Tina Is Back, Biatches
🌼 Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2026
⚡ Energy: Insomnia-fueled rage cleaning
💗 Status: Hydrated, compressed, freshly colored
🥰 Outlook: PC Tina energy with a 2026 upgrade
Tina is back, biatches.
Hydrated, compressed, freshly colored, and cleaning carpets to Five Finger Death Punch like a middle-aged phoenix with a carpet cleaner.
Yes, that sentence deserved its own moment.
The insomnia is starting to creep its way back into my life, even though it is clearly not welcome here.
I think last night I managed about four hours of sleep.
Four.
Hours.
Which is rude.
Add to that the fact that I am waiting on some rather important news, and today I woke up full of a weird kind of rage energy.
Not productive calm energy.
Not “let’s light a candle and journal our feelings” energy.
No.
This was more like, “Someone hand me a vacuum before I start chewing through drywall” energy.
So what does Tiny Tina do when she feels like that?
She puts on her compression sleeve like a good girl.
She drinks her water.
She takes breaks.
And then she cleans.
Not a normal, cute kind of clean.
Not a “wipe the counters and fluff the pillows” clean.
We are talking vacuum everything that did not have a piece of furniture sitting on top of it.
Then pick up every throw rug and toss those bad boys in the washer.
While each rug was getting its turn to become fresh and clean, I deep cleaned the carpets I could not pick up.
Because apparently when I cannot control the waiting, I will control the carpet.
And now?
All of the stains have been lifted.
Well, at least from the carpets.
Maybe not from my life.
I am still waiting on my important news, and as we all know, I do not have patience when it comes to waiting.
I am not a patient patient.
Never have been.
Never claimed to be.
So, instead of sitting around staring at my phone and mentally willing it to ring, I decided to bring back the sassy and snarky Tina.
The Tina with attitude.
The Tina who existed PC.
Pre-cancer Tina.
And how does one summon PC Tina?
Apparently, with hair color and scissors.
I cut and colored my hair.
And there she is.
My chemo curls are still hanging on strong on the top, and honestly, I think they are kind of cute.
They have a little chaos.
A little personality.
A little “I survived chemo and now I do what I want” energy.
Which feels appropriate.
It is funny how something as simple as changing your hair can change your outlook.
It changes the way you feel about yourself.
The way you look at yourself.
The way you carry yourself.
Maybe even a tiny part of your personality.
One minute you are a tired cancer patient with insomnia and a carpet cleaner.
The next minute you look in the mirror and think:
“Oh. There she is.”
This may have been the missing piece.
Not the whole puzzle, obviously.
I am still rebuilding.
I am still healing.
I am still dealing with neuropathy, lymphedema, fatigue, hormone nonsense, medical appointments, reconstruction delays, and the ongoing emotional circus that is life after breast cancer.
But today, something clicked.
Today felt like a tiny reclamation.
A little bit of me came back.
A little bit of PC Tina walked into the room, looked around at the clean carpets, the freshly colored hair, and the compression sleeve, and said:
“Well, damn. We are still in here.”
Now, if I could just figure out a way to get my energy, strength, and stamina back at the same speed as my attitude, that would be fantastic.
I know.
I know.
Keep walking on the treadmill.
Keep lifting the two-pound weights.
Keep taking breaks.
Keep drinking water.
Keep wearing the sleeve.
Keep doing the boring, responsible, slow-and-steady things that actually work.
But have you met me?
Slow and steady is not really my jam.
I want full energy.
Full strength.
Full stamina.
Full Tina.
Immediately.
Preferably yesterday.
Unfortunately, cancer recovery does not care about my preferred timeline.
Cancer recovery is rude like that.
So for now, I will take the win.
The carpets are clean.
The rugs are washed.
The stains are lifted.
The hair is back.
The sass has returned.
The sleeve was worn.
The hydration happened.
The breaks were taken.
And Tiny Tina did not go feral in the waiting process.
Mostly.
Today may not have brought the news I am waiting for.
But it did bring me a glimpse of myself.
And I will take that.
Tina is back, biatches.
Maybe not at full battery yet.
Maybe still running on four hours of sleep, protein, rage energy, and questionable patience.
But back enough to clean carpets to Five Finger Death Punch and cut her hair like she is entering her comeback era.
And honestly?
That feels like a pretty badass start.
Want to follow the journey from the beginning?
Visit Tiny Tina – Status: Alive (Daily Check-Ins) to see the full timeline of posts.
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💗 Tina –
One Badass Day at a Time
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