Don't You Just LOVE DIY Blog Posts?

I sure do. That's why I could not wait to post one of my own. Think you've seen every crafty housewife's blog posts about painting and stenciling and setting tile? Well, this one is no different! You've seen it before, trust me, but somehow I wanted to document the process.

There is something about taking a month to redo a bathroom that makes you want to share every detail with the world, even with the knowledge that most don't care about your dumb project, lol. That said, I know I read many, many blog posts describing the process of doing the projects that I had in mind, since I had no clue what to expect, and in some cases, how to accomplish them. Every experience is slightly different, and everyone has a different opinion about what they like and how to achieve it.

So, here we go!

First, let's get a good idea of how the bathroom looked to start with. Note the discolored fiberglass one-piece insert - these have a gelcoat surface and over the years of people using abrasive cleaners it had areas that were permanently worn away on the bottom, and on the sides they were bleached and stained - no way to improve it. There were a few cracks on the edge of the tub, and the drywall at the top of the insert had begun to get wet and moldy - that had to be replaced, and was the thing that started this whole project.

Here we have a plain builder-grade mirror glued to the wall, and can/recessed lighting above. One we began working on to try and fix, but the wiring was shot.

 The vanity is a cabinet that is identical to all of the cabinets in the entire house, bathroom and kitchen - they are the same oak finish ones you can get at Lowe's even today. The first thing I did was to paint the whole thing white and add brushed nickel hardware. None of the doors/drawers had hardware, just a finger-hold at the bottom or side edge of it to open it. It helped the room quite a bit just making this one change.

We started by removing the tub/shower hardware and cutting out the top of the fiberglass insert, using a sawzall. This part was fun. Sharp eyes will detect the outline of a matching fiberglass insert on the other side of the wall studs - that is the identical unit in the master bath! (Guess what's getting ripped out next?  ;) )

Here's Busa, the German Shepherd Dog/ Great Dane mix, overseeing the project. He didn't give me permission to post his image, so I'm protecting his identity.

Because the fiberglass insert curved in at the faucet area, the plumbing had to be placed outside the stud wall area, and jutted into the tub alcove. Since we were putting in a standard tub we had to move the plumbing back in between the studs where it belongs. That's my closet beyond the studs - Rick had to rip out the drywall in there to access the plumbing. Charming little oversight when the house was built, no? However, it made things SO much easier to work on to have it all open and accessible. We have to replace that drywall and install a door for the future.

Plumbing rerouted and new drain assembly installed, since none of the plumbing matched up with the new tub.

New tub installed! This was not the easiest thing and required a lot of adjustments, but we got it in without damaging it, and applied mortar to the subfloor to hold it in place. This is not a fancy tub, fitting the standard 60" alcove, but it has an oval skirt to allow more room in the tub without requiring a larger footprint - a very nice feature!

Very heavy construction grade plastic was stapled to the joists and sealed to the top of the wall, and the edge of the tub with silicone. Then, cement board installed over that as the tile underlayment. It is very important to waterproof everything carefully. You think of tile as being waterproof but it isn't, nor is grout, even sealed grout, and eventually all the stuff under it will be exposed to moisture. We like cement board versus hardiboard because wet cement board does not change shape, while hardiboard swells and distorts. Just personal preference.

I finally chose and installed a new faucet after debating for days over which one to get. I love the design of this but the first one was defective. I returned it and opened the package first to be sure the replacement worked! It did. The opening to the cabinet is about 10" wide so I got bruises on my sides from lying under that sink 4 times (once to remove the old assembly, once to install the first faucet, once to remove the first faucet, and once to install the second. You do whatcha gotta do, right?

Here's the new tub protected with several layers of cardboard, using the cut-up box the tub came in. It is very important to protect the surface of the tub when tiling, since mortar and grout drop down as they are applied, and tiles and other tools get dropped frequently.

12x12 tiles going up! At $0.68 per piece we were pretty happy. They are a very light beige to match the solid surface countertop on the vanity, which I did NOT replace.

Liz's seemingly endless quest to find the "perfect" spa blue for the walls. None of these samples were it, lol.

Tile up and marble shelves installed as well. The tiles are ceramic, not stone, so I was searching for ceramic shelves, but the few available looked bad, since they are hollow molded and very bulky and rounded. I returned them and found marble quarter-round shelves that go with the tub and tile much better. Very simple and unobtrusive. Rick set them at the very slightest downward angle so water would not collect on them, but your shampoo bottle won't go sliding off. You can barely notice, but it is enough to prevent pooling of water, which is important. Grouting has begun!

Next comes replacing the flooring. Interestingly, we discovered why the baseboards in this room were only about 2" high. There was the existing sheet vinyl, luan sheeting, then ANOTHER layer of identical, pristine and perfectly preserved sheet vinyl (same pattern and everything) with another layer of luan beneath that, then the 3/4" plywood original subfloor. We have no idea why they'd install a floor then immediately install the identical floor, with the same vinyl material, right on top. The first layer was undamaged and looking like it looked back in the late 80s when it was put in. Weird.

A circular saw set at the proper depth and a heavy duty floor scraper had all of the old floor out, down to original subfloor. Then new luan sheeting was laid to act as new vinyl tile underlayment.

Waterproofing compound/primer painted on luan (it is dark green rubberized stuff, like contact cement but a lot thicker) and Liz begins her flooring project! These are adhesive tiles that are groutable. You need a good primer base and a very level surface for this type of tile, but it will be warm underfoot, not slippery when wet like ceramic can be, and is very easy to work with. That is a sunbeam on the floor - it looks strange in the pic.

I used spacers and then grouted, using premixed grout made for this purpose. I used a small space heater to warm up the room and allow the adhesive and grout to adhere better, since we were having a cold snap that day and the room was chilly.

I wanted beadboard wainscoting and I chose PVC boards, since this bathroom takes a moisture beating with two teenage daughters - lots of long, steamy showers. This stuff is great to work with and is glued up with Loctite or something similar, then we used a power brad gun to tack it in place here and there. It comes with matching baseboards and chair rail, all in bright white, though the material is paintable.

Here you can see how we used a conversion kit to replace the recessed lighting with pendants.

Here's how it looks today.  We still have to finish caulking and I need to find some art for the walls, but the real work is done. I even found the perfect shower curtain, which matches the blue I finally chose for the walls (Sherwin-Williams "raindrop," I love you).

We will caulk and clean up the edge between the tile and the windowsill, and around the tub and I will install nice switch plate covers. Also, we rebuilt the windowsill so it would not clash with the chair rail, and once I sand and put a coat of paint on that I'll install brushed nickel hooks for towels, instead of a towel bar. Interestingly, the girls seem completely incapable of figuring out how to use a towel bar, so maybe hooks will be easier. Must be a generational thing....

The only thing I have not addressed is the window. I was planning a 2" bamboo (white) venetian style blind, but the only ones I could find are 72" long, which is ridiculous for a window that is this small, and the entire window frame is very shallow, so you can't mount that type of bulky thing properly inside the window frame. Something needs to be mounted on the outside rather than the inside. I'm now leaning towards a Roman type shade, but still not sure. I'll shop for some appropriate understated artwork, and I may paint a stylized tree scene on one wall, with a dark brown branchy form, with white/cream/pale yellow leaves. I saw something like this for sale as a decal, but I thought I could paint it myself. Chocolate brown, beige, soft yellow and white towels will look nice. I have a large soft yellow bath mat. I'm also installing shelving above the toilet in the alcove, since I can mount a narrow 2x1" wood strip as a brace and use melamine white shelves for a simple look to store various products and towels.

A few things we learned:

Use good paint. It is worth the extra cost. For years I have always HATED household painting jobs, and have avoided it, thinking painting was just not my thing. I was having such a hard time finding the right color blue at Lowe's and Home Depot, and I found the color I thought would be perfect at Sherwin-Williams, through online searching. I wound up using Benjamin-Moore, because they have what Sherwin-Williams doesn't have - you can order paint samples online and pick them up in about an hour at your local store. This is awesome! I did this several times and it was very convenient. This made me have some degree of loyalty to Benjamin-Moore, and I will admit I had THEM make up the Sherwin-Williams color, Raindrop, which any paint store can do, no matter whose color it is. Therefore, since I was in there anyway, I bought the white semi-gloss paint that I used on the wood trim like the window, windowsill, door frame and door, as well as the white semi-gloss kitchen/bath paint for the ceiling.

Prior to even contemplating wall paint, I used some Behr white semi-gloss on the vanity, which took 3 or 4 coats to cover. Eventually it came out nice, but that was one reason I have hated painting: inadequate coverage and the need to go back over walls and trim with second and third coats to get the smooth finish you want. Brush and roller marks, cutting in and taping off areas, drips, splatters and unequal coverage were things I thought unavoidable.

With the Benjamin-Moore paint I could have gotten away with a SINGLE coat on the vanity - it is that much better. I couldn't believe it. The wall paint went up without any roller marks, even though I broke the rules and cut in a day or two before painting the rest of the wall (it is always better to cut in just the wall you're working on, paint the wall, then move on to the next wall, so the paint blends better). You cannot tell where I cut in - it looks smooth and perfect. I have had to do touchups after caulking, and you can't tell where the touchups were done - it blends seamlessly.

When I painted the ceiling I used the white bathroom/kitchen paint from Benjamin-Moore, to resist moisture problems, and I was not looking forward to that job. In the past, me and the entire room would be covered in splatters and drips of paint from doing the ceiling, and I dreaded it. Just the roller going across the ceiling would cast the tiniest drops in a mist throughout the room, landing on me and the floor. Can't avoid it, right? With quality paint I got ZERO drips, ZERO spatter, and I did the ceiling in one coat. There was no mist of paint droplets falling at any time. It took about 10 or 15 minutes, tops. I was amazed! I thought I was dreaming, but soon realized it was because of better paint. All that dread for nothing. Then I was ready to paint all the ceilings in the house (not).

Nothing against Lowe's or Home Depot (I spend A LOT of time there lately!), and they probably have some expensive, high-end paint available, but I'm sticking with the paint stores for paint in the future. It makes life so much easier, the job is done so much quicker, and for the most part I didn't even use painter's tape or prep of any kind (other than wiping down the wall first). I didn't tape around the window, and just painted it free-hand, and with a good brush and good paint, you can run a straight line of paint down the edge without it getting on the wall. How easy is that? Good Paint Makes Home Renovations Easy. This is my new motto, and was a hard lesson to learn. Over the years I've spent so much money on cheap paint, being horrified at the prices of the better brands, but I'm done with cheap paint. Forever. I'd rather put up with the dingy old wall until I can afford better paint and quality brushes. No foam brushes for this gal.

Didn't think anyone could go on this long about PAINT, did you?

Tile Needs Level Underlayment.   This goes for the peel-and-stick vinyl type or the ceramic/porcelain type. This is not something you should skip. Originally I was thinking I could simply stick the vinyl floor tiles right on top of the existing sheet vinyl, since it was ugly but in perfect condition, but once we saw all the layers that were already there, we wanted to get rid of them, and then the glue marks and staple/screw holes in the original subfloor were such that we just bought new boards to cover the whole floor, creating a very smooth and even surface. This matters a lot when you consider how long you expect your floor to last. You think at the time that it won't matter so much, but when the tiles start to peel up, crack or loosen you'll be pretty annoyed.

We suffered a bit of difficulty with the ceramic tile on the tub surround, even though we truly thought the cement board was smooth and even. Walls are never level, no matter how they appear. This translates very visibly to the tile. We were not as careful as we ought to have been about smoothing down the thinset used to tape over the seams between the cement boards. We ought to have really smoothed those down, because we didn't realize how the very slight variation there makes the tiles go wonky, and a wonky tile next to a level tile looks like crap. It took some work but we did get everything even, but next time I'll be more careful about getting the underlayment. It was after this experience that I started on the floor, and I knew better than to cut corners. Weeks down the road (even now) you forget the extra work you had to do, and are grateful you took the extra steps.

You Cannot Find Studs Through Cement Board. When we took down the old curtain rod we saw there were blocks placed between joists to support the rod, which was screwed through drywall, above the edge of the fiberglass insert. We made a mental note (hahahaha!) to mark the location of them so we would know where to install the new curtain rod, which would be directly on the tile since it was being placed all the way to the ceiling. We went on our merry way, and after the cement board was fully installed, seams taped and ready for tile, we realized we forgot to mark where the blocks were, or the joists. Now, you can measure where studs are, knowing how far apart they are, by starting at the corner of the wall and measuring in, but we were disappointed in ourselves for not planning ahead. We had never drilled holes into tile before and were very worried about cracking the tile drilling into it to put up the rod.

None of these things happened, and we wound up just eyeballing the placement of the rod. He asked me how high to place it ("oh, make it a little higher than the showerhead plumbing.") and how far away from the wall to place it ("oh, let's put it so it lines up with the edge of the tub.") When he drilled the holes, which took FOREVER using a masonry bit, lots of pressing down against resistance and dipping the drill bit in water to cool it down (sssssssssss) once he got through he came back with bits of wood on the tip of the drill. On both sides! Woo hoo! We didn't measure for studs or anything, but just got lucky. We were prepared, with very heavy-duty wall anchors, but we didn't need them. Whew!

When You Remove 1" of Flooring Your Toilet Plumbing Won't Match Up. This is somewhat minor but it is worth mentioning. We took out quite a bit of flooring and when we went to put the toilet back in, the plumbing to the wall didn't quite fit, with the pipe being too long. The whole toilet is now closer to the floor, so the small pipe had to be shortened. Not a huge deal but something to think about.

Also, the transition between new (lower) floor and the hallway carpet is slightly different, but we went ahead and used the same old transition strip from before, since carpet replacement is on our list in the near future.

I think that is about it! We are all delighted with how it came out, and are inspired to do more around the house, which suddenly looks extremely shabby. My own bathroom is now very difficult to look at, reminding me so much of how the hall bathroom used to look. No fair! The kids get the gorgeous bathroom and we get the crappy one. However, my husband and I have taken better care of our bathroom than the girls did in theirs, since over the years of them being toddlers and taking messy baths, being toddlers and a little destructive, and raising one teenager so far who was careless with her appliances and hair color, just to name a few things. The current pair of teenage girls have been warned about the dire consequences of carelessness in this bathroom, after all this work. It took us a month to complete, since we could not take much time off work, and had to use nights and weekends in between other obligations. The master bath renovation ought to go more quickly, since everything was installed at the same time as the hall bath, with the same materials, and now we know what to expect.

Comments are welcome!

Non-Driving Millennials: The Phenomenon Explained!

I am considered, I suppose, to be part of Generation X. I was born in the mid-60s. One of the most glaring differences in life for me growing up and life for my own children growing up has nothing to do with the obvious:  technology, fashion, environmentalism, etc.

The biggest difference is something with a massive and far-reaching impact on life:  FREEDOM.

When I was in kindergarten at age 5, I walked to school almost 2 miles by myself. When I was in second grade, I was responsible for the neighbor's kindergartener on the way to and from school, because I was seasoned and experienced, and could show him the ropes. "Don't worry, Helen, Elizabeth has been walking to school forever, and she'll look after little Ben."

My sisters and I had complete freedom to hop on our bikes and go wherever we wanted, practically as soon as we learned to ride. In the summertime, we left the house in the morning, returned for lunch and stayed out again until dinner, then back outside until the street lights came on. Anyone growing up during this time will recognize this lifestyle. Then, there were a handful of television channels, and the only programming of interest to children was very early weekday mornings (Sesame Street, Romper Room, Captain Kangaroo) and on Saturday mornings. There was nothing to compel children to sit around the house, so we were outside whenever possible.

When I was in high school I walked about 3 miles to school, and rode my bike to visit friends. Since the third grade I was part of infamous "busing" era in the 70s, when kids were transported out of their neighborhoods and sent to schools far away in an effort to mix up the population, ease overcrowding and supply students for schools with few local attendees. This means that by high school I had friends all over town.

I rode my bike in heavy traffic on a daily basis to get where I needed to go, and rode on major roads, went over bridges and traveled up to 8 miles from home, or sometimes more. I was not only visiting friends, but shopping at the mall and going to the library. Remember, my young readers, at that time in order to research a school assignment you had to have a relatively current set of encyclopedias (Google it) or hoof it to the library. My local library, at times, was inadequate to the task, and I rode downtown to the university library, which had everything I needed. My parents both worked so my siblings and I did not have transportation other than taking a bus, walking or riding a bike. Few of my friends did, either.

So, when that magical age of 15.5 came along I, and everyone I knew, was chomping at the bit to get their driver's license. My mother rode the bus to work so we had a second car sitting at home, waiting to be utilized by eager teenagers. Imagine: Not having to deal with the weather conditions, flat tires, inconsiderate drivers (no helmets for bikes back then, remember!), not to mention the length of time in transit, was sublime.

Once we learned to drive and had a car, our lives changed, and we felt like grownups. In addition, one major benefit to having such freedom around the city as a child meant that we already knew street names, we knew how to get where we needed to go, and we had an excellent sense of direction. Getting around in a car was a piece of cake, and everyone appreciated this milestone. We had jobs to pay for gas and such, and could actually get to work and back without getting sweaty or rained on. Bonus!

As an adult with a new baby, something came over my husband and I, and we were not alone. With the improved communication brought to bear by technology like cable TV and the burgeoning cell phone and internet phenomena, we realized that baby/child snatchers were literally lurking around every corner! News stories abounded, reporting on kids minding their own business and playing in their neighborhoods going missing, found dead, never found, or found but having suffered horrible traumas. What is this world coming to?

There is no way my precious bundle will be booted out the door to "go play." That's irresponsible parenting! We had to have eagle eyes and be ever vigilant. "Stranger Danger" was a new term for us to teach our children, and public safety campaigns were strong. Information on how to spot a suspicious person, how to recognize a creep in your own network of friends, neighbors and family, and how to protect your children was encountered in many aspects of public life.

Children had to be chaperoned everywhere, and "play dates" were invented. There was no such thing as a play date in my childhood; if you wanted to play with another child, you walked to their house and knocked on the door, and asked them to play. Simple. Suddenly, you have to coordinate with other mothers, scheduling appointments and being careful about the other children and their families; did the dad smoke? did the mom have tattoos? Is this a safe place for my child to go and will there be negative influences? This is the stuff that kept us up at night.

Any bike riding done in the 90's and 2000's was done en masse - if your child wanted to ride their bike then your butt was on a bike with them. Helmets, reflectors, lights, whistles and sirens were now required for two wheel travel. If they wanted to walk to their friend's house, you had to first call the mother and make sure it was okay, then walk them over there yourself, check in with the mother, and arrange for a pickup time. Keep in mind that the other mothers were suspicious too, so they were scrutinizing ME and my husband, wondering if we were up to no good behind closed doors.

Suddenly, mothers were concerned about how their children behaved when visiting their friend. My parents didn't concern themselves with such things - kids act up and are who they are, and they considered everything to be fine unless they heard something from another mother, which was rare. The upshot is that, as mothers, we instructed our children on how to behave, apologized for their behavior to the other parent, and required assurances that they did behave themselves when it came time to collect them. Everyone was being evaluated. Stranger Danger.

If the benefit of my childhood running all over town by myself was learning the streets and getting a sense of direction, one major negative impact of our new lifestyle was that kids never pay attention to where they are or where they're going. Today, they've got handheld devices to amuse themselves while riding in the car. They don't know what street they're on, don't know how to get to the cul-de-sac two blocks over, don't know how to get to school or to church, or to places they've been going their entire lives. They don't know cardinal directions as they apply to their neighborhoods or hometowns. Someone drives them, and they simply wait until the ride is over and they're compelled to get out of the car. It is like teleporting! Beam me up, Mama! I've got to go to Jimmy's house.

My own Millenial, born in 1993, suffers quite a bit from this phenomenon. She does not have her driver's license, though she has a learner's permit, and I have read articles recently that this is not unusual:  young people today are not learning to drive. I was astounded! How can this be? How could teenagers not want to drive? This is completely counterintuitive to me. It took me a while to realize the reason. Why should they drive? They've had someone chauffeuring them wherever they needed to go their entire lives. Someone in their circle of friends will drive and have their own car, so it is easy enough just to carpool. They don't feel comfortable tooling around town on their own - they've never looked through a windshield before. If it isn't in their lap they can't see it.

There is still something missing in this trend, if it is a trend, but I think the nidus is the lack of freedom our children and young adults have now. I am as guilty as anyone - I have shielded all my children in this way, and can't set my worries aside very easily. Since realizing what was going on with my oldest, I began quizzing my younger girls while driving, asking things like what street we're on, what road we just passed, in what direction are we headed, or what street to turn on to get to Grandma's house. I am urging them to familiarize themselves with their surroundings at all times, and pay attention. I don't know if it is helping, but it is at least something that might help them in the future. Since there's two of them, they go a lot of places together, so now they're permitted to walk to the library (together) and walk to the corner store (apart or together - it is very close). That is not to say I don't stand at the window and mark their progress, and watch the clock until they return, because I do. We know too much these days about all the wrongs in our society, since every incident is instantly available, anywhere in the world, via 24-hour cable news and internet.

Would you like to know something? There have always been creeps in our society. There have always been pedophiles, since humans created a society. We just didn't hear about it every second. We were living in the blissful ignorance of our pre-digital age. You want to know another thing? One day when walking home from second grade with Benjamin, a car pulled up alongside us, a convertible with the top down, and a man was fondling himself while he asked us directions to the nearby hospital. I did not understand at all what he was doing, and had never seen a man's private parts before, but it was supremely alarming to me, so I took Benjamin's hand and took off running. I was the older and responsible one, after all. I consider us lucky, even though the guy may have never intended to apprehend us in any way, but you never know.

Today, that incident would have gotten on the news, right after the story about Child Protective Services being called regarding the 5 and 7-year-old walking by themselves down the street. That is, apparently, child neglect.

I look back and have to wonder:  How DID we survive?

This is What I Get for Going to the Doctor - Part Two

One of the yearly joys for most women, me included, is the annual mammogram. My mother had breast cancer requiring a radical mastectomy with axillary node dissection at age 40, premenopausal, which means her own daughters are at a higher risk of breast cancer, and I don't take this lightly, so every winter off I go to submit to a boob squashing, with a light dose of radiation. All for a good cause, and that noble feeling you get afterwards, right?

Last year, my mammogram showed something suspicious on the left, and I wound up needing a biopsy. This was a benign lesion, thankfully. When I returned this year they kept calling me back for more views, and finally when I was done the radiologist sat me down and explained that I have "very dense" breasts, and though there was nothing suspicious on my mammogram it was recommended that I have breast MRI to get a better look. He said that mammography alone was not the best way to evaluate someone like me, with a family history, a history of a biopsy myself, and dense breasts. These three factors, combined with my age at onset of menarche (12), put me in a high-risk category for breast cancer in my lifetime.

When did I get dense breasts? This was news to me. The mammograms I've been getting for the past 15 or more years have not demonstrated dense breasts, to my knowledge, since I've never had to have ultrasound, and that is what they use on dense breasts, as I know from 10 years working for a mammographer and typing all of his reports. These days it is required that the patient be informed if they have dense breasts, and I had not heard this before. Can breasts become dense as we age? I suppose they can, since that's certainly my category now. 

I was told this was not an "open MRI," so I asked for a Xanax or something like that to take in case of claustrophobia. I had an MRI over 20 years ago, and when I was asked if I was claustrophobic I proudly assured them I wasn't. Well, after being laid on a table and slid back about 12' into a pitch dark and narrow drawer, I discovered that indeed I WAS claustrophobic. That was a challenge to endure, and I didn't want to go through that again. However, my breast MRI was on a modern machine and if that isn't considered "open" I'm not sure what open means. I could see the opening in front of me, and it was open behind my shoulders, it was well lit, with a large aperture and a fan blowing, and there was no need for any anti-anxiety medication whatsoever, thankfully. 

The MRI went smoothly, and was not a difficult experience at all. The bonus is that there is no radiation, and in the future I will have MRI studies annually and I (think) I get to skip the squishing procedure of standard mammography. 

As I had been warned, the MRI prompted the recommendation for breast biopsies. I was prepared for this, and was not too concerned. After all, they can now see literally everything in my breasts and since it was the first look, many structures could appear suspicious. I had an area on the right and an area on the left, one 8 mm and the other 5 mm in size. This time I DID opt to take the Xanax, since I had been through a breast biopsy before, which was somewhat traumatic due to the awkward location and the need to be clamped into the vise of the mammogram machine while the biopsy was performed. It was on the left medial breast, very close to the chest wall, meaning they had to clamp me down very tightly, drawing the skin of the chest in and making it difficult to breathe, but the machine had to hold me there for a few minutes while the biopsy itself was completed. They had to try it a few times, then re-try it, get the biopsy, then take a few more views to be sure it was in the right location. Ugh. I fell apart a bit after that one!

This time I would not be in The Vise but it would be done under MRI guidance, which I knew was no big deal, and it wasn't. I still elected to take the sedative, since I could not help but have a lot of anxiety, being in the same situation as my last breast biopsy - I knew it wouldn't be the same but I seemed unable to convince my reptilian brain of that. In fact, my blood pressure was through the roof when I got in there, which is not normal for me, and I had to lie down for about 10 minutes in a dark and quiet room before it went back down to normal. Yikes. 

They were able to get the right breast biposied without difficulty for them or for me, and they told me the one on the left was not very accessible for an MRI-guided biopsy, since it was located near the previous biopsy, close to the chest and on the medial breast (near the cleavage), not a good position for the doctor to access while I'm lying face down. That would have to be done with mammographic guidance (here we go again!!) but he told me that he'd prefer to wait and see the results of the biopsy on the right, and make a decision after that, which suited me. Apparently the two lesions were similar and if the right side was benign, the left would likely be as well. 

Long story short (well, short story that I manage to make long) is that the biopsy was benign, and I return in 6 months for repeat MRI to see if there is any change in the lesion on the left. Cancer does not stay the same, so if it looks identical then they'll know it is benign, and can simply look for changes, since they'll know from now on what I'm supposed to look like in there. 

It seems like a lot of hassle, expense and aggravation for nothing, but I really can't say that I'm sorry I did it. I could have refused and simply had yearly mammograms, since the MRI was not being done to evaluate any particular lesion, but just to get a better look. However, I thought it was more responsible to go ahead and be sure things are okay, despite the unnecessary stress. Even when you are relatively certain the biopsy will be benign, there is a voice in the back of your mind that worries about other outcomes. 

Also, breast biopsies are painful afterwards, and I had to wear an ice pack in my bra the rest of the day and most of the next. Add to that, our dear young dog, Busa, a Great Dane and German shepherd mix, is so tall that he greets me by goosing me in the right side of my boob when he sees me - right in the ole biopsy site! Thanks, buddy. Your heart is in the right place....

This is What I Get for Going to the Doctor. Part One

So, like the good, responsible and conscientious mother I am, I carry myself off to the eye doc, the mammogram clinic, dentist, and others on a regular basis to screen for issues, keep my vision sharp (especially the eyes in the BACK of my head, installed in the delivery room with my first child...), etc. I want to set a good example for preventative care for my girls. 

Last year, the eye doc informed me that I have cataracts. Yes, at age 46 the lenses of my eyes were beginning to cloud over. This explained the very early signs of, dare I admit, poor vision at night, and a somewhat frustrating lack of sharp focus with very expensive and carefully crafted eyeglass lenses. He did not make a whole lot of it, indicating that the cataracts need not be addressed until the following year, and that this is something that is seen in people who have had nearsightedness from a young age, progressing to a somewhat extreme prescription. My eyes are  -7.00 to -8.00 or so. Many people have worse vision than that but for me, this prescription means without vision correction I cannot really function in the world. I can't recognize faces, read anything that is not about 5" from my face, see where I'm walking, etc. Everything is blurred and muddled together, like looking through a screen of Vaseline. 

He went on to say that since my eyes have been struggling to focus for most of my life, people like me tend to get cataracts and other signs of aging eyes earlier than others, and my situation is not rare. He said everything else looked good and to return in a year, though I did need new glasses, since my prescription had changed slightly and I would benefit from trifocals. I found some trendy frames, which these days consist of LARGE heavy BLACK plastic frames that are everywhere, the nerdy, geeky style being so hip. I am certain that in the future anyone will be able to identify this decade by these nerdy styles - everyone wears them, from youngsters to grandmothers. I got "progressive" lenses so you can't see the lines between each section of the lens.

(Aside:  I recall back in the mid 1990s I found some frames that were ridiculously SMALL and oval, and I just adored them. They had a Ben Franklin type appeal to me in shape, though they were green plastic. I got quite a few odd looks, and it took a while to get used to them since the area I looked through was relatively small  -willing to sacrifice peripheral vision for fashion, I am - Next thing you know, small frames were all the rage, and that carried through to about 5 years ago.) 

Well, I returned today, a year later, and he said it was about time to remove these pesky cataracts, which is exciting to me because that means replacing the lens, and they put in an artificial lens that corrects your vision, so you don't need glasses after surgery, other than reading glasses. This notion is almost impossible to imagine. Unless I sleep in contact lenses when I awaken every morning I am blind as can be, and sometimes I tease myself with the horror of some sort of middle of the night emergency that will require me rushing from the house without glasses, and being completely dependent upon others to lead me around until replacements could be made. Waking up, taking a shower, swimming, water sports, etc. without needing glasses is a miraculous notion, especially since in the recent past my eyes have been too dry to tolerate contacts.

The doctor then got serious, which is not his usual manner, and he said that I have some issues that make cataract surgery a much higher risk. There is something going on with my retina on the left, and I have bilateral calcifications and other bumps in the road of the macula. The right eye macula looks okay but the left was thinned and had irregular areas, and apparently I am at risk of a detached retina. Neato! 

He instructed me to avoid any activity that might cause a bump to the head (!), and if I get into a car accident he wanted me to come see him promptly to be evaluated. In general, I tend to avoid striking my head, but he ran through a list of activities that I ought to skip, including roller coaster rides, ziplining, bungee jumping, hang gliding, contact sports, etc. With the exception of bungee jumping and hang gliding, and maybe contact sports, this will put a damper on my preferred activities! No more roller coaster rides? DEW WHUT? 

As for surgery, there are some very real risks of loss of vision from cataract surgery that are not present for most people who get cataract surgery, like the elderly. He said I need to weigh the risks versus the benefits, and make a decision that way, and if I decide to have cataract surgery I would need to sign a consent, indicating I understood the risks. Yikes, doc, this sounds serious. He said I may prefer to simply not drive at night and go on like I have been. He also said I may be compelled to proceed so I would not need glasses anymore, and take the risk of something bad happening to my vision, which "might happen anyway." *Sigh*

Ok, I need to think on these things a bit. All of the sudden I went from a simple nearsighted woman to someone on the brink of blindness? Huh? When did this happen? I am somewhat inclined to put off any cataract surgery at this point, and I will probably seek a second opinion. Once, that is, my wildly dilated pupils no longer make me look like those kids in Children of the Corn.