Its been about six months since I have posted anything.  Hopefully, I am back on track after a very busy 6 month period with family matters. Now that I have a little granddaughter, I get to have fun sewing cute things for her instead of the dolls. I think that one of the best parts about sewing is being able to embellish a pattern and make it personal.  You can take a pattern and a use a few tools and techniques and end up with a one of a kind outfit that you created to fit your own taste.  Here are a few tools I enjoy using to accomplish this task:

Covered buttons.  I found pretty parts of the fabric that wanted to use for the buttons.  I cut a circle and used the covered button tools to make customized buttons on the front of the dress.

Piping using a piping tool.  I think piping “outlines” your work.  It is a nice and professional finish to any neckline.  On this outfit, I used the pink dotted fabric and cut it on the bias. I love the Darr Piping Magic tool. After using your piping foot and making your piping, you can place the piping into the groove according to what seam allowance you need.  I used the quarter inch for this particular outfit.  You can also used purchased piping but you are very limited as to the colors available, so making takes a little time but is cheaper and will be made to coordinate with your project.

Plastic yo-yo  maker.  These are made by Clover and come in several sizes.  They can be purchased at your local craft or sewing store, and make yo-yo making a lot easier and more uniform than the old fashioned way.  Once you start making yo-yos, you won’t ever throw away a scrap of fabric that is large enough to make one of these.  They are fun for so many things, including little girl’s hair bands, dresses, shoes, purses, etc.  They are the perfect “take along” project that you can do in the car, in a waiting room, etc.

Rick-Rack twisted together.  I have a large collection of Rick-Rack and what fun it is to take two similar sized pieces and weave or twist them together for lots of fun possibilities in embellishing just about anything.  It makes a pretty unique trim that is easy to accomplish.

The pattern as it is shown on cover:

Here’s the dress with the added embellishments of  the covered buttons down the front, the yo-yo flower, the twisted rick-rack for the stem, and the piping that is sewn around the neck and arm openings.  To stitch the rick-rack down, I used little pink seed beads to anchor the corners of the rick-rack.

This is a wonderful pattern for little girls and also includes a “petal hat”.  I covered another button and sewed it on the top of the hat where all the petal seams meet at the top.  This little outfit won’t fit my little granddaughter for several more months and I have enough scraps left that I may just get a dress made for one of my dolls so they will have matching outfits.  I will definitely have to get a picture of that.  Don’t be afraid to take a pattern and add to it so that it will be one of a kind with your own personal touches.  Here are a few more shots of “The Petal Dress”

Wired ribbon flowers are fairly easy to make and have lots of uses.  I mainly use them on hats and hairbands for my dolls but they can also be worn on jackets and pinned on lapels. I have taken pictures, step by step, as I created a pink rose. Some wired ribbon is solid in color and others have one color along one side and another along the opposite side. I chose a 1.5 inch wide wired ribbon that is pink on one side and white on the other. For this demonstration, I chose to gather the white side to the bottom so the pink side would used for the rose.

I took 60 inches of ribbon and pulled both wires out about an inch on one end and twisted them together and then rolled them up into a ball.

Since I chose to make the rose pink, on the other end of the 60 inch piece, I pulled the wire out on the white side and gathered it up as tight as I could get it.Once it was pulled tight, I pulled about an inch of wire from the pink end. I twisted this wire around the wire pulled from the white side and then cut off the excess wire. You can keep that wire for another project that might require a thin piece of wire. I usually wrap it around an empty thread spool. Take a needle and thread it with the same color thread as the bottom of your flower. I use a long piece, about 2 yards, and double it and knot the end. You will need most of this to stitch your flower together.

Decide which end you want to be the center of your rose. It doesn’t matter, just pick one.  Start coiling the gathered edge around the center. Take your needle and thread and pull it through just below the wire, through all thicknesses. Take several stitches to anchor the center, then keep turning and coiling the gathered edge (white) keeping the flower flat as the center has a tendency to try and telescope away from you. I find that holding the ribbon with my fingers curled around the outside, helps me keep the gathered edge flat with each round lying side by side with the previous round.

Once you reach the end, curl it in and take several stitches to anchor it to that last round of the wired gathered edge. Cut your remaining thread away.  Here is a picture of how the bottom of the rose should look when you have stitched all the way around, keeping the center even with the outside rounds of ribbon. You can see how I have held it in my hand to keep the pink side all bunched together.

Now the magic begins when you flip your flower over and begin peeling outward. Start with the outside layer of ribbon and work all the way to the center.  Adjust your rose until you get it like you want it. Wasn’t that fun, and easy?  The bottom of the flower can be sewn or glued to your project. You can cut a matching felt circle and glue this to the back of your rose and then attach a pin so that the flower can be removed.

It’s nice to keep a supply on hand already made up for quick use:

I generally sew my flowers to hats or hairbands. Here are some examples of flowers I have made for my dolls.

June 2011 – Making doll boots  This month I would like to share with you how I make doll boots for the Himstedt dolls.  This is the process I use and by no means is the only way to do it. My first challenge was getting a working pattern.  Drafting a pattern is somewhat of a trial and error process, at least for me.  It seems that as much as I try to measure curves and get it all mathematically correct, somehow it just doesn’t come out exactly as I want, at least the first time, sometimes even the second time! It can be helpful to take an old pair of boots apart and use them as a pattern and then alter from there.

Once you have a working pattern, you cut all the pieces out. I used a material that looks like leather on one side and the back side is flannel.  I traced my pattern onto the flannel side using a blue disappearing ink pen. The inner soles are cut from heavy cardboard from outer boxes of popcorn, cereal, etc. I love to recycle in this way. The outer soles for this boot were cut from chip board. They are very difficult to cut out because of the sturdy thick quality of chip board, but it makes a nice shoe sole. I cut the pieces out carefully for assembly.

I marked the buttonholes with the disappearing blue ink pen and made the buttonholes on my sewing machine using a leather needle to sew with and heavy duty sewing thread.

I did the top stitching around the edges and then sewed the heel part to the upper boot section.

Before sewing the right side of the boot, I marked the button holes with a silver marker.

I then sewed the left side of the boot to the right side of the boot, creating a center seam. I top stitched along each side of the center seam to hold the underside seam allowance open.

Then I sewed each button on by hand and put them through the buttonholes to make sure they were in the correct position.

With this material, I can pin the toe section to the upper boot. If you were to use real leather, the pin holes would show, so they would have to be glued down, wait until the glue dries, and then sew the toe section on.

Once the toe section is sewn on. the next step is the back boot seam. I also top stitch the material on the under neath side to flatten out the seam. I trim close to the top stitching on the under side. I cover the inner sole with white muslin and glue it down.

This is a picture of the underside of the seam after I have top stitched and then trimmed the seam allowance back to the stitching.

Then I glue the boot to the inner sole with the bad side down, muslin side up. I use lots of small wooden clothes pins to hold it in place while the glue dries.

I used Aleen’s Brush on Tacky Glue but I’m sure any brand of  glue will do. Once the glue was dry, I took off all the clothespins.

I then glued the upper sole to the bottom sole (chip board). Once it is dry, I remove the clothes pins and the boot is ready.

Painting the sole of the boot is optional.  Some I do and some I don’t. If it is going to stand out, then I paint it. On these black and white boots, I chose to paint the sole with some craft paint to match the black leather material. I then put a sealer over the paint once it dried.

Here are the boots from the front:

I am in the process of having this boot pattern produced. The pattern will be for sale on my website in the “For Sale” section. Below are three pairs that I have made in the past.

Here is a picture of Ilsa modeling the boots that were made in this demonstration. I did this as a special order for a customer who wanted an “Ann of Green Gables” type outfit with boots.

I have made foot wear for the dolls before, but they all had “soft bottoms” that were made from the same fabric that I used on the shoes and boots.  This was my first attempt at making the boots with a hard bottom made from the chip board.  I’m still learning and have drafted a three strap shoe that I am currently tweaking until I get it right.  So, more to come at a later date. Thanks for reading my blog.

Learning new things – Like hand embroidery.  No one ever taught me to embroidery. I was taught how to quilt, knit, crochet and taught myself how to smock. But embroidery looked very hard, tedious, and time consuming, as is anything done by hand.  So, I have a wonderful embroidery machine that does all my embroidery for me.

The last week of April my smocking guild, the Lone Star Smockers, got to have Gail Doane come to our area and teach embroidery. She is a world renowned embroidery expert and her work has been published in many publications such as “Australian Smocking & Embroidery”. She also has a book that I bought and looked longingly at each picture, wondering if I could ever do anything so wonderful with my hands. Here is a picture of her book, “Cute as a Button” or aka “Sew Cute Couture”

Below are pictures I took of her work that I found in my copies of Australian Smocking & Embroidery.

There are many more but these are the magazines I happened to have readily accessible. You can still buy copies of some of these magazines here:

http://www.countrybumpkin.com.au/index.php?cPath=216_50&osCsid=ghm6q7fsu9fu44rnk4ec685801

She also had a bishop dress published in this book entitled:  ”Beautiful Bishops”. This is her work on the cover:

Two days of our class were spent learning how to make 5 different flowers. Two of the flowers are made by casting on the thread instead of wrapping it around the needle, like the bullion flowers. So we learned how to make a huge beautiful bullion rose with a button in the middle, a purple flower using double cast on technique, a peachy flower made by using a blanket stitch, a blue flower using single cast on technique, and a yellow flower using the lazy daisy stitch. I realized later that I put too many stitches in my lazy daisy flower, but decided to keep it that way, at least on the bodice. Here are a couple of pictures of my completed bodice.

On the dress skirt, there are more flowers to embroider between the tucks along the bottom of the skirt.  I chose to make the dress in a size 3 so I have 17 flowers to work on to complete my dress. I have this all marked off and started by making the chain stitch for the green vines.  Here is a picture of the completed dress that Gail made and taught us to make. You can see more of her work and techniques on her website: www.gaildoane.com (called LuLu & Annie).Picture used with permission

In the class Gail taught, we received the kit containing all the items need to complete this dress. She has several kits that can be purchased and also her book, “Sew Cute Couture”. You can go to her ETSY site by following the link below:

www.etsy.com/shop/gaildoane

We also made a wrap skirt and blouse that is still under construction.  I am so happy to now have a 6 week old granddaughter (at this writing) so that I can make all these beautiful outfits for.  I learned a great way to do a new hem, a wonderful way to make collars without stretching that bias cut edge, and many embroidery stitches that I never knew about.  I plan to incorporate some of these techniques into some future doll clothes.

The one thing that I go away with, after taking Gail’s class, is that I now can’t wait to sit down and pick up my project and work on the embroidery. I have a new interest in doing all these hand stitches that I once thought impossible for me to learn. There is a certain feeling of accomplishment once you have learned how to do something that you always admired but thought beyond your capabilities. Now I can’t wait to try out some of the outfits in her book.  If you ever have the chance to take a class from Gail, I would highly recommend it. One other thing I enjoyed about taking her class was getting to see the actual dresses she made that you see in the magazines. She had a whole rack of clothing she has made with all her wonderful embroidery work. Try new things, you might just like it!

April 2011 – When I was at IDEX back in January, I roomed with a couple of ladies who know a lot about Chatty Cathy dolls. When I was about 6 or so I got a Chatty Cathy for my birthday.  Having four younger sisters, she got passed around and I have no idea what ever happened to her. About 10 years ago, I began looking on ebay at some of the old dolls I remembered in my childhood. I found an old Crissy that was a doll one of my sisters had, a Thumbelina, a Shirley Temple replica, etc. I bought these for my sisters and then tried to find me a Chatty Cathy.  To make a long story short, I ended up with four different Chatty Cathys before I stopped.  When I opened the first box, it brought back such happy memories of my childhood and being a little girl. I think that is the magic of dolls……the feelings they give you when you see them and hold them.

The four dolls I got were not in good shape, which is probably why I didn’t have too many people bidding against me. One poor Cathy lost her head! Two of them had very white limbs, compared to the head and torso.  None of them talked anymore but one still had her string.  I pulled the string and heard a bunch of garbled noises.  Julie, my friend from IDEX, gave me the name of Mike Brokaw (m.brokaw@comcast.net) who can make your old Chatty Cathy talk again. I shipped all four of them off to Mike for repair.  They are all four talking now and I thought his fee was very reasonable.

Here is a picture of the two with “white limbs”.

The one whose head fell off is the one I decided to fix up first.

After I got my dolls back from Mike, they were all talking and the “headless” one had her head back on. I decided to do something with the hair. My friend Julie told me about a trick she learned from other experts on how to set their hair, called a “boil perm”.  Her instructions were to wash the doll’s hair with Prell and then use a conditioner on it. She said to wrap the hair with the conditioner in and leave it in for several hours or overnight. You must keep her head slanted down so that no liquids will run down the doll. When ready, rinse out the conditioner and roll her hair from top to bottom with perm rods using perm papers.

Boil a teapot full of water, and lay her on her back over the sink and pour the boiling water over the perm rods being sure to saturate each curler and being cautious not to burn yourself.

Then, immediately  flush the curls with cold tap water.

Continue to leave the doll lying flat or slanted to assure no water runs down the doll’s body.  Wrap the head in a towel and let dry for several hours. Since my doll has the short hair, she suggested removing the rods immediately after the cold water or the curls might set too tight.

Here is what she looked like after I removed the curlers.

As you can see, this doll has lots of missing hair plugs so I was hoping the curled hair would make it look fuller and cover up the missing areas of hair.

As you can see, the results were gratifying. She now has a fluffy head of clean hair that I picked out while it was still a little damp.

I styled it to cover up the bare spots and then dressed her in a dress I made for her and put on a matching hair band.  Here are a few shots from several angles.

It is so nice to have “doll friends” who are so knowledgeable about fixing up an old doll.  Thanks to Mike and Julie, I have some great Chatty Cathy dolls.  I still have three heads of hair to go, but after doing the first one and getting such nice results, I can’t wait to get the others’ hair cleaned and curled.  I was very squeamish about pouring boiling hot water over my doll’s head but all turned out well!

March 2011   This month I have been working on a baby quilt for my granddaughter, Kinsley.  She is due any day now. I got these patterns from another Texas lady who makes and sells these kits and patterns. Her business is “Kreations by Karon” and her website is: www.kreationsbykaron.com.  Go check it out. She has some darling things.

I first of all smocked a Bishop styled mini-dress out of brown with white polka dots. When I had the smocking finished, I blocked it on my smocking board, but forgot to take a picture of it. Once I had it completed, I pinned it to a piece of fabric that was left over from the curtains in my granddaughter’s room. The pink curtains are tied back with ribbon that is brown with white polka dots, so that is why I chose these fabrics.

Once I had the mini smocked dress appliqued to the pink background fabric, I used my embroidery machine to stitch out “Kinsley’s Room”.

After that,  I mounted the finished product into a picture frame that is now hanging on the wall.

The quilt is getting close to being ready to piece.  I still need to complete a few more blocks. I have 4 finished and one on the smocking board at this writing.  Each dress is made from scraps of fabric that I had left over from several doll dresses that I have made in the past.  If you are a customer, you may recognize one of the fabrics from a dress I made for a doll.

Once I get all the blocks made, they will be pieced together with a pretty pink floral that I plan to use between each block. The center block will have Kinsley’s name, and date of birth that will be done with machine embroidery.  I will then baste the top piece to the batting and backside of the quilt and then be ready to hand quilt it. When I get it completely finished I will make another post to show the three baby quilts I have made:  one for each of my grandsons and one for my granddaughter. They are only keepsake quilts and not really meant to be anything but wall hangings. Hopefully, they will someday appreciate all the work and time that their grandmother spent making these keepsakes for them.

February – 2011 My Trip to Orlando for IDEX

Last month I was able to once again attend IDEX. This year I stayed in a condo with 4 other ladies and got to know each of them a little bit better. When I arrived on Friday, I was picked up by Jeanie’s husband Jim. (Thanks JIM!) He was busy driving around picking several people up.

Jim and Jeanie hosted a pizza party at their condo that night and I was able to meet several people for the first time and got reacquainted with others. It was fun to look at the dolls that some people brought with them.

On Saturday morning, I was invited to JAVA Time with the DDT Forum members and that was lots of fun. I received some nice gifts from some of the members.  How sweet and thoughtful!

Next we were admitted to the retail room. There I found Dawn Donofrio’s table. Here is a picture I took with Dawn standing behind her beautiful dolls.

Then I took several pictures of Connie Lowe’s booth

Here is Val Zietler working on a doll behind her table.

Here is a close up of one her dolls.

Then we were allowed on the showroom floor and I took pictures of Diane Keeler’s dolls, just inside the front door of the showroom.

Here are a few pictures of Kim Lasher’s dolls. I took a picture of Kim standing behind her Lollipops.

Then I took pictures of Rainier. I love this little girl and ordered her there on the spot. Here are a few of my pictures of her.

Here is the display of Alice in Wonderland by Robert Tonner. I love the whimsy of the Tweedledee and Tweedledum dolls. I ordered these two little guys.

Here are the 2011 Zawieruszynski dolls. My favorite one was, of course, the most expensive one. She is a porcelain named Celestyna. I think she is a beautiful work of art.

Last but not least, Hildegard Gunzel’s beautiful dolls for 2011:

I took lots of pictures, enjoyed talking dolls with others who are interested in that subject, and got lots of good ideas of things I would like to make for my dolls.  If you are a doll collector and ever have the chance to go to IDEX, you should go. I am amazed at the artistry of these doll designers.

Until next time….

January 2011 Lierre means Ivy in French. I just received my Ivy Lasher last month, and this month, I received my Lierre BJD created by Julie Kelly. So, now I have two Ivys. This month’s post is about Lierre and also a bit about the artist. I love supporting American doll artists such as Kim Lasher and Julie Kelly.

Julie tells me that she has been in the doll world all her life. She was a sickly kid because she had infected tonsils that didn’t come out until she was 18. For years while everyone played, she stayed in bed with her dolls and books. She had tonsilitis at least once a month and these bouts would last for up to 2 weeks.

She took some art classes and a doll restoration course and began restoring antique dolls. She then found her first Volks BJD doll on Ebay and loved her. So she bought her first Volks doll, MSD Maggie.

Julie told me that at that time, she had no mind to make a doll but was working in Sculpey clay just as a hobby and for fun making little things for the family: such as figurines and eggs with scenes carved on them.That year her family bought her 20 pounds of Sculpey Clay. She played around with it and got interested to make her own doll. She was collecting Kaye Wiggs’ dolls and thought maybe she could do this.

In the meantime, she was hand making cloth-faced dolls out of felt. She bought wool roving and blended the colors together and wet it with hot water and soap. Then she would throw it over and over until it felts and you have wool-felt fabric, a process she learned on YOUTUBE.  She made her own felt and then made doll heads out of this felt and put in eyes and painted them.

Here are some pictures of her felt dolls that she sent me.

Julie says she always knew she wanted to make dolls. Recently she talked with her dad about it. He has a kiln and she is thinking about making a porcelain BJD, similar to Enchanted Dolls but only in regular BJD mini size.

I want to wish her lots of success in her doll making endeavors.  You can read more about Julie and the story of Lierre on her website: www.jakzjewelz.com

When my package arrived, I was so impressed by the beautiful tapestry bag Lierre traveled in. She was well wrapped in a cocoon of bubble wrap.

I carefully unwrapped her and began trying on wigs.  I also ordered wigs from Julie (off her website) and couldn’t wait to see how Lierre would look in each one.  Here are some pictures:

I tried two other wigs on her from my Lasher dolls, Anya and Lotus.  Here is a shot of her wearing Anya’s wig and the last ones are my favorites. Those were taken of Lierre wearing Lotus Lasher’s black wig.

Here are pictures of my Ivy, Lillie, and Lotus Lashers.

Lierre is a 16” resin doll. I have a comparison picture of her next to my Anya Lasher.  Lierre has longer legs and her head is smaller in circumference. I tried on this “Dorothy” outfit that I made for Anya. It fits Lierre but is a little tighter as Lierre has a slightly wider torso. Lierre’s feet are larger also. I can’t wait to make Lierre a beautiful smocked silk dress with bonnet.  I already have it sketched out.

I hope you enjoyed the post for this month. In a few days I will be at IDEX in Orlando and hope to make next month’s post about what I found there. Until then, I hope you are enjoying 2011 so far.

First of all, I was not able to get a post done for November due to my computer crashing. Fortunately all my data was recovered. You never realize how dependent you are on your computer until you don’t have it. My PC contained all my email contacts, pictures, embroidery designs, and transcription software. My husband has used Apple computers probably since they were invented. Slowly but surely, I am in the process of migrating over to our old eMac computer. It is so different and I am not a computer whiz so it has been a very frustrating month for me. Enough about that boring stuff!!

If you are new to Himstedt doll collecting you may not have heard about the Farewell Himstedts. When Annette Himstedt closed her manufacturing facility in Patterborn, Germany we thought that was the end of the Himstedt dolls. But, lo and behold, 5 more were made in 2009 and sold exclusively by The Toy Shoppe. To read all about it, the August 2009 Doll Reader Magazine did an article about this with Annette Himstedt and the 5 dolls on the cover. You can buy the magazine at The Toy Shoppe.

These 5 dolls were made as a very limited edition of 43. Most of the other vinyl dolls in the recent previous years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, & 2008) were made in editions of 377, 713, and 277. So only 43 of one doll is very limited for an Annette Himstedt modern doll. The names of these 5 dolls are: Ole, Kateri, Ping Mei, Mei Mei, and Antha. Ole is the only boy doll. I called The Toy Shoppe to get on their waiting list for Kateri but never received a call. So, I figured I would never own one of these Farewell Dolls.

On the first page of my website, you can see the doll, Lizzi, who is modeling a dress I made with 4 little girl dolls on the front. Each embroidered doll represents one of the Farewell Edition girls. (Sorry Ole, I had no boy doll in the embroidery package). I call it my Farewell Tribute dress.

Last month, I was able to buy Ping Mei from a fellow collector. You can’t imagine how excited I felt to be one of 43 people in the world to own this doll, well 44 if you count the Artist Proof that was also eventually sold. Ping Mei is a fine example of the artistry and talent of Annette Himstedt. I had heard that each of the Farewell Dolls was personally signed by Annette Himstedt, and here is a picture of my Ping Mei with the signature.

Immediately, I began to want to make a wonderful smocked silk dress that would be becoming to such a beautiful doll. I wanted to make her look like a royal princess, much like the outfits that Susan Krey has on her royal dolls, such as Queen Elizabeth. I found some dark red and gold Dupioni silk and smocked gold glass beads into the bodice, hat, and purse. It was a fun creation to work on. Here are a couple of pictures of Ping Mei in the silk dress.

Ping Mei is a doll from China and I have just purchased some Chinese silk with little panda bears. I think she will look wonderful in a traditional style with Mandarin collar. I’m still working on the pattern that I want to use. She is perfect in red and shades of red. Here she is in a smocked Poinsettia dress and hat.

Both of these outfits have sold. I wish I could keep every outfit I made but I wouldn’t have the closet space. If all my dolls were dressed, I am afraid I wouldn’t be inspired to create more.

As the year draws to an end, I want to thank all of my customers who support my doll collecting habit by buying the outfits I create. As an “empty nester” my house is very full of beautiful dolls that bring me a lot of enjoyment. I wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year. Even though there are no new Himstedt dolls to look forward to in 2011, I have still managed to keep collecting the old ones. Who knows which Himstedt doll might just show up at my house in 2011.

October 2010 – This is the month that has been designated as “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”. This is a story about Nancy Goodman Brinker. You may not know who she is. President Reagan appointed her to the National Cancer Advisory Board in 1986. She served as Ambassador to Hungary from September 2007 through January 2009, appointed by President Bush. In 1968, Brinker began a business and marketing career by entering the executive training program at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas. She actually lives about 20-30 miles from my house, in the Dallas, Texas area. She is a breast cancer survivor. Why do I mention her?

Nancy had an older sister, Susan, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33 and died three years later, in 1980 at the age of 36. Nancy, who felt that Susan’s outcome might have been better if patients knew more about cancer and its treatment, and remembering a promise to her dying sister that she would find a way to speed up breast cancer research, founded the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in Susan’s memory in 1982. Nancy is currently the CEO of this effort, the largest breast cancer organization in the world. What a way to keep a promise Nancy!!

My family has been touched by this disease. My paternal grandmother had it in her late sixties but she died of heart disease many years later. My mother-in-law had it in her early fifties, and is currently alive and well at the age of 78. My mother was diagnosed at the age of 39 and died at the age of 43. This was over 30 years ago. When she was diagnosed, the cancer had already spread to 22 of 24 axillary lymph nodes. Breast cancer was not treated back then as it is now. Researchers have learned many things from protocol trials and willing participants with breast cancer.

I have done medical transcription for 30 years and most of those years I have been able to work from home. For the past 12 years, I have done transcription for a doctor in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who is a breast surgeon. She does needle biopsies in the office to find out if a lump is malignant, then goes over a patient’s options. She does lumpectomies and mastectomies, depending on the tumor and the patient. Patients choosing mastectomy with reconstruction are sometimes reconstructed, by a plastic surgeon, immediately following mastectomy while they are still under anesthesia. She works with other physicians in her group to provide radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, and chemotherapy, if needed.

Here is what I have learned from working in the medical field for 30 years: All breast cancers are not alike. There are many forms and variants and there is no “one size fits all” treatment.

1. There is a blood test that can tell you if you are genetically predisposed to develop breast cancer.

2. Only 10% of the breast cancers diagnosed come from women who are genetically predisposed. Don’t think you are not at risk just because no one in your family has had breast cancer. If you do have a positive BRCA test, you have options to decrease your chances of developing breast cancer, including drug therapy or prophylactic mastectomies with reconstruction.

3. Do not be complacent because you had your mammogram and it was normal. There is a type of breast cancer (lobular breast cancer) that does not always show up on a mammogram. If you have a lump, have it investigated even though you have a normal mammogram. An ultrasound can be done to see if this is a solid mass or just a cyst.

4. If you have redness, swelling, skin changes, or a rash on one of your breasts, one of the things it could be is inflammatory breast cancer. It is very aggressive. You must see a doctor immediately.

5. If you have a rash or change in a nipple, go see your doctor. You could have Paget’s disease, which is also malignant, though rare.

6. Not all breast cancer presents with a lump. If you have clustered calcifications on your mammogram, you could have a disease called ductal carcinoma in situ. This is a condition where malignant cells that line the milk ducts have not yet invaded the breast tissue. In this case, there is no lump you can feel. This is only microscopic disease, at this point.

7. The earlier you are diagnosed, the better your prognosis.

8. If your cancer is positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors, you have one more way to fight it…..with hormonal therapy.

9. If you have a spontaneous clear or bloody nipple discharge, you could have an intraductal papilloma. These have the potential to develop into breast cancer and should be removed.

10. If you have any doubts, concerns, questions, it is better to be overly cautious and super vigilant than to ignore something that you hope will go away.

If you are at the age for breast cancer screening (that depends on your family history) please get your annual mammogram. With my family history, I was advised to get my first mammogram at the age of 30. I have one every year when it is due. When I do the math, that means I have had 23 of them and a few have been a little uncomfortable but it only takes a few seconds to shoot each picture. If you can get digital mammograms, they are much better than film screen mammograms. Not all facilities offer digital mammograms yet.

I hope you have found this post to be helpful to you. I am not a doctor and I am not authorized to give medical advice. However, from my experiences as a medical transcriptionist and having gone through treatments with family members, I feel I can give these helpful pieces of information about breast cancer. DON’T PUT OFF GETTING YOUR MAMMOGRAMS, AND DO SELF EXAMS!!