Thank you all for your support, thoughts, and prayers over the past couple of years. I have greatly appreciated each and every one of them.

If you have it in you for one more today, I should would appreciate it.

Thanks again and much love to you all....

Well ALOT unfortunately.

If you follow me on Twitter then you know that my mother is in the hospital. She's ok but it appears that she has an infection associated with 1 of her implants that were inserted after her reconstructive surgery. For those of you that don't know, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, luckily we caught it at Stage 1 but due to our family history she chose to have a double mastectomy. This past Thanksgiving she had her reconstructive surgery from the mastectomy.

She had the exploratory surgery today and they removed the implant. She is doing okay and will hopefully be released tomorrow afternoon.

Luckily, the Jetplanes were planning on going back to Illinois this weekend to visit Mr's family and head on up to Chicago for a friends wedding. So I will get to drive down to my parents and hang out with my mama on Friday.

So in the meantime....I'll be taking a lil break. So unfortunately, there won't be a Pug Friday. Sorry guys...too busy, but I'll be back with vengeance :)

I'm currently sitting at Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis. My mother is having her reconstructive surgery from her double mastectomy. The surgery will last 12 - 14 hours. She will be having her top 2 abdominal muscles removed and those will replace the breast tissue that was removed. All positive thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.

Before we left the hospital this morning, my mom gave me her wedding ring, its currently on my middle finger of my right hand. Its a very weird feeling to be wearing my mom's ring. It strange to look down and see it on my hand.


Oh and to top it all I am sick as a dog. I started getting sick yesterday evening and woke up this morning at 5am and couldn't breathe and could hardly swallow. I've taken some meds and drank 3 cups of hot tea...I'm finally starting to feel alittle better but still look like a hot mess...

But enough about me....

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers for my mother and family.... I deeply appreciate each and everyone of you. The kindness of strangers is amazing... love you all.

About these new guidelines for mammograms?


I'm in the high risk group so I believe that these 'new' guidelines don't apply to me. That being said, my mother was proactive and found her our breast cancer from a self exam. She located a very small growth (Stage 1) and is now cancer free. She is only 49 and falls into the age group they are focusing in on.

My mother is having her reconstructive surgery from her double mastectomy* next Monday in St. Louis at the Siteman Center. I'm going to make it a point to ask for their opinions on these new guidelines and I'll let you all know.

*That may seem like a bold step due to Stage 1 however, breast cancer runs in our family and the type of cancer she has an extremely strong chance of reoccurring in the other breast. After the operation and the pathology on the tissue, they did find that cells in the other breast where starting to form, so it was the best option for her.

So what our your thoughts on the new guidelines??

The Giveaway will end a week from TODAY on October 29th! Hurry up...what are you waiting for....

The scarf is $38.00 and can be found here.

The 2009 scarf is woven thread by thread to achieve a richly layered look of custom-dyed yarns that highlight the Warriors in Pink® symbols. Versatile for any season and multicolored to go with many soft colors in your wardrobe. Dry clean only.100% of net proceeds ($30.50 each) goes to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.

Have you seen any great items... share the wealth...it all goes to a great cause.

As some of you know it has touched my family twice, first my maternal grandmother and last year my mother. Unfornately my grandmother passed away while I was in high school but, I'm happy to say that my mother is now cancer free. She will be having her reconstructive surgery in November.

I hope to share important information about bresat cancer and a little more about our story over the next month.

First and foremost, thank you for the sweet comments about my mama. For those of you that haven't read my blog long, my mom was diagnosed in August/Sept 08, she chose to have a double mastectomy before Thanksgiving. Luckily, the cancer was Stage 1, nothing in any of her lymph nodes they removed. Thank you GOD! She is awaiting her reconstructive surgery which she postponed until after the summer since she'll be laid up for quite some time.

She doesn't have to do any radiation or chemo, we were very lucky.

Breast Cancer runs in my family, my maternal grandmother and my mom both have had it. My mom took the BRACA and tested negative for it. I asked my doctor if I should take it. She said that she didn't think I should because if I tested positive they would want me to immediately have a double mastectomy and hysterectomy and I would have insurance issues for the rest of my life. I could be a carrier and got it from my biological father, and it doesn't mean I will get cancer. Ovarian cancer does not run in my family. Also my grandmother we believe got cancer post-menopausal and my mom pre-menopausal, so even though it runs in my family, it doesn't necessarily mean we pass the gene.

OMG its so confusing and scary to think about....

I started talking to her about my mom and how I don't think I now how to do a proper breast exam. I told her that prior to my mom's surgery she asked if I wanted to feel it. I couldn't really feel anything... CUE THE TEARS... they started flowing and the Dr. didn't really comfort me at all. I even glanced over to the box of tissues in the corner of the room thinking she'd offer one...ummm... no. Instead this cute, middle aged, southern, blond, Dr showed me how to do a proper exam and assured me that its much harder to feel a growth on someone else other than yourself.

I then asked her, "How do you know if you have dense breasts?" She told me that I have smooth breast... yeah go me... she told me most young women won't have dense breasts and that some women's feel like they have popcorn in them.... Huh? Which makes it even harder to feel for growths.

We discussed my fears of breast cancer, worrying about my ability to get pregnant, worrying about getting off the pill and having to live with my ridiculously horrid cramps, and a little bit of everything else.

She told me to start taking folic acid at least 2 months prior to trying to have a baby. She also wanted to me to check with a general practice physician to determine if I need any vaccinations. Has anyone had vaccinations before getting pregnant? I don't think I've received a vaccination since going into college.

So that was my emotional visit to the Dr. I swear whenever I have to talk about my family medical history I cry. Its this uncontrollable thing... the eye doctor, my general physician, and the gyno... yeah I can't control it.

My mom is great... she's cancer free and we're just awaiting her reconstructive surgery. I adore my mama but I have inherited all her issues... migraines, bad eye sight, painful menstrual cramps,and my ugly lil toes. But I love her just the same...

Yeah you read that right...

Someone bald her eyes out today, sitting in a paper dress, in front of her doctor. Its like I can write about my mom being diagnosed with cancer, but when I verbalize it, OMG I become a mess.

Lady Dr.... not that supportive.

Anyway - more info to follow later. Also I have several questions for the ladies out there?

1. BRACA anyone?
2. Do you take Folic Acid before getting pregnant?
3. Did you get any vaccinations before getting pregnant?

Need to discuss...

We're partying it up at PURE DJ AM was spinning. We had so much fun and talked our way into hanging out with a bachelor party from Chicago. If I remember right, we "knew of" some of the same people. Small world. Don't worry the guys are friends who live out in Vegas. This was one of the best weekends ever. Thanks ladies and guys. We're in our private pool at Wet Republic. It was a CRAZY day, so crazy we didn't go out that night. Mr. Jetplane still makes fun of me for that.



From Mr. Jetplane's winging ceremony.




Honeymooned in the Dominican Republic.



Its been a wonderful and challenging year for the Jetplanes. Here's to a great 2009. The Jetplanes should have an exciting year - moving to NC, hopefully buying house, upcoming weddings of some of my besties, upcoming trips, and most important... getting to live together again.

Unbelievable news!!!

My mom doesn't need to have chemo! She met with her oncologist today, due to the size of the tumor, the cancer free lymph nodes, and the fact the she had both breasts removed, they do not think she needs chemo. They are going to put her on a hormone therapy treatment and recommend removing her ovaries. Her cancer was estrogen feed, so its best they remove them. She already had a hysterectomy a couple of years ago so its not too big of a deal.

The Dr. said that in cases such as hers, if cancer is to reappear somewhere down the road, it generally reappears in the bone. So they are going to start building up her calcium to combat that now.

I am so delighted for her. She was very nervous about chemo and losing her hair. My grandma had chemo and radiation, and when she lost her hair it was devastating to her. I didn't want my mom to go through that.

What a wonderful Christmas present. Thank you God for hearing and answering all our prayers.

Secondly, thank you to all of you for your support those these trying times. Its meant so much.

My mom went to the Dr today for her follow up appointment with the plastic surgeon. While she was there she found out the pathology reports from the lymph nodes that they had removed. They removed 8 from one side and 10 from the other. I'll be honest, I didn't even know you had that many lymph nodes.

Well GREAT news! They all came back negative. The cancer had not spread and it looks like we have caught it early. She won't have to do any radiation and the chemo should not be too bad.

YEAH!!! This is me doing the happy dance....

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it all means so much more. This year we have something to be truly thankful for.

Well first things first, you can see I have gotten a face lift this afternoon.... More to come on that later. Thanks Krystyn!!

My mom is out of surgery and everything looks good. The surgeon said that there were no surprises and she's in recovery. My step-dad and brother should get to see her in about 45 minutes. She'll be released late tomorrow. I'll keep you all updated.

Thank you again for the outpouring of love and support, I GREATLY appreciate it.

xoxo - Mrs. Jetplane (that's my new name!!, love it)

"A woman is like a tea bag, you can not tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water."



I spoke to my mom this morning at 6am before she headed into the hospital. They stayed the night a the hotel associated with the cancer center. She was in good spirits.

I hate that I'm not there, but will be there next week.

Thank you all so much for you prayers, support, and kind words. She has surgery at 8:30 this morning, and it should take 4-6 hours.

My mom had her appointment at the Siteman Center yesterday. It was an all day affair but well worth it. She got to meet with her surgeon, her plastic surgeon, got all of her blood work, etc. taken care of.

Her surgeon said that there is a good chance that this cancer is still at a Stage 1 phase, however we won't know for sure until the surgery. Based upon the type of cancer she has the likelihood of it coming back and appearing in the other breast is high, so he was very happy that my mom had already decided she would be having a double mascetomy. The only issue that concerns him is that there are some very small clusters of cancerous cells in that same breast, but since she is having mascetomy it shouldn't cause too much of an issue.

She felt that the staff was excellent. They talked with her at length about her cancer, the surgery, what they can offer her, etc. etc. She feels so much better about the situation now. It looks like they have her scheduled for surgery in 2 to 3 weeks, since they have to schedule the surgeons together. After the surgery she'll have spacers implanted in her breasts and regularly go and they will inject them with saline solution to inflate them.

FYI- My mother does have breast implants, but that in no way was the cause of her cancer. Ironically enough, having never been happy with her breasts and getting implants over 10 years ago, has allowed her to deal with the mascetomy much better.

I want to say thank you to everyone for their kinds words. And thank you to Kayte whomever you are and wherever you are, I appreciated your kinds words and thoughts on the Siteman Center. I pray for your mother as well.

Ok. I haven't written about my mom in a while. As you may recall, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer several weeks ago. My frustration level with service that she has been receiving from a Dr close to home is at an all time high.

My mom was referred to this female doctor from a cousin whom had recently been treated with her, so my mom took that referral very highly. Well needless to say, that Dr, in my own humble opinion, is a POS. She has totally dropped the ball, and my mom has suffered from it.

#1 this is cancer people, you shouldn't have to explain that to a doctor. This process of her getting a mastectomy should have already been completed, she shouldn't have to repeatedly call to get results, find out referrals, etc. If she went into the DR with a broken arm, it would be treated right away, why can't this be... Ok, let me explain a little.

1. Up until a complete of weeks ago, she didn't even know what stage the cancer was. They had never cared to tell her.
2. They referred her to a hospital in the central part of the state that didn't accept her health insurance.
3. They didn't even figure that out, my mom called and spoke to several people at the hospital. They finally said we'll take you but you have to process your own claims to the insurance company... WTF are you kidding me... do I want to go bankrupt.
4. They had never given her a copy of any of her records.
5. My mom asked to go to St Louis, and the Dr said that wouldn't be possible.
6. Finally, my mom called to get all her records to take them to a new Dr she found in STL, at a top notch cancer institute, that takes her insurance, and you know what the Dr's cancer nurse said to her.... "Well we're gonna need you to come in and do another biopsy...
"Excuse me, she's getting a freaking mastectomy. I know its cancer, we've determined that weeks ago. She wants it the hell out of her why do we need to take another look...

So today, my mom has her appointment at the Sitman Cancer Center, a great cancer center associated with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Wash U Medical School. Her appointment is with the Dept Head. I very excited for her, I mean as excited as you can be in this situation.

Its a wonderful, teaching hospital and there she will be able to participate the new procedures, clinical trials, and see some of the Midwest finest Doctors. I have a close friend that is an oncology rep for a drug manufacturer and she says that outside of Mayo, Sitman is the best cancer institute in the Midwest.

She should leave today with a plan of action, an idea of next steps, and hopefully a date for the surgery. Which is more than her other Dr ever did for her.

I'm so proud of her for taking control of the situation, and not settling for the BS that the Dr was giving her.

FYI - her original DR referred her to a State University Hospital located at the capital city of our state. My step-father is an elected official and has state health insurance. The Medical School which is funded by the state would not accept my mother's health insurance. What kind of crap is that.

For now, I'm letting the bad thoughts exit my body and only letting good energy in....

People don't generally get to know the stages of cancer until they are dropped into it. I will admit, I haven't. Even though, my Great-Grandmother and Grandmother died as a result of breast cancer, I was much much younger when they were diagnosed and the research work that has been done is incredible.

Please take a look at the information below. It outlines the Staging of breast cancer, and the survival rates.

One statistic that I recently learned (watching Oprah) is that 70% of people being diagnosed with breast cancer, had NO family history. 70% that's amazing, because that fact is not widely discussed.

STAGING
Stage 0—Carcinoma in situ
In stage zero breast cancer, atypical cells have not spread outside of the ducts or lobules, the milk producing organs, into the surrounding breast tissue. Referred to as carcinoma in situ, it is classified in two types:

Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS)— very early cancer that is highly treatable and survivable. If left untreated or undetected, it can spread into the surrounding breast tissue.

Lobular Carcinoma In Situ (LCIS)—not a cancer but an indicator that identifies a woman as having an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

Stage I—Early stage invasive breast cancer

In stage 1 breast cancer, the cancer is no larger than two centimeters (approximately an inch) and has not spread to surrounding lymph nodes or outside the breast.

Stage II

Stage 2 breast cancer is divided into two categories according to the size of the tumor and whether or not it has spread to the lymph nodes:

Stage II A Breast Cancer—the tumor is less than two centimeters(approximately an inch) and has to up to three auxiliary underarm lymph nodes. Or, the tumor had grown bigger than two centimeters, but no larger than five centimeters (approximately two inches) and has not spread to surrounding lymph nodes.

Stage II B Breast Cancer— the tumor has grown to between two and five centimeters (approximately one to two inches) and has spread to up to three auxiliary underarm lymph nodes/ Or, the tumor is larger than five centimeters, but has not spread to the surrounding lymph nodes.

Stage III

Stage 3 breast cancer is also divided in to two categories:

Stage III A Breast Cancer—the tumor is larger than two centimeters but smaller than five centimeters (approximately one to two inches) and has spread to up to nine auxiliary underarm lymph nodes.

Stage III B Breast Cancer— the cancer has spread to tissues near the breast including the skin, chest wall, ribs, muscles, or lymph nodes in the chest wall or above the collarbone.

Stage IV

In stage 4 breast cancer, the cancer has spread to other organs or tissues, such as the liver, lungs, brain, skeletal system, or lymph nodes near the collarbone.

5-YEAR SURVIVAL RATE BY STAGE

Stage 0 100%

Stage I 98%

Stage II 88%

Stage IIIA 56%

Stage IIIB 49%

Stage IV 16%