I did all that some 20 to 25 years ago. So yes that's possible. No telling what kind of technology they have out there now!

But I was in awe because this was real. A mere thought had begun to take form.

2 embryos- no faces, no bodies, indistinguishable, over time became...

2 babies. 2 baby girls. (Don't worry, she gave me permission to snatch a photo.)

2 big healthy babies. I believe one was 6 pounds and the other was close to 7 pounds.

That whole process just amazed me. Yes, it happens every day. All the time.

Thoughts become reality. Eventually.

And can you imagine having a picture of yourself as an embryo?  Yes, we all have baby pictures. But a picture of yourself as an embryo? That just boggles my mind.

This was such a stark reminder of that principle, and it's a one of the most glaring reminder of the many reminders I had last year of that principle.

I need that type of reminder every day. And I am sure if I pay attention, that actually occurs.

So Bliss. Congratulations to you on such a HUGE change to your life. You have gone from having one daughter to three daughters... all in one year.

I know this will be a year you will always remember. It is definitely one that I will always remember, as you were so generous in sharing it in writing with us, just as we were right there with you. I am highly appreciative of the lessons I learned through the whole process...

Our thoughts are truly important. And when thoughts are meditated on, something is eventually produced.

No one robs a bank without first thinking about it.

No one does anything without first thinking about it.

With that said, we shouldn't just meditate on certain thoughts, should we? Especially the negative ones.

And it makes all the sense in the world to have grand lofty positive thoughts... on purpose.

All of this is important. You don't have to think it is. But whether you like it or not, it is. Advertisers think it's important. Why do you think it costs 4 million dollars for a 30 second commercial in the Sup.er Bo.wl?

It's worth that much to initiate a thought in your head. That simple thought may manifest itself, may make you make a decision to go out and take action. And making as many people as possible aware of something is worth THAT much. And dare I say, probably worth much more.

But I like the more organic form of thoughts. The intangible thoughts. I remember when Bliss first said she was having thoughts of it. I knew I would be making blankets as a result.

And a card. You know how I am about my cards.

That was a fun card. There's just something therapeutic about making a card. I need to make more of them.

Now, Bliss has that older daughter. I can't forget about her, can I? I thought about her because I was about the same age as her (age 16-17), when my baby brother Milk and Cookies was born. So I understand the thoughts that go through the mind when THAT big of a change occurs. It's a bit overwhelming.

So I made sure to send her a card... along with a little note also...

Hmm...

...to be continued. 

Year in Review: The "F" Word

I am still thinking about last year and my thoughts concerning it. What affected me? Why did it affect me?

And sometimes the "F" word comes up.

A couple of "F" words off the top of the head which have presented some internal issues:

Forgiveness

Finances

This year, one situation really had an interesting effect on me. And again, it is an "F" word.

FURLOUGH

That "F" word had me looking like this cat:

I had that cat's facial expression... I term that the "hostage face". It is the face of someone held at the mercy of some inflated egos.

And I didn't have the typical "Oh no, what I'm going to do? No paycheck?" thoughts running through my head.

No. I don't live paycheck to paycheck. I was good for a few months without a check if it came down to it.

I was moreso annoyed. Annoyed with the political fiasco in Washington. You mean to tell me these folks, the cream of the crop, our leadership, our ivy league educated leadership, couldn't get along? And their B.S. is affecting me? So much so that they had to shut down my job??

Not only that, but there are government employees out here living paycheck to paycheck. Their shenanigans messed some people up.

And I have thought about that a lot since the furlough.

Over the past couple of months, I have thought of the following:

I do not want my actions to negatively affect those around me. I want to affect people in a positive manner and not be a detriment. 

Because I, like you, saw the government closed down, all over some squabble over health care. And you know it's not about that. It's about folks with personal agendas. Agendas and thoughts of grandeur.  All of that affected people negatively.

And I knew it wouldn't be a long furlough when people couldn't get into the national parks and go to the national monuments. And my goodness, the World War II veterans in wheelchairs wanting to get into the WWII memorial and being turned away was a horrible thing. No one anticipated that.

It was too much. And with all that, they still didn't stop the Affordable Care Act. Not at all. It is still being implemented. All that hollering about it being bad for the country. The bigger question is, what if it was good for country and everything worked out alright?  That would mean this president would have one thing: a legacy. And we can't have that, can we?

I think that was what it was really about.

Yeah. I know I am stretching pretty far. But as Rodney King said... Can we all just get along?

Apparently not.

And someone please explain to me how a first year senator, Ted Cru.z, who is Canadian as far as I am concerned (yeah, they need to clown him as hard as they clowned the president about citizenship), come in and cause THIS much of a problem, to where the whole government is shut down... with no strategy to back it up? I am still baffled by that. John Boen.her should have locked his tail in a closet somewhere. Really.

Enough of my ranting. Back to the subject at hand. I think the furlough lasted some 15 days and we got all of our back pay for it. It was essentially a free two week vacation.  I wish I would've known the duration and terms of it all beforehand. If I'd known, I would've been laid out on some beach in the Caribbean. You gonna give me some free time off then tell me so I can be GONE.

Really though.

A question concerning furloughs went out over my Triple F (Financial Freedom Fighters) Posse email thread one day. And one of our members wanted to essentially know what kind of plan we had in place if a furlough occurred, and our thoughts on it all in general.

Since I'd been furloughed, I responded to the email:



Hello Fighters,

This is LadyLee.

I wanted to answer some of the furlough questions.

I myself was part of the government furlough, and man, it was an eyeopener.

How did I manage? I made time to sit down and look at all of my cash on hand and savings and added up how much I had. I then sat down and added up my expenses. I do this anyway from month to month, but here it felt more important.

My goal was to take care of the important things first, the "four walls"[mortgage, utilities, transportation and food]. Now, i remember us talking about this, but I made sure that the mortgage and utilities were paid. I have two cars with no car notes, so that is a plus. I prioritized everything else, and determined any "pleasure" expenditures. Most of those unnecessary things were thrown out or put on hold.

I also undid all of my automatic online bill pays so that I would have to pay everything online manually. This way, I was forced to look at my accounts a few times a week.

One thing that set a light bulb off over my head: I understand the whole notion of having 3-6 months of living expenses saved. The opportune words here are "living expenses". I've always thought that that meant 3 to 6 months of whole paychecks. While that may be the case for someone living "check-to-check", that is not my reality. So now that is a reality to me, since I know my living expense.

I have enough savings to sustain me for a little over 3 months. And I didn't really even know that until the reality of the furlough.

In light of the furlough, I have decided to shore up my savings a little more, by 20%. I also want to hurry and pay down my credit cards. Shoudn't take long at all. Since this tomfoolery may occur again in Janurary, my goal is to sit down and set up some short term 3-month money goals.

Interestingly, we received all our backpay for that time off. So that is a plus. I didn't take much of anything out of savings while I was out. I will replace that amount that I withdrew and get back on track with my regular savings efforts.

I think the worst thing for me was the unknown. How long would the furlough last? And there is that fear that it would be some strange time, like 6 months. I decided to keep myself busy so I wouldn't think about it. And I promised myself that I wouldn't think too much about it until November 1 (if we were out that long). All bills were paid, and if they needed to be paid at that time while still on furlough, I would address it. But what helped me the most was not to whine about it or expose myself to unnecessary negativity. Sometimes, the mind is the battlefield, and I didn't need any unnecessary thoughts running through my mind making me feel all afraid, worried and defeated. I woke up every day during this 16 day period, got dressed for the day, and made lists of things to do. And I made sure not to sit and watch the news. I watched only when necessary. This helped my mental a lot.

Those are my thoughts on E;s furlough questions. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

I think I had more to write, but I kept it short.

I noticed that a January furlough was avoided. This is an election year, so all of congress is sitting tight. Don't want to piss off anyone, do they?

I don't want to go through it all again. I especially don't want anyone living paycheck to paycheck to go through it all again. That was what was truly sad.

That was a most dreded "F" word, a word no one wants to hear ever again.

Year In Review: "Suspicious Activity"

Click here for Part I of this post - Year in Review: Wound Care Blues

I've been wanting to write about this ordeal, but I had no idea how. And I knew it was not a good time to do so way back when it occurred. I thought it would be best to write about it after some reflection.

So... I'd gone in for my yearly exam. I have to admit that I'd skipped a couple years. I don't know why, it just got away from me, I suppose. And during this time, I decided to have my first mammogram.

It was a bit jarring to say the least, laying my breast on a cold clear piece of plexiglass and watching it get mashed. Who on earth thought of all this?  And I have large breasts, so that was interesting. It was painful at times, but not too bad, save for the embarrassment of having my chest all out in the open like that, it was alright.

I noticed the mammographer took multiple pictures of my right breast. I didn't know what that was about.

I got a call a week later saying that something going on in my right breast, and I needed to get some advanced imaging. So an appointment was made appointment for me to go to a radiologist nearby.

I made it to that appointment, and I had another mammogram. The mammogram was to be interpreted and if things were still uncertain, I would have an ultrasound. I sat and waited for the radiologist to give his thoughts to the technicians on the results. He asked them to do an ultrasound.

When this was over, I waited for what seemed like an eternity for the radiologist to sit down with me. He came in and told me that my mammogram was suspicious and that I needed to talk to a breast surgeon.

*crickets*

He used some really big words, I don't remember them right now, but he said something about calcifications, and whatever it was, that I needed to get it biopsied and removed. And with that, he gave me my paperwork and sent me out the door.

My mind was all over the place. I can't say that I felt dread or anger or fear... I just felt numb. I REALLY needed to sit down and talk to someone, not just be told "You need to contact a breast surgeon."

What the world did I know about finding a breast surgeon?

I took my mammogram disks and slides and secured them in a place in my trunk so I wouldn't lose them. And I drove home in silence. I even pulled out the compact discs and viewed the images of my breast on the computer. I only saw a couple of small dense areas. It wasn't clearly defined, but something was there. But I still couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Then something wonderful happen: and it was one of my most important conversations of the year.

Now, I did a "Conversations week" back in June, I believe. Trust me, those were only a few of the important conversations I had last year. I had so many more, so many that I could've blogged about them for the remainder to the year and still not cover them all. But I only chose a select few to blog about because I thought they could be useful to some of my readers.

But this conversation was one that was right on time... and divinely orchestrated, as far as I am concerned.

I play Words with Friends with a few bloggers on a regular basis. Someone who plays with me, but very rarely, made a move on one of our games is blogger Blu Jewel, my favorite "British Jamerican". It made me say "Where has she been? Where she pop up from?"

I've learned so much from her over the years, especially from a spiritual standpoint. She has always challenged me to think higher. She hasn't blogged in awhile, and I only see her on facebook the few rare occasions I am on. But she made a move on WWF that day. And it was a sudden type of thing, something that made me wonder,

Then I remembered some posts she'd done a couple of years ago. She blogged about her sixth anniversary as a breast cancer survivor.


So I took my turn on our game, and then I sent her a message in the game chat. I wrote that I remembered her blogging about breast cancer and that I had an abnormal mammogram and if I could send her email because I had some questions. She said for me to give her a call, which shook me a little.  I don't like bothering people.

That was a very good phone call. I'd never talked to her before and she indeed has a british accent. I don't do well with those accents, but I hung on to her every word. I was taken aback when she said. "Listen, I'm not going to bullshit you...",She told me her story (which scared me a bit), and she let me ask as many questions as I needed to ask. Then she gave me some instructions on what to do over the next few days concerning some reading and looking for a breast surgeon, etc.

I felt better after that conversation. I followed her instructions.

I think one of her most interesting instructions was not to go discussing it with everybody. This had a few people having issues with me (after the fact), but I understood what she was saying and why. I rarely talk about my lupus, because people just don't understand it, and I don't deal well with a) a bunch of negative talk and b) anyone being upset and crying over my health.

But with this issue, I needed some time to think and read. I told my sister, only because she asked "How did your appointment go?", as she always does. I didn't want to alarm her. And Blu told me that I needed to take someone with me to my appointments and help me read about everything. And I asked for my sister for assistance in that. .

That worked out really well. It REALLY helped to have my sister there. She is great in crazy situations (as you can tell from the whole family fiasco this summer). No, I wasn't a problem or a basket case, but I had my minor moments. I had a couple of crying moments in bed at night, when I was all alone with my thoughts. But for the most part, I was being proactive.

To make a long story short, I ended up going with a surgeon that the obgyn recommended. I was trying to find someone near me, but I thought I would talk to the mammographer to see what she thought. The mammographers were pretty nice to me and explained things to me, and I'd done a lot of reading. The surgeon they recommended was a specialist in what I had, even though it was waaaaay out in the south surburbs. (That's why I was doing all that driving this summer). So that worked well for me. He asked a lot of questions, and let me ask a ton of questions.

He put the mammograms up on the screen for us to discuss. He and his nurse were a bit interested in it, pointing out things on the mammograms. I kept saying I don't really see anything. But hey, as long as he saw what he thought he saw, I trust him. Overall, he was extremely thorough in his explanations. And I remembered Blu Jewel telling me to grill him, ask questions and right everything down, which I did.

I ended up having a core needle biopsy. He was able to biopsy both areas at the same time, through the same incision since they were so close to each other. I had two small tumors ("breast mice", they call them. O_o) which came back as benign. Blu Jewel told me if everything is benign, ask them to go back in there and remove anything that remained after the biopsy. I talked to the surgeon about that, and he said "I already did that while I was in there."

Good. That was all good.

My sister was sitting over in a corner of the room when I got my results.  (I wanted her there just in case I passed out or fell out crying).  She almost clapped, but thought better of it. When he left the room, and I put my shirt back on, I gave my sister a high five and we left the building. That was back in June. I had a follow-up scheduled for december. I didn't think much about it much until then, because it was June and I was going to be concerned with December when December came. The only thing that irked me was that wound care. It took a little over a month to heal.  I have a nasty keloid left (I have keloid skin). I am fine with that.

I tell you one thing. It felt good to finally stop changing bandages after a month. I used to joke with my cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre. "Girl, I am uncomfortable. You gonna turn around one day and I am sitting in my chair with my shirt AND my bra off."

LOL

That never happened. But I was really uncomfortable. In the wake of all that, I am now an expert on bandages and saline and tape and all that. Really.

Once December rolled around, it was coming up on time for my appointment. I actually went to that appointment by myself. (It felt odd not to have my sister with me). I had another mammogram and ultrasound, and all was clear. I still didn't see much of anything when they put the two mammograms xrays up on the screen. I was a bit horrified by the big moon-type crater in the picture of my breast in the mammogram taken just after biopsy. The new mammogram, all I saw were the two titanium metal markers that are now permanently in my breast. The doctor said all was well and that I needed to be checked again in 6 months.

The breast surgeon's office is over by a restaurant that I like. I ordered some fish and chips and made the long long journey from southern surburbia back to my side of town (downtown).

I of course am thankful that all is well. I didn't pray much about this, as I don't do well with "worryin' my prayers." I included it in my prayers and made sure I walked down whatever path became open. And what I really needed at that time was a path to information and courage. Blu helped much with that. She told me she had heard a sermon the week before our conversation where the topic was on being mindful of what's going on around you, because you never know who you will have to minister to. And she was happy that I was the one that day that she ministered to. And minister to me she did.

I spoke to one of the ladies in my Women of Color Writing Workshop a couple of weeks ago and she said she too had a bad mammogram last year. We both agreed that the worse part of the whole scenario was the mental part of it: waiting around for the day when they tell you if what's going on is benign or malignant. That lapse of time is such a hard time mentally. All of a sudden things that we worried about on a daily basis took a back seat to the unknown concerning the breast issue. I agreed with her. Totally.

I was also reminded of something else, something that I already knew:

In the midst of adversity, we find out who we truly are inside. And how we react to adversity says much about us.

As for myself, I've come a long way from falling out crying over things. Yes, like anyone else, I went through my "flipping out" mode, just being initially fearful. Fear causes us to build some incredible pictures in our minds, causing us to panic.

And panic is what it is: groundless fear.  Fear with no basis or no legs to stand on.

I learned much about myself during this whole scenario. I learned to not automatically think the worse. I learned to make sure to pray, and ask for some direction, and to be attentive to what happens as a result of asking. I had to face some things that I don't particularly like about my personality (It pained me to ask my sister to accompany me on my doctor's visits. I don't like inconveniencing people. But she was more than happy and willing to go with me). It helped me understand what adjustments needed to be made in my heart and ways of dealing with issues of this type.

And I have a deeper understanding and a better appreciation of people who cross my path for a reason. (Thanks, Blu Jewell).

And it was one of the major issues of 2013 for myself.

It is amazing to talk about it now. There are women all around me who have had the same issues. And I have learned from them all.

And that's a good thing.

Year In Review: Wound Care Blues

This summer I had a minor surgical procedure.

It wasn't bad. It left a small scar. No big deal.

The surgeon told me how to take care of it. "Don't get it wet.. Change the bandage twice a day, and use a little Neosporin. We'll see you next week to see how you're healing."

Easy enough.

I stopped by my best friend LadyTee's house after the procedure.  LadyTee's mother, Bobbie Jean, was sitting there in the den watching television. I decided to tell her about it, and ask for some advice on how to take care of it since she is a retired nurse.

"Get yourself some saline solution," she advised. "That is better for you since it is close to your body fluid chemistry."

That made sense, but at the same time it didn't. Seem to me like some peroxide or alcohol would be better.  But I kept what she said in mind.

I talked to LadyTee about it.

"Get some of that witch hazel! That does it every time."

Witch Hazel.

My goodness. LadyTee is the Queen of Witch Hazel.  She has 30 years worth of stories touting the wonders of witch hazel. According to her, it works wonders.  It is magic. And I have to stand there and listen to alll these stories.

I personally don't like it. It smells kind of strange. I suppose it should smell a bit odd, as it is an extract from the witch hazel shrub bush, first used by the Native Americans back in the day.

Still smells... strange, though. You know what I'm talking about if you have ever gotten a whiff of it. They need to mix it with some lemon or peppermint essential oils. Something.

I used it, along with some peroxide and alcohol. Oh, and I didn't forget about the Neosporin.  I used that too.

But it wasn't so easy taking care of this little wound that was no bigger than a pinhead. Why? Because there was some tenderness, redness, itchiness, and hives. It almost drove me batty.

I went back to the doctor a week later for a follow-up. The doctor removed the bandage and examined the wound. I told him that I was really having a hard time with it.

"This is happening because you are allergic to the adhesive of the bandage. You have an adhesive burn."

O_o

What? I have never been allergic to a bandage.  And what was this "adhesive burn" thing he was talking about?

As much as I wore band-aids as a kid, I have never had problems with the glue on bandages. Wow.

He had to cut away a small amount of infected skin. He told me to try paper tape and soft gauze. (And that's what he used that day. It felt much better.)

It was some nastiness. Life became about waking up early enough to change and clean the wound. And the first thing I thought about when I arrived home from work was changing the bandage and cleaning the wound.  Everything became about wound care.

And I did some reading about wound care. It turns out that Bobbie Jean was right. Saline solution is the best thing for wound care. At least for my wound.

I found that at the drugstore for $9 a can. It is the best thing in the world.

I also used vitamin E. I bought the capsules and bust them open, and spread the oil on the places where the adhesive had burned my skin.

That helped a lot with the redness. I continued using my Neosporin. But I had to make sure to use the right kind.

I didn't do well with the pain relief cream. It was causing all kinds of pus problems. I threw that away really fast. Fast as I could throw it, I did.

This whole wound care... that was a lot going on. I think I was taking care of that wound for at least 6 weeks. I thought it would never end.  I am an expert in bandages and tape now, that's for sure.

And at the same time, I had a lot on my mind. It was such a time of dealing with the unknown. That minor surgical procedure was the first thing I thought about when I woke up and the last thing I thought about before I went to sleep.

That wound was on the lower part of my right breast.

I had a suspicious mammogram back in April 2013, and I had to have two areas biopsied.

To be continued....