Fred is Dead

04-04-2020 Fred is dead! Fred is the name of my tumor. He is dead, but put up a good fight, leaving me looking like a prize fighter, in and around my chest area. I named the tumor Fred after an effort by a number of San Diego dog trainers to see if dogs could find breast (and prostate) cancer in the urine of someone that has cancer. The idea was to consider that if dogs could do this, women and men living in areas where they didn’t have access to things like testing, could get a nudge to find tests once a dog had identified the cancer. The premise was each cancer has a signature scent that is released in urine, and an OBGYN here in the area wanted to take on the challenge of turning this into a study. He was able to get samples of cancer patients and controls for comparison. We worked independently, and if I remember, there were something like 8-10 dogs and trainers. The cue for the dogs to search for the scent was, “Find Fred,” which meant to sniff the samples and then do the indicator behavior, which was for my dog Austin a down in front of the correct cup. The prostrate group had pretty good results, since that type of cancer has, pretty much, a single scent signature. The breast cancer group was not as successful, and it was likely due to the different types of, and variations in the breast cancer signatures. That was not distinguished in the samples, so our group was more toward the “chance” results. And so, in honor of those trainers and the dogs, all of whom, (the dogs), I’m sure are no longer walking this earth, my tumor was named Fred, and that sucker is dead! And now, the doctors just have to work on preventing any rising up from the dead moments from Fred. There will be bruising: Bruising and swelling are normal and to be expected I was told by the surgeon yesterday, but no one prepared me for the amount of brusing and this is another reason I’m writing this all down—so others that face this, will really know what is to be expected. What a shock to undress yesterday, only to find that I am not only black, blue and various shades of purple and red near the incisions, it has spread all the way over to my other side and into my cleavage area. Wow, is putting it mildly. I would have gotten the Arnica out sooner if I had known that it was going to move around so much. I was told not to put anything near the incisions, but might have slowed it down past that area if I had known. None of the “guides” to breast cancer explain or show these things, and I’m sure a lot of women are shocked when they see the swelling and the amount of bruising that happens after a lumpectomy and the lymph removal. So, here it is in all it’s glory, and I have used Tylenol, and ice right from the start, so it could be worse if I hadn’t done those things early on. I know everyone is different, but not that much different and I’m here to say, it should be expected that one’s chest area will become a living work of art for a couple of weeks as the misplaced blood finds its way to pool around in the area of the incisions and beyond. Pretty!