Hello all.  Thanks for all the good vibes, prayers, and even (so I hear) a
chicken sacrifice, not to mention the candle to OLAC (Our Lady of the
Chocolate, but what's the A for?).  I appreciate everyone's good wishes.

I woke my husband up at 2 am Sunday morning and made him take out my
surgical drain.  It felt much better once that was out.

Saw the surgeon today and he was amazed at my green breast -- said he didn't
know why there was so much internal bleeding.  :(  It feels engorged, which
is a really strange feeling without having a newborn around!  I have been
wearing my cabbage leaves -- the doctor was skeptical that cabbage leaves
help, so I gave him an earful.

I don't have my appointment with the "onco-docs" til October 15th, so no
news yet on what is ahead.  Except that of course, I will be visiting
Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, and Chicago next week with Karen Gromada on the
LLLI Travelling Road-Show.  And I have started drinking soy milk (blech!
worse than formula) and eating tofu and eating my flax seed every morning
for breakfast.

My surgeon dismisses my concerns about Tamoxifen -- but also says he fully
expects me to go out there and read all the primary research literature myself.

My favorite survivor story so far is from a colleague of my husband -- her
95 year old grandmother had breast cancer in 1954, had a radical mastectomy,
had uterine cancer in 1982, had a hysterectomy, and is now living in a
nursing home, senile as can be.  I'll take it!

Kathy Dettwyler, who truly does appreciate all the warm thoughts and wishes
that I know are beaming into College Station from all over the planet

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html