A boys "BOOB"ectomy

OK, so my husband will have to forgive me for this post...
I am only putting it up here to document our life--
not that i have been so good about keeping up with documenting our life...
but i figured why not start now...

In the midst of our trials this year I have always tried to look on the bright side of things--some days are easier than others. Even though WE (I say WE, even though I have had a job) have been going through another bout of unemployment, I have tried to focus on the many blessings we have had in our life.(unfortunately my blog has been the receiving end of when i reached the end of my rope--not always the most positive aspect of my life that day)
What I am trying to say is that we have been blessed through this trial.
When we needed a car because ours died--we ended up with two. When our vacuum died my dear hubby found one at a garage sale for only $25.00. Not just any vacuum...it actually was another Kirby so the belts and bags we already had would fit it.
Truly AH-MAZE-ING!

Then i would think...
"Well, even though we don't have a job, we have had our health."
Which when i really reflected back on the year,
was not true.
It was not our best "Health" year.
Who was i kidding?
We started out this year with a broken arm on my second boy--
then we moved onto a torn meniscus on the second daughter.
From there we went to cauliflower ear on the oldest son.
The youngest, while healthy for the most part spent many hours at various doctors appointments getting a better idea of what made him tick
Rounding out the list of children left my oldest child. She was the one that really was blessed with good health--not even a doctors visit for her.
Even i had a trip to urgent care where i almost passed out due to a cut on my toe.

And then that leaves us with the hubby.
Around October he felt a lump that was followed by pain in his chest--(boob)
He asked me if i could feel it--and i could.
It sorta freaked us out--(the lump, and me doing the breast exam)
maybe it was the fact it was Breast Cancer Awareness Month and that was all i heard on the radio and TV. Especially when they had the men on the radio talking about their bouts with breast cancer.That coupled with the fact that years ago we had been told that genetically he was pre-disposed to male breast cancer (his sister had ovarian cancer and that shows up in males as breast cancer) Needless to say we were a bit concerned about this.

He asked me who he should call...
I told him I would have called my OB/GYN but i don't think they are currently accepting men in their practice--talk about a square peg trying to fit in a round hole--ya just don't see many men as patients in those offices--although there was that man (ex-woman) who made the news years ago for having a baby. But that is a story for another day
So he proceeded to call the regular old doctor.
He went in and saw him and guess what?
He had a lump.
We were shocked!
REALLY?
A Lump--
Please tell us something we didn't know--
and then we got to wait...
...weeks...
for another appointment.
This time it was with a surgeon.
We finally saw him, in which he told us it was pretty much nothing.
NOTHING???
But it hurts...
and we found out it would not go away with out surgery--
hubby could choose to live with the lump and suck up the pain that came with it
or opt for surgery. The surgeon made it sound like it was no big deal, so we chose surgery--we fondly referred to it as a "boob"-ectomy.

Now don't get me wrong--I realize that breast cancer and the surgery is no joking matter--just the idea of it is very scary. I had a dear friend that passed away from that horrible disease. It definitly does not fight fair. For some reason my hubby was embarrassed about this mass being on his chest and the levity of a calling it a boob-ectomy lightened the stress related to our situation plus my kids thought it was funny :) as did I. There is something about saying
BOOB--ectomy that makes me smile--
(emphasise on the word BOOB)

Off to get an EKG just to make sure his ticker was OK since they were going to put him under.
Surgery was scheduled and once again we got to WAIT.
Some how, this WAIT and see thing seems to be a theme for us this year--
nothing like the hurry up and WAIT to try ones patience...
test ones faith..and generally irritate even the most patient person-

The day before the surgery we got a call from the surgeon to CANCEL.!?
Apparently there was something outside of the norm on the EKG and he wanted dear hubby to see a Cardiologist prior to being put under. Again we got to WAIT.
Finally the day came and he saw the Cardiologist who said everything was fine--
Oh, the emotional roller coaster we get to ride--

Finally he had the surgery and all went well and the doctor said he would be fine,that he would be around many more years to be a bed hog and generally drive me crazy... OK maybe the doctor didn't say the last part but i thought it as he was telling me all was well...
It wasn't the actual incision that bothered my hubby so much as it was the tape holding on the bandage that pulled on the chest hairs that bothered him.
I loved the fact that the nurses put extra tape on just to make sure it would stick--they sorta liked giving him a hard time--I was loving it
On the way home while my husband was still feeling a bit "Loopy" he fondly asked me.
"Will you still love me if I only have one nipple"
I waited until he ripped off the bandage in irritation and saw that he was still "complete" with two nipples before i responded--"Of course dear"