So, I finally got around to getting a breast prosthesis... I am not sure why I waited... the knit one was fine, but not the right size and not filling out the bra the right way, and well, not heavy enough to not creep up my chest.
I didn't do it for so long, because it was embarrassing and daunting and well.... I was a chicken... plus I figured I was gonna get the reconstruction....
I also ordered 3 bras - that fit. I mean, they were professionally fitted... I'm a 38 GG - crazy
the breast form and two of the bras are mostly covered by insurance... but I got the third one tax free, which was nice.
I didn't get to take any of them home today, two are getting a pocket sewn in by alterations, and the sports bra was not quite the right size. I should have them in a week.
I have to thank my friend Sabine, who knew that I would drag my feet about it, I made her call the place and ask my questions and make an appointment... just as I had decided to wait until monday... she texted and offered to make an appointment for today. Then she called me at the time I should be leaving the house to get to the appointment, and talked to me on the phone for the whole trip.
And people wonder why I would even consider being a bum in a yurt on her land.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
ok... a lot has happened.
I will try to catch you up on my life... a lot has happened in the past three weeks, and I really needed to update a little more frequently. Especially when my life is so action packed.
There will be a few pictures, some of them will mean nothing to you, but oh well....
we had a sign from Pi day back in March... I did not make it up! next day to celebrate, July 22, its European Pi day... :-)
the next photo is Lisa's second knitting project - it will be a pillow... For some reason I did not take pictures of Jeanette's projects. Bad Teacher!
the next photo is Lisa's second knitting project - it will be a pillow... For some reason I did not take pictures of Jeanette's projects. Bad Teacher!
Here is my friends Peter, and Lauren after the Labor March.
On April 4th there was a Labor March, on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, which happened after he spoke at a rally for sanitation workers and their right to collective bargaining. All the area theatres posted signs supporting the unions, and we walked around the Seattle Center theatres, ending at the labor temple for the monthly meeting.... Lauren, Peter and I did not go to the meeting, we went to dinner.
A sock I am knitting, I am not in love with it, and it might be too big for me... so, it might take me a while.
The beginning of a hat for my niece Kimmy, I finished it, and it looks quite nice, but the photo is still on my phone. And the hat is still in my room.
I had a little baby shower for Jeanette and for Kandra -
Jeanette was the master stage carpenter of the Intiman, due June 8th (a boy) Kandra is the wife of the Technical Director at the Intiman, she is due May 30th (a girl)
I took the head of the duck home... My roommate ate it.So, more in depth.... So, All My Sons was a joy to work, everyone was fantastic and sweet, there was a lot of knitting, and it was good.
On Thursday, April 14th, I threw a little joint baby shower for Jeanette and Kandra, and it was super fun, exhausting, because it was between a student matinee, and an evening show. Now I can say I have set up the candy bar in the diaper game. So, I can die happy.
On Saturday, before the first show started, we were told there would be a meeting after the show in the house, and no more information was given, so, we made stuff up, and wondered, until during the second act, Dennis got a text from Nadia - saying she had heard we were closing, and five minutes after that it was all over the Facebook, and the internet.
After the show we met in the house, and got the news confirmed. The board had met that morning and decided they did not have the cash to move forward with the rest of the season, and were in fact unsure if they had the money to give us two weeks notice or severance. But they thought they would... We were told that All My Sons would finish its run (two more shows) and we should strike the show as planned on Sunday night, but those of us who were scheduled to work on monday should not come in, but that there would be an All Staff Meeting on Tuesday with more information. It was our understanding that the rest of the build crew would be in to close things down. We were also told that the hope was they could fund raise enough to start next season debt free and in a good place. With that we went to dinner.
We did the second show of the day, a little bit stunned, angry and sad, and there was an impromptu couple of drinks in the green room after the show. There was relief sometimes too, its been a rough year and a half... and the problems are a long time coming. I have been doing theatre, and getting paid for it for a while now, and while I knew there was a board of directors, and I would have vaguely known they were rich people who volunteer to govern a theatre, and that there was a fundraising element. But that they had so much power that by sticking their heads in the sand and not paying attention, they could destroy a theatre.... at the moment I think there was a level of passiveness that is inexcusable.
(side note, when the build crew did come in as planned on Monday, they were told to gather their stuff, that they shouldn't have come in, there was some doubt as to whether they would get paid for their time for that day - so, they went home angry)
Every day of the last week new information would surface, and all questions would be met with poorly thought out answers, to me, it seemed clear they should have thought about it a little bit better, even to think lets put everything on hold until the all staff meeting, but again they made decisions while in some sort of passive panic.... I heard a rumor that the managing director they brought in to help them before they made their closure decision was a bit annoyed with them... she is very politic so, I'll never get confirmation of that... but....
So, on Tuesday, there was an All Staff Meeting, I could not go, since, I had an appointment with a man about a booby... while I was in the waiting room for that, I was in text contact with Jeanette, she said they were going to give two weeks of severance, and later a vacation pay payout, and staff was to finish up and be out by thursday, but if there was no plan in place to finish something, then we couldn't do it... I also heard we had until the 1st of May to get our stuff out. After the information was given to us, the meeting got emotional.
and a tiny diversion to the Booby news. so, it was hard to find all the info I needed on the internet for this, so, I didn't really know much about the TRAM flap procedure... its probably different every where they do it.
But anyway, so... I am 90% sure I am not going to get it now, so, the description may seem overly negative but the TRAM flap takes fat and skin from the lower abdomin and makes a breast with it, the upper abdomin fat remains where it is. It is an eight hour operation and requires a 3 day hospital stay, (to make sure the tissue does not die). If the tissue does die off, its semi life threatening, which is why they kept reassuring me that if it were going to happen it would happen before I left the hospital. Plus if the tissue dies, well that was your one chance, but it doesn't happen very often, 10% of the time maybe.
The recovery, after your 3 days in the hospital, the first 8 weeks you are not allowed to lift more than 8 pounds, and the following 4 weeks you are on light duty, they were unclear as to whether I would not feel like it, or if they were only telling me so I could self police....
So aside from all that, 3 months off work, eek.... I could probably get temporary disability, for that time, and there are safe guards put in place by my local and health care to not lose my health insurance if I can't work... but still....
Then I think about the body issues... yes now I am down a boob, but to be fat above the belly button, and not below, I will feel freakish.... you can try to lose some weight before, but not too much, or they can't make a boob, and um, there is no such thing as spot reducing, plus you are not allowed to exercise after the surgery, probably for the whole 3 months.... Did I mention the drains.... more drains, in for longer.
The bonus, he could save the tattoo.
Whats next with this? well, I am going to go to the breast reconstruction support group on the third Tuesday of May, meanwhile, I need to go to the nordstrom prosthetic breast folks, not that I am unsatisfied with my knitted booby, its just that I think the bra situation is not working for me, my back hurts all the time, and I think it might be fixable by a better bra... if they can't help me, I will talk to my friend Tonya about making me something... she is a spandex wizard....
okay... so back to the work thing.... On Friday there was a bbq at a coworkers house, where we found out the locks had been changed. Fun.
I still have two bags of stuff there, so, I have talked to the assistant production manager about getting that stuff Monday, and there is another staff party next Thursday.
I have gotten very pessimistic about the future of Intiman, I would love to have my job back if that works out, but maybe not.... maybe I will raise sheep and goats and vegetables at my friends house in Carmel Valley, its my fall back plan.
Please leave comments....
On Thursday, April 14th, I threw a little joint baby shower for Jeanette and Kandra, and it was super fun, exhausting, because it was between a student matinee, and an evening show. Now I can say I have set up the candy bar in the diaper game. So, I can die happy.
On Saturday, before the first show started, we were told there would be a meeting after the show in the house, and no more information was given, so, we made stuff up, and wondered, until during the second act, Dennis got a text from Nadia - saying she had heard we were closing, and five minutes after that it was all over the Facebook, and the internet.
After the show we met in the house, and got the news confirmed. The board had met that morning and decided they did not have the cash to move forward with the rest of the season, and were in fact unsure if they had the money to give us two weeks notice or severance. But they thought they would... We were told that All My Sons would finish its run (two more shows) and we should strike the show as planned on Sunday night, but those of us who were scheduled to work on monday should not come in, but that there would be an All Staff Meeting on Tuesday with more information. It was our understanding that the rest of the build crew would be in to close things down. We were also told that the hope was they could fund raise enough to start next season debt free and in a good place. With that we went to dinner.
We did the second show of the day, a little bit stunned, angry and sad, and there was an impromptu couple of drinks in the green room after the show. There was relief sometimes too, its been a rough year and a half... and the problems are a long time coming. I have been doing theatre, and getting paid for it for a while now, and while I knew there was a board of directors, and I would have vaguely known they were rich people who volunteer to govern a theatre, and that there was a fundraising element. But that they had so much power that by sticking their heads in the sand and not paying attention, they could destroy a theatre.... at the moment I think there was a level of passiveness that is inexcusable.
(side note, when the build crew did come in as planned on Monday, they were told to gather their stuff, that they shouldn't have come in, there was some doubt as to whether they would get paid for their time for that day - so, they went home angry)
Every day of the last week new information would surface, and all questions would be met with poorly thought out answers, to me, it seemed clear they should have thought about it a little bit better, even to think lets put everything on hold until the all staff meeting, but again they made decisions while in some sort of passive panic.... I heard a rumor that the managing director they brought in to help them before they made their closure decision was a bit annoyed with them... she is very politic so, I'll never get confirmation of that... but....
So, on Tuesday, there was an All Staff Meeting, I could not go, since, I had an appointment with a man about a booby... while I was in the waiting room for that, I was in text contact with Jeanette, she said they were going to give two weeks of severance, and later a vacation pay payout, and staff was to finish up and be out by thursday, but if there was no plan in place to finish something, then we couldn't do it... I also heard we had until the 1st of May to get our stuff out. After the information was given to us, the meeting got emotional.
and a tiny diversion to the Booby news. so, it was hard to find all the info I needed on the internet for this, so, I didn't really know much about the TRAM flap procedure... its probably different every where they do it.
But anyway, so... I am 90% sure I am not going to get it now, so, the description may seem overly negative but the TRAM flap takes fat and skin from the lower abdomin and makes a breast with it, the upper abdomin fat remains where it is. It is an eight hour operation and requires a 3 day hospital stay, (to make sure the tissue does not die). If the tissue does die off, its semi life threatening, which is why they kept reassuring me that if it were going to happen it would happen before I left the hospital. Plus if the tissue dies, well that was your one chance, but it doesn't happen very often, 10% of the time maybe.
The recovery, after your 3 days in the hospital, the first 8 weeks you are not allowed to lift more than 8 pounds, and the following 4 weeks you are on light duty, they were unclear as to whether I would not feel like it, or if they were only telling me so I could self police....
So aside from all that, 3 months off work, eek.... I could probably get temporary disability, for that time, and there are safe guards put in place by my local and health care to not lose my health insurance if I can't work... but still....
Then I think about the body issues... yes now I am down a boob, but to be fat above the belly button, and not below, I will feel freakish.... you can try to lose some weight before, but not too much, or they can't make a boob, and um, there is no such thing as spot reducing, plus you are not allowed to exercise after the surgery, probably for the whole 3 months.... Did I mention the drains.... more drains, in for longer.
The bonus, he could save the tattoo.
Whats next with this? well, I am going to go to the breast reconstruction support group on the third Tuesday of May, meanwhile, I need to go to the nordstrom prosthetic breast folks, not that I am unsatisfied with my knitted booby, its just that I think the bra situation is not working for me, my back hurts all the time, and I think it might be fixable by a better bra... if they can't help me, I will talk to my friend Tonya about making me something... she is a spandex wizard....
okay... so back to the work thing.... On Friday there was a bbq at a coworkers house, where we found out the locks had been changed. Fun.
I still have two bags of stuff there, so, I have talked to the assistant production manager about getting that stuff Monday, and there is another staff party next Thursday.
I have gotten very pessimistic about the future of Intiman, I would love to have my job back if that works out, but maybe not.... maybe I will raise sheep and goats and vegetables at my friends house in Carmel Valley, its my fall back plan.
Please leave comments....
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Outrage!
The Trojan Horse is not in the Illiad! The story ends right before that, with the funeral of Hector.
This is almost like the time I listened to a radio play of Our Town, and Emily only dreamed she was dead.
This is almost like the time I listened to a radio play of Our Town, and Emily only dreamed she was dead.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Whoops, I missed April Fools Day!
I know, I know, once a month is not enough for the updating...
so... er... I will try to do better?!?
so, I got caught out on not telling my uncle about the "cancer" and I feel both guilty about it, and defiant...
The play I am working on right now, is very good, and EVERYONE is super nice and awesome.
and there are some very nice reviews out there. Nothing at my fingertips at the moment, so, you can google it yourself. All My Sons - Intiman.
So, the Intiman has been in some trouble, I may have mentioned, a recap would be, for at least two years we have been producing beyond our means, possibly longer, but we were better able to beg for money before... then we got a new artistic director and a new managing director and the economy went to crap... So, last year some people got fired, and this year, we thought we would have to close our doors, since I think all last year was financed by credit, or failure to pay. Anyway, at the beginning of the season we put out a plea, saying we needed a million dollars before the end of the season, with goals through out the year... and we mostly made our first goal... which was 500,000 by the 31st of March... we made 450,000 so, we will keep going till we get to our next fund raising goal of 250,000 by the end of June. Rumor has it we are applying for a grant from the Gates Foundation, though we are not really what they like to give money to, (education, and world health)... But ultimately, we will have to make more economical productions.
Lets see, I recently finished reading Stiff by Mary Roach, its about what people have done with dead bodies, cadaver research, organ donation, crash test dummies, making parts into teaching aids with plastic. It is my second Mary Roach book, I like her a bunch, and I am looking forward to her newest Packing For Mars. I am also at the very end of The Illiad on Audiobook, its pretty good, its the new translation by Robert Fagles, read by Derek Jacobi, I had to watch Troy again. So this leads me to my next quandry... I have Packing for Mars on audio book, and I have a paper copy of the Odyssey, so, what should be my next book? or something different? Fiction or Non-fiction?
Reading the Illiad, and watching Troy lead me to a new time waster on the Intertubes.... Listverse. it all started because Orlando Bloom is such a bad actor, and they have a list of bad actors, and he is in it, then which just leads to more lists.... its crazy, almost better than wikipedia.... I spent some time there too. Looking up various characters, I had no idea that almost all of the ancient greek writers had a different version of the Fall of Troy, and because of wikipedia, I do not have to read them all... to sound like a know it all. yay.
which leaves me to the knitting update...
I am trying to knit on unfinished projects every week, to maybe actually finish things. last week was my green Jane sweater, and I have almost finished both sleeves, so, progress, and this week I have to finish my other bear hug baby sweater. Of course, I also am starting two new projects soon, a pair of socks knit along, starting Tuesday, and a hat idea is percolating in my head for my niece Kimmy, I have some thrift store yarn, that I am making it with... and before anyone makes a comment in their heart about that, its silk and cashmere, and I have 4 colors of it, but not enough of anyone color so... stripes.
This update will have to keep you, I seem to be bad if I promise...
so... er... I will try to do better?!?
so, I got caught out on not telling my uncle about the "cancer" and I feel both guilty about it, and defiant...
The play I am working on right now, is very good, and EVERYONE is super nice and awesome.
and there are some very nice reviews out there. Nothing at my fingertips at the moment, so, you can google it yourself. All My Sons - Intiman.
So, the Intiman has been in some trouble, I may have mentioned, a recap would be, for at least two years we have been producing beyond our means, possibly longer, but we were better able to beg for money before... then we got a new artistic director and a new managing director and the economy went to crap... So, last year some people got fired, and this year, we thought we would have to close our doors, since I think all last year was financed by credit, or failure to pay. Anyway, at the beginning of the season we put out a plea, saying we needed a million dollars before the end of the season, with goals through out the year... and we mostly made our first goal... which was 500,000 by the 31st of March... we made 450,000 so, we will keep going till we get to our next fund raising goal of 250,000 by the end of June. Rumor has it we are applying for a grant from the Gates Foundation, though we are not really what they like to give money to, (education, and world health)... But ultimately, we will have to make more economical productions.
Lets see, I recently finished reading Stiff by Mary Roach, its about what people have done with dead bodies, cadaver research, organ donation, crash test dummies, making parts into teaching aids with plastic. It is my second Mary Roach book, I like her a bunch, and I am looking forward to her newest Packing For Mars. I am also at the very end of The Illiad on Audiobook, its pretty good, its the new translation by Robert Fagles, read by Derek Jacobi, I had to watch Troy again. So this leads me to my next quandry... I have Packing for Mars on audio book, and I have a paper copy of the Odyssey, so, what should be my next book? or something different? Fiction or Non-fiction?
Reading the Illiad, and watching Troy lead me to a new time waster on the Intertubes.... Listverse. it all started because Orlando Bloom is such a bad actor, and they have a list of bad actors, and he is in it, then which just leads to more lists.... its crazy, almost better than wikipedia.... I spent some time there too. Looking up various characters, I had no idea that almost all of the ancient greek writers had a different version of the Fall of Troy, and because of wikipedia, I do not have to read them all... to sound like a know it all. yay.
which leaves me to the knitting update...
I am trying to knit on unfinished projects every week, to maybe actually finish things. last week was my green Jane sweater, and I have almost finished both sleeves, so, progress, and this week I have to finish my other bear hug baby sweater. Of course, I also am starting two new projects soon, a pair of socks knit along, starting Tuesday, and a hat idea is percolating in my head for my niece Kimmy, I have some thrift store yarn, that I am making it with... and before anyone makes a comment in their heart about that, its silk and cashmere, and I have 4 colors of it, but not enough of anyone color so... stripes.
This update will have to keep you, I seem to be bad if I promise...
Saturday, April 2, 2011
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