I won’t add anything to the cacophony of people weighing in about Renee Good’s shooting. Except to say that, when you shoot someone three times in the face (while holding your cellphone), and the first thing after that vehicle crashes to think to say is, “Fucking bitch” then there is something fundamentally broken in you. Whether it was the shooter saying that or a compatriot is unclear, I realize. But the point stands. That’s… not right by any standards.
So instead of fundamentally fucked up people shooting women, let’s talk about something fundamentally fucked up in me!
Maybe not fundamentally fucked up, but it ain’t great. And I hesitated to mention it, but it’s pretty dead around here so I’m less worried (since I’m not exactly telling everyone I know). Also, going through a shit ton of medical procedures in a very compact timeframe doesn’t exactly make you feel like doing any reflecting on anything. But things are quieter now.
Mid-2025 I was a diagnosed with boob cancer.
Tired of hearing and saying breast all the time, so I’m mixing it up a bit.
So this will be a brief recap so my imaginary readers are up to speed. A listicle, if you will.
- Mammogram (something weird in there!)
- Ultrasound (probably cancer!)
- Ultrasound biopsy (definitely cancer!)
- MRI (more cancer?)
- Ultrasound biopsy (failure—too small to detect)
- MRI biopsy (another cancer spot!)
- Lumpectomy (kinda weirdly fun since I’d never had surgery before)
- Re-excision (i.e. more surgery)
- Infection (not a procedure, but had to stuff gauze into my boob, which… new experience)
- Radiation
Radiation is done Tuesday and so far not many side effects. It’s mainly redness and slight irritation where there’s friction (like armpits and under my boobs). I recognize it may get worse (it peaks two weeks after rads are done) but the radiation oncologist said if my skin has been fine so far been fine he’s not worried.
Radiation skin side effects seem to widely vary by person. I had started using a barrier cream before surgery to just strengthen the skin there, and it’s possible that doing that consistently in the months leading up helped to keep things mellow, but really I have no clue. All I know is I’m thankful that I haven’t dealt with more painful stuff so far.
Also: For the record, the pathology slide image is from stock art. Not from me. One of my clients is actually the org that did the path work, but I figured asking them for a slide of it would be breaching like eight levels of propriety and around 20 of client-professional boundaries.
To be continued…