The left breast of a woman who’s been set up for radiation. (Not to put too fine a point on it, mine.) It’s blue because that’s the color sharpie marker the radiologist and her helpers use to mark up your breast so they can figure out where to direct the radiation. It’s white because, well, that’s what I am. Read all over? A stunning number of people (all women, all medical professionals) spent a stunning amount of time yesterday studying the markings and talking about them.

The whole time I was lying flat on my back with my left arm over my head, thinking maybe it would all go better if I could just sleep.

Oh, one other thing. Around the holidays, the preferred jewelry of fifty percent of the nurses I ran into turned out to be made out of Christmas lights. Earrings. Necklaces. Some lit up. Some not. You notice stuff like that when you’re flat on your back.

And I also want to mention that I now have four very small tattoos on my left breast. That they’re there to guide the radiologist amuses me. It’s never occurred to me to get a tattoo, but I’d have said if I did it would be voluntary and something a little more interesting than a dot.

The setup appointment was sandwiched between two research appointments. I like doing these studies. There are a lot of them going on at UCSF and they all aim to make life better for breast cancer patients. It gives me a lot of pleasure to think that I’m part of something like that, even if all I have to do is have my blood drawn or my arms measured.

And now, a little breather until next week, when things begin in earnest.