It's been a fast couple of weeks. The node biopsy recovery has been interesting. I healed pretty quickly and made it back to work that next Monday. As the days went on, my nerves were knitting back together and I experienced many odd sensations. Nothing like sitting at my desk and feeling like I just came back from the beach with a bad sunburn.
They've confirmed the date for my mastectomies and initial reconstruction. It'll be the first week of March. This gives me some time to get things where I want them at work and get the house in order a bit (those who know me, should have just chuckled a little at that last part).
I've been blown away with the out-pouring of support from friends and family and even complete strangers. So many of the survivors I've been in contact with have been so open with their own stories and experiences. They make themselves accessible by phone or email at any time of the day and give tremendous amounts of support and encouragement. What a great resource and asset for me and I hope to be able to return the favor at some point down the road.
Now, about that housework....
Monday, January 28, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Now, just waiting...
Well, it looks like it's time to practice patience for a while. We met with the second plastic surgeon on Monday and then had the follow-up with the breast surgeon (he is the one that will do the mastectomies). I don't think the surgery will happen until late February, early March. Hopefully everything will get scheduled in the next couple of days.
I've decided to go with the less complicated reconstruction surgery. The technique that uses harvested and redirected latissimus dorsi (back) muscle results in a loss of strength in my back. It was difficult conveying to one of the plastic surgeons how important it is for me to be able to drive fence posts, pick up feed sacks and pull back my 50 lb compound bow (remember, I recently committed to becoming a deer slayer). If I'm always going to be reminded of my health challenge in the front, I'd rather not be reminded about it in the back. The reconstruction surgery decision is a personal one and every patient has to weigh the factors to each option. Throughout this process it has been interesting how much of an emphasis has been put on aesthetics. We spent A LOT of time in the office looking at pictures of topless women and how the two techniques differ. I mean, I want the girls to look good, but my breasts have never been a physical feature with which I've led. I want to be satisfied with the end result, but I've never thought to myself, "man, my knockers are awesome and I don't know what I'd ever do without them,"....never. I know, shocking.
Overall, I feel really good about the team of doctors and nurses we have and can't say enough about the community/family/friend support we have received. I am so thankful for the network of cancer survivors that have made themselves available to my incessant questioning and concerns. What a great basket of resources we have here in Northwest Arkansas.
So, now I just wait and work towards getting prepared for the big surgery and and all the smaller procedures that will follow. I need to work on my flexibility and core strength. After the node biopsy, I realized how easily everything becomes soft and atrophied laying in bed. I also find myself defaulting to a hunched position to avoid stretching out my incisions. All that being said, I should be exercising more. And, boy am I excited about that.....
A couple of funny observances over the last couple of weeks:
- Being freaked out by an unknown cultural trend when I decided to look up "implants" on Pinterest. Beware. You've been warned.
- How many women now tell me about their augmented breasts. Thank you ladies for sharing and I'm glad you are enjoying them!
- I've probably said and heard "areola" more in the last couple of weeks than I have the last 34 years.
- Having to decide whether or not I want photos of my breasts to be published on my surgeon's website, in-office scrapbook, in print ads or in television ads. Watch the billboard at the corner of I540 and Wagon Wheel....sneak peek coming soon! Seriously...no.
Thanks to all for the support!
I've decided to go with the less complicated reconstruction surgery. The technique that uses harvested and redirected latissimus dorsi (back) muscle results in a loss of strength in my back. It was difficult conveying to one of the plastic surgeons how important it is for me to be able to drive fence posts, pick up feed sacks and pull back my 50 lb compound bow (remember, I recently committed to becoming a deer slayer). If I'm always going to be reminded of my health challenge in the front, I'd rather not be reminded about it in the back. The reconstruction surgery decision is a personal one and every patient has to weigh the factors to each option. Throughout this process it has been interesting how much of an emphasis has been put on aesthetics. We spent A LOT of time in the office looking at pictures of topless women and how the two techniques differ. I mean, I want the girls to look good, but my breasts have never been a physical feature with which I've led. I want to be satisfied with the end result, but I've never thought to myself, "man, my knockers are awesome and I don't know what I'd ever do without them,"....never. I know, shocking.
Overall, I feel really good about the team of doctors and nurses we have and can't say enough about the community/family/friend support we have received. I am so thankful for the network of cancer survivors that have made themselves available to my incessant questioning and concerns. What a great basket of resources we have here in Northwest Arkansas.
So, now I just wait and work towards getting prepared for the big surgery and and all the smaller procedures that will follow. I need to work on my flexibility and core strength. After the node biopsy, I realized how easily everything becomes soft and atrophied laying in bed. I also find myself defaulting to a hunched position to avoid stretching out my incisions. All that being said, I should be exercising more. And, boy am I excited about that.....
A couple of funny observances over the last couple of weeks:
- Being freaked out by an unknown cultural trend when I decided to look up "implants" on Pinterest. Beware. You've been warned.
- How many women now tell me about their augmented breasts. Thank you ladies for sharing and I'm glad you are enjoying them!
- I've probably said and heard "areola" more in the last couple of weeks than I have the last 34 years.
- Having to decide whether or not I want photos of my breasts to be published on my surgeon's website, in-office scrapbook, in print ads or in television ads. Watch the billboard at the corner of I540 and Wagon Wheel....sneak peek coming soon! Seriously...no.
Thanks to all for the support!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Saturday Morning Call
Yeah! Dr. Cross called this morning and the node biopsy came back clean! That is good news because it confirms that surgery should take care of everything and there shouldn't be any follow-up treatments.
Next step: meeting with the second plastic surgeon and follow-up with Dr. Cross to get everything scheduled and get this ball rollin'!
Thanks to everyone that was thinking about me.
Next step: meeting with the second plastic surgeon and follow-up with Dr. Cross to get everything scheduled and get this ball rollin'!
Thanks to everyone that was thinking about me.
The Start
I have always known that a run-around with breast cancer was a possibility. My mother was diagnosed at age 35 and my maternal grandmother and maternal aunt also passed away from breast cancer. I started the process at age 19 with my first breast needle biopsy and then started my aggressive screening regimen in 2003. I was actually one of the test patients when the Breast Center purchased their breast MRI machine. Since 2004, I've been a frequent patron of the Breast Center, visiting every six months, switching between MRIs and digital mammograms.
At the end of November 2012, when I was in for my routine MRI, Dr. Pope saw something suspicious and I had a follow-up ultra sound on the spot in question. This was par for the course for my case. Given my family history, the doctors never took anything for granted and over the years I had various follow-up tests. Dr. Pope felt strongly that what we were looking at was a benign pamplona, but given my history, he couldn't be sure. I had the needle biopsy a couple of days later and then headed out of town for my daughter's fourth birthday. Dr. Pope called first thing Monday morning to give me the diagnosis of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. And so, the journey began.
Ductal Carcinoma In Situ is a very good good diagnosis. Basically I have what looks like a small blob of jelly (cancer) in one of the larger ducts on the right side. At this point, it does not look like it has spread outside of the duct or is in the other breast or in any other tissue. This is very good news. This means my cancer is graded a stage 0 and the prognosis is great.
This week I had a sentinel node biopsy to rule out the cancer being in more tissue than first expected. I have not received the results yet and should have those by Monday. The node biopsy was interesting as I've never been put under general anesthesia. I felt really bad for the sweet nurse that had to give me the IV. Given that it's winter, my legs were a little hairier than other seasons. I didn't think the nurses would be anywhere close to my legs given that all the action was supposed to be happening up in my armpits (where the sentinel lymph nodes are). I was wrong, the IV needed to go in my foot. Joy for the nurse.
The surgery went well and Dr. Cross and his staff were very efficient and nice and we were out of there sooner than we expected. I now have two pretty gnarly incisions at the bottom of my armpits about two inches long. They prepared me for excruciating pain and said that most women think the node biopsy is worse than the mastectomy. The most uncomfortable part has been the injection sites from the radioactive material. Let me back up. To begin the node biopsy, you go to the Breast Center where they inject radioactive material around your areola. The nurse then waves you down with a Geiger counter to make sure that none of the radioactive material got on any of your clothes or personal effects. You are then instructed to massage your breasts for the next couple of hours before the surgery. Nothing like standing in the magazine section of Target massaging your breasts and just daring someone to ask you something about it.
What's next?
We are still planning on the bi-lateral mastectomy with reconstruction. We are meeting with two different plastic surgeons to get their opinions about the type of reconstruction I should have. Right now, it's looking like I will just have the surgery where they insert an expander at the time of the mastectomy and gradually stretch things out for a few months and then replace the expander with an implant. There are more complicated surgeries that use tissue and muscle from other parts of your body, but I'm not interested in something so involved. I'm also not interested in anything that decreases my strength...you know, I have a lot of deer to slay with my new compound bow!
At this point it doesn't look like I will need any treatments after the initial surgery. My main focus will be recovering from the surgery and getting back to my normal activities. I did submit for the BRCA genetic test and came back positive for BRCA II. This means that I will need to think about my ovarian health after the breast issue is taken care of. Women that are BRCA II positive have a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer and there are not any good screenings for ovarian cancer at this point.
More than likely in a year's time I'll have a new set of knockers, will have gone through early menopause and will be looking at 2013 as just a bump in the road. Thanks to everyone that has already offered such tremendous support. I feel good about the whole process and I know that there will be highs and lows, but with the support of those I love, I'll get through this.
I've got my tall boots and big-girl panties on for this new challenge!
At the end of November 2012, when I was in for my routine MRI, Dr. Pope saw something suspicious and I had a follow-up ultra sound on the spot in question. This was par for the course for my case. Given my family history, the doctors never took anything for granted and over the years I had various follow-up tests. Dr. Pope felt strongly that what we were looking at was a benign pamplona, but given my history, he couldn't be sure. I had the needle biopsy a couple of days later and then headed out of town for my daughter's fourth birthday. Dr. Pope called first thing Monday morning to give me the diagnosis of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. And so, the journey began.
Ductal Carcinoma In Situ is a very good good diagnosis. Basically I have what looks like a small blob of jelly (cancer) in one of the larger ducts on the right side. At this point, it does not look like it has spread outside of the duct or is in the other breast or in any other tissue. This is very good news. This means my cancer is graded a stage 0 and the prognosis is great.
This week I had a sentinel node biopsy to rule out the cancer being in more tissue than first expected. I have not received the results yet and should have those by Monday. The node biopsy was interesting as I've never been put under general anesthesia. I felt really bad for the sweet nurse that had to give me the IV. Given that it's winter, my legs were a little hairier than other seasons. I didn't think the nurses would be anywhere close to my legs given that all the action was supposed to be happening up in my armpits (where the sentinel lymph nodes are). I was wrong, the IV needed to go in my foot. Joy for the nurse.
The surgery went well and Dr. Cross and his staff were very efficient and nice and we were out of there sooner than we expected. I now have two pretty gnarly incisions at the bottom of my armpits about two inches long. They prepared me for excruciating pain and said that most women think the node biopsy is worse than the mastectomy. The most uncomfortable part has been the injection sites from the radioactive material. Let me back up. To begin the node biopsy, you go to the Breast Center where they inject radioactive material around your areola. The nurse then waves you down with a Geiger counter to make sure that none of the radioactive material got on any of your clothes or personal effects. You are then instructed to massage your breasts for the next couple of hours before the surgery. Nothing like standing in the magazine section of Target massaging your breasts and just daring someone to ask you something about it.
What's next?
We are still planning on the bi-lateral mastectomy with reconstruction. We are meeting with two different plastic surgeons to get their opinions about the type of reconstruction I should have. Right now, it's looking like I will just have the surgery where they insert an expander at the time of the mastectomy and gradually stretch things out for a few months and then replace the expander with an implant. There are more complicated surgeries that use tissue and muscle from other parts of your body, but I'm not interested in something so involved. I'm also not interested in anything that decreases my strength...you know, I have a lot of deer to slay with my new compound bow!
At this point it doesn't look like I will need any treatments after the initial surgery. My main focus will be recovering from the surgery and getting back to my normal activities. I did submit for the BRCA genetic test and came back positive for BRCA II. This means that I will need to think about my ovarian health after the breast issue is taken care of. Women that are BRCA II positive have a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer and there are not any good screenings for ovarian cancer at this point.
More than likely in a year's time I'll have a new set of knockers, will have gone through early menopause and will be looking at 2013 as just a bump in the road. Thanks to everyone that has already offered such tremendous support. I feel good about the whole process and I know that there will be highs and lows, but with the support of those I love, I'll get through this.
I've got my tall boots and big-girl panties on for this new challenge!
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