Category Archives: breast reconstruction

breast cancer, breast reconstruction, mastectomy

Stage 2 Reconstruction and Recovery (the next day).

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During the preparation for my Stage two breast reconstructive surgery (removal of tissue expanders and addition of silicone implants), I was asked a lot of questions about my health. I admitted I felt I wasn’t as healthy as I was when I went in for my double mastectomy 4 months earlier. The double mastectomy had knocked my socks off…and not in a good way.  I was foggy for weeks after the surgery, I lost my vocabulary and had mild (but worrying) short term memory.  The worst thing was my sleep pattern, I went from 7 and a half hours to 3 hours sleep a night.  If I took some natural sleep aids like magnesium calm, 5-HTP or Ashwaganda I could squeak out 4 and a half hours.  If I went to bed at 8 pm I could sometimes get over 5 hours before 6 am.  Lack of sleep is sucky, everything was an effort, I’d crash at 3 pm. I spent 4 months desperately looking for a solution. Melatonin or Ambien didn’t do anything to help.

Continue reading Stage 2 Reconstruction and Recovery (the next day). →

breast cancer, breast reconstruction, mastectomy

Remember, Remember the 16th of November!

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My second surgery is scheduled for Monday November 16, 2015, it’s called Stage 2.  I am ready!!!!  So far no one has told me how many stages there are.

On November Friday the 13th I had blood taken, an EKG, I peed in a cup and talked to 3 different people about my allergies, my family history and how I felt.

Two weeks ago I stopped drinking alcohol, green tea, stopped taking all supplements including natural sleep aid and tried to eat healthy balanced meals. “Healthy” to me means something different than conventional medicine, but I don’t care,  I will viciously defend my Paleo, non-processed food diet.  The night be for surgery I must stop all food and fluid by midnight. I check-in to the hospital at 9am for an 11am surgery. A snow storm is predicted, so I have to hope that the Hubs and I can get to the hospital, and the doctors and nurses have 4-wheel drive transportation too!

Continue reading Remember, Remember the 16th of November! →

breast cancer, breast reconstruction, DCIS, mastectomy

6 week follow-up – October 8, 2015

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Today I had a follow up meeting with the Plastic Surgeon and I almost left in tears. It was my first since August 27. My understanding was they would take photos and discuss surgery. The conversation was a little strained.

They took photos and then I waited for the doctor. He looked at the photos and talked about removing the hard tissue expanders and what he may have to do; a little bit of alloderm here, an little bit of fat or liposuction there to balance things up. He then started talking about size. I really don’t want to be bigger or smaller than I was, but answering his questions was difficult. Continue reading 6 week follow-up – October 8, 2015 →

breast cancer, breast reconstruction, Cancer, DCIS, mastectomy

A letter to my mother

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October 7, 2015

Happy Birthday Mum!

It’s been 19 years since you died from breast cancer.  I wish you had been around this year when I was diagnosed with breast cancer too.  There have many days I wish I could have called you, but instead I just looked up to the sky and talked.  I’m sure you would have reacted the same way as your son did, when his big sister told him she had been diagnosed with the same thing that killed his mother.

Somehow I always thought I’d get a similar call from pathology, so when that day came, I had a well digested plan. Thanks to you and your experiences, I made a plan 20 years ago. This year I executed the plan to have a double mastectomy. Surprisingly it wasn’t very difficult to look at the surgeon and say “I want a double mastectomy.” It also wasn’t very traumatic to go through the procedure; I was happy to say goodbye to the girls. You’d be amazed at how good I looked after surgery, and how well the field of reconstructive surgery has progressed. May be you would have chosen the same path as me.

I’m about halfway through the reconstruction process, but I’m over the hardest part. I’d love to be able to giggle with you about being under the care of a plastic surgeon. Of all the doctors you’ll need in a lifetime, a plastic surgeon was not one I had considered. You’d probably laugh if I told you I asked him if I could get a 2 for one (mastectomy and facelift), and how he didn’t think that was funny.

You’d be happy that a month after my mastectomy the oncologist discharged me because the surgery removed all detectable traces of cancer.  I’m sure you’d also appreciate the high-five he gave me when we discussed post-surgery pathology reports that showed I had pre-cancerous cells in the other breast. And I think you would have agreed with the oncologist when he said I’d made a very good decision to go forward with a double mastectomy; even though that was something you did not want in your cancer journey.

It’s early days for me, but my prognosis is good. I miss you Mum.

Love,

Mandy

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