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Mary_Ellen's avatar
Mary_Ellen
Member
10 years ago

Stretch

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed with breast cancer the end of March 2015. I had a lumpectomy early April. While doing that they found some precancerous activity in that breast, so they have decided to do a mastectomy hopefully in November. In the meantime I have been having chemo since April and just finished nearly 3 weeks ago. (Man, I would wish that upon anybody!!!) I will be having Hersepton for the next 8 or 9 more months. Apparently I will be put on hormone therapy as the cancer was driven by estrogens and progesterone.

My main questions at the moment are about reconstruction.. I'm booked into Royal North Shore in November. I'm not doing the trans flap. Because of the recovery time and I have a 11 and 9 year old boy and 7 year old girl. I like the idea of losing fat but not in that way. I heard of a lady in Melbourne who had liposuction done on tops of legs. Does anyone now if this done in Sydney too???

cheers Mary Ellen

 

2 Replies

  • Jane221's avatar
    Jane221
    Member
    10 years ago

    Hi Mary Ellen,

    There's a lot to consider when thinking about reconstruction, so Lisa's suggestion to join the Breast Reconstruction group is a good one as there are lots of stories from women who have had various forms of reconstruction posted on there. You would be very welcome to join us (just click on the group icon on the right hand side of this page and request to join) and to have a look through the blog posts and images to get a good idea of what to expect. It is really important that you understand all your options for reconstruction, as each procedure will impact on you in different ways, so checking out the Reclaim Your Curves website is also a great suggestion as there is a lot of information available. 

    Lipofilling or fat grafting, where fat is taken from another part of the body (such as the belly, hips, thighs etc), treated and injected into the new breast is used by lots of surgeons to correct minor dents or create a bit more volume (and I had this done as corrective surgery after my DIEP Flap reconstruction), but building a whole breast this way is not yet offered by many surgeons in Australia as this technique is still being refined. It is certainly worth talking to your plastic surgeon about the options available for you, and possibly getting a couple of different opinions to help you feel confident about your choice. Best wishes, Jane xx

  • LisaS's avatar
    LisaS
    Member
    10 years ago

    Have you joined the breast reconstruction group? Your cancer surgeon should be able to recommend plastic surgeons they work with who do TUG flaps. 

    Reclaim your curves is another useful website.