breast reconstruction

Year 2, Month 5 and 5 days: Storm clouds and rainbows

Year 2, Month 5 and 5 days: Storm clouds and rainbows

So, it is that time again.  Time for annual testing. My blood work always tells me I am healthy, my CT always points to the interesting lumps and bumps of life that I would never know about had I not required a CT in the first place and of course… the hands on exams.  Every girls least favorite.

This time we felt a lump.  I suppose it has been there since the last surgery.  So off to get an ultrasound I go.  Results state ” 1.4 x 2.7 x 0.4 cm Continue reading →

Year 1, Month 6, Day 21: Cautiously Optimistic

keep-calm-and-remain-cautiously-optimisticYear 1, Month 6, Day 21: Cautiously Optimistic

Typing post-op and while on pain meds… so please forgive any glaring typos or grammatical mistakes.  Talked with my surgeon just before surgery about the adhesion again. She same up with a plan to insert a piece of Alloderm in that area to pad it and also create space between the skin and muscle.  Alloderm is a regenerative tissue matrix made from cadaver skin. It is also used in the nipple reconstruction.  I did not get the lasers I requested, but still ended up with an element of FrankenBoobs.

As they prepped me in OR, they asked me Continue reading →

Year 1 Day 39: Life is pretty funny if you allow yourself to laugh…

Year 1 Day 39: Life is pretty funny if you allow yourself to laugh…

Busy doctor day today.  Naturopath, Plastic Surgeon, LME/LMP.

I started my day at my naturopath’s office.  She is a great provider that I had started seeing in early 2014 when I could not lose weight. Seriously.  Don’t give me the “it’s a simple mathematic equation of calories in and calories burned.” I hit my frustration point back in summer of 2013 when I did back to back P90X to the letter and followed their fat burning diet and in 6 months lost 8 pounds. EIGHT.  Oh and when I came back from India sicker than sick, unable to eat, I gained 4 pounds in six weeks.  And just in case you think I make this stuff up, this past weekend, I did a two day cleansing fast and an 11 mile hike.  The result?  I gained 1.5 lbs… but I digress.

At my last appointment with my medical oncologist and my naturopathic oncologist, I was lamenting my weight gain.  I have a handy scale that syncs with an iPhone app (thanks again Sparky!) and I was able to show them the actual data.  What the heck, I will show you too. Weight Gain Continue reading →

Day 303: Post-op 1 and a little reality…

Sally​Post-op 1 and a little reality…

Well, good news is that my incisions are healing quickly and the bruising is rapidly dispersing. Most of the sutures came out and now I’m just taping myself back together in a few spots.

Although we aren’t at the end of the road, we are on the downhill side and what I am looking at is my new reality. I’ll be honest, a large part of me wishes I’d have left well enough alone and just adjusted to the mastectomy scars.

For all those (mostly guy friends – but a few ladies too) who have images of surgically enhanced breasts from the magazines and movies, Continue reading →

Day 296: Good news, bad news, the night nurse…

Day 296: Good news, bad news, the night nurse…

Ferry BoatWell, I guess I will start with the night nurse.  Let’s just say I couldn’t wait for shift change in the morning.  So, something new this time was incredible itching from the narcotics… or the generic hibiclense that was made by Clorox (seemed like a bad idea when I picked it up from the pharmacy)… no matter what the cause, I was itching like crazy and this started about the time of shift change.  The IV Benadryl seemed to take care of it pretty quickly but I knew Continue reading →

Day 295: What a difference a day makes….

Day 295: What a difference a day makes….

Difference a Day MakesWell, part two of reconstruction took place.  Mom, sis, brother-in-law and I took off for the hospital around 4:15 am, traffic in the Puget Sound should not have been bad that time of day, but it was raining… I know, that should not matter here, but if you live here, you know it does.

We got there in plenty of time (10 minutes) and whose idea was it to have the hangry patient drive anyway?  Checked in, went through the Continue reading →

Day 174: Finish line just ahead…

2015 August 4 Post Op ExpansionDay 174: Finish line just ahead…

I get the question of size a lot.  I don’t mind it really.  I mean, I have been very open about this process the whole way through and well, I was… shall we say… “voluptuous” at the start at a double D.  Surprisingly though, there is actually a limit to the size I can go, unlike augmentation, and that size is 800 cc.  I was told today that this means, I will never be the size I was.  I am not sure how I feel about that.  Partly because at this point it is hard to picture what 800 cc will look like.

So after the additional 60 cc today, I am at about Continue reading →

Day 149: What is that strange sensation?

Neck-Spasm-4Day 149: What is that strange sensation?

So my plastic surgeon is 2 hours away from home.  So I have not been taking the prescription meds prior to or immediately after my appointments, for obvious reasons, being that I am driving myself and all.  In fact, I have learned that when I take a Flexeril and an Oxycodone my vision is blurry for about an hour and a half… if I am awake that long.  Being that I have months of this, and work and all, I really need to figure out how to make this work.

I am finding muscles that I did not know I had… since the Continue reading →

Day 139: Sutures out… saline in… Happy Birthday?

Day 139: Sutures out… saline in… Happy Birthday?2015 June 30 Post Op Expansion

Wow… I am amazed at how quickly I heal.  Or how quickly the human body heals.  Life continues to go on around the craziness of treatments and reality of the diagnosis.  I turned 45 between these two post-op appointments.

Today was my second post-op and not only did I have my sutures removed, but I also received my first expansion.  Odd sensation without a doubt.  I swear I heard the saline entering the expander.  The doctor laughed and assured me that I would be having Continue reading →