A Muffin Top

I am proposing a third definition of "muffin top". The first is the real thing - a muffin in which the top spills over the cupcake cup.

The second is also sometimes referred to as love handles - the part of your stomach and sides that hangs out over your pants when you gain weight.

The third is what my wound care nurse and I saw yesterday in my armpit.

Yes, the growth in my armpit is starting to look a bit like a muffin top.

About 11 days ago, I started putting turmeric spice on my dressings so that the growth/wound always has the spice (which has anti-cancerous properties) on it.

I also had a Herceptin treatment.

Now, remember that I have tended to think that the immunotherapy (t-cell therapy) and the Herceptin is effective against the cancer in my body. I also said once or twice that I sometimes imagine that my body is pushing the cancer out of my body, through the wound in my armpit.

Who knows, really, if the turmeric is working in the wound - although it hasn't grown as much in the last week as the previous two (was it the Herceptin, too?). But since I started using it and since the Herceptin treatment last week, the growth is starting to pull away from the skin in a few spots. In other words, the growth appears to be the muffin top that is spilling over, creating a bit of a crevice underneath it. In other words, there is space between the growth and my skin underneath it a couple of places.

My wound care nurse, L., was a bit excited. She said she's used to seeing the cancerous tissue create a bit of mountain, with the slopes of the mountain going down to the skin.

I think, in other words, that my body is starting to squeeze the growth out of my body. Imagine taking a muffin and squeezing the muffin cup (i.e., the bottom part) and having the muffin squish out the top. By cutting off the growth about my skin level, it's making it easier for the surgeon to cut out the growth.

I'm going to start visualizing that every day before surgery: my body pushing out the cancer so the surgeon can get to it and get rid of it. I'm imagining that there's good tissue underneath it.

I go to Portland tomorrow to see the plastic surgeon and to do labs. I'll know more about how long I'll be in the hospital and what to expect afterwards.

Countdown - 15.5 days and 33 dressing changes.