All posts by MRC_Admin

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

x
breast cancer, breast reconstruction, mastectomy

The Waiting Game – September 2015

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Life isn’t normal when you have tissue expanders, they are hard and uncomfortable.  They hurt when you bump into them, sharp pains happen at any time.  The skin is thin and some areas hurt more than others.  I’m not totally obsessed, but they remind me they’re there several times a day.  If I had a surgery date I would be crossing the days off the calendar.

Insomnia!

I went to see my Primary Care Provider (PCP) recently because I haven’t been able to sleep since my “brain damaging” surgery in July. She listened while she typed notes on her laptop. I told her I had tried the Ambien (I was given to help after the July surgery), Melatonin and Valerian, and none had helped me sleep.  I tried Tylenol PM and some other OTS sleep aids and nothing phases me, I get 4 hours and change in sleep a night. One thing that can add another 30 minutes to my meager 4 hours is 5-HTP.  I still spend 8 to 9 hours in bed, I still try deep breathing, wake up between 1 am and 4 am, and toss and turn most of the night, but 5-HTP manages to squeak a few more minutes of sleep out of me.  Ashwaganda makes me groggy, which is a wonderful long lost familiar feeling, and when I take it twice a day, I can sometimes get 5 hours of sleep.  The difference between 4 hours and 15 minutes and 5 hours and 10 minutes is amazing, I can just about function normally.

Continue reading The Waiting Game – September 2015 →

breast cancer, breast reconstruction, DCIS, mastectomy, Stage 0

Tissue Expander Fills – August 2015

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Wednesday July 29, 7:30 am  – Dr Capraro’s Office

First 100 mls with Chris and 2 Valium

I was told to have someone drive me to my first fill so I had scheduled the fill as early as possible so Chris could take me.

The night before I had under 4 hours of sleep, but I still took 2 Valium, it made me dopey enough to not care too much. I was told they would probably start with 50 ml in each one, so I was prepared for that. When I arrived the nurse said “Ready for 100ml?”
“Er, I thought you start with 50 ml.”
“It’s whatever you can cope with.”
So we started and she kept asking if I was okay, by the time I asked what volume we were up to she was at 70 ml. So I ended up with 100 ml in each boob. Continue reading Tissue Expander Fills – August 2015 →