Over the 1st hurdle !
Well I spent yesterday under the care of a wonderful team @ Maroondah Hospital , they work like clockwork !! Repeating my name , date of birth & address a million times during the day ,almost muddling it up by the end of the day ! Flashing my boob to many blokes who seem to need to draw on it , stick needles in it ,take pictures of it , dye it blue ,& draw more arrows on it ! Then finally slice & dice it ! All done ! Wide local excision & sentinel node biopsy (3) Feeling sore & tired but on the whole not too bad, nurse just visited at home & confirmed all was well . Now for a long wait for the results !!! Many thanks for all the well wishes & hugs ,I really appreciate them.:) <3 :* 1st step over on this shitty climb !!
I'm Baaaack!!!
WARNING: This post contains an image that may be triggering to some members - BCNA Hi there all you folks who have been asking after me and who have sent messages. Well...that was fun!!!. Nineteen days in the slammer. a week of which was in ICU. The aneurysm was safely clipped and after a bit of drama with my BP and maintaining the balance between the risk of a brain bleed, versus another pulmonary embolism, I am finally home. A bit buggered and bruised, as you can see, but at least I'm back to my beloved knitting, and with babies galore, all baking in various family members' tummies, I'd better get a crack on. Onwards and upwards...
Eyelashes and surgery
It's such a stupid little thing but I am so cross with my surgical team. Somewhere on breast surgeon Liz O'Riordan's blog she wrote that having breast cancer taught her the importance of how much the little things can mean to a patient. Such as now when she operates on women going through/having just gone through chemotherapy, rather than applying tape directly to the eyes, she makes sure there's a bit of gauze under the tape. This protects the eyelashes from being ripped out when the tape comes off, baby eyelashes or ones bravely hanging on. This was not done for me and I'm really annoyed. I had managed to hang onto most of my eyelashes through chemo. They had thinned a little but were doing better than my eyebrows. When I was finally able to hobble to a mirror I was appalled to see that almost every single lash on the bottom left lid had gone, and that half of the lashes on the top right lid had disappeared. Now I'm not especially vain, don't always put on make up, and wear glasses. But ffs! After all the ugly indignities that BC puts you through, the scars you're left with, the ongoing side effects of long treatments, is it SO bloody hard to take the time and effort to think about and eliminate one thing for the patient?? One little thing that can affect our fragile self-esteem, sense of personal pride, privacy about our health? The thing that keeps grit out of our eyes? One less thing to remind us of CANCER everytime we look in the mirror??? How long will I have to wait before my eyelashes grow back?? What's a little thing about your treatment you'd change? I am mightily pissed off.
Is reconstruction right for me -
I am very new to all of this and the site. I had a diagnosis in May. Surgery within 3 weeks and then straight into chemo in June. I was told by my surgeon because my margin surgery was still not 100% that following chemo, there would be a mastectomy of my right breast. And that included a reconstruction and reduction of left breast. Well, it's moved so fast that now I've finished chemo 3 weeks ago and met the surgeon and plastic surgeon but 2 weeks out I don't know that I can face a reconstruction. I'm older, not super fit, exhausted by chemo and just not sure I can cope with reconstruction surgery. I haven't concentrated on this during chemo as I couldn't do the thinking - I know I should have. I just accepted it because that's what I was told was happening. I'm really not certain I could cope with a reconstruction. I'm struggling but thinking at this stage I'll opt for a mastectomy but really concerned of having a large remaining heavy breast on my left side. Actually, I really don't know what to do.
Lumps
Ah, the joy of little lumps! The one removed last week turns out be a seborrheic keratosis. Important words are benign and harmless. I am getting a collection, two neurofibromas (one removed along with my breast just in case it was a skin cancer) and a schwannoma, still in situ as it’s as harmless as the rest but no-one really wants to dig in the nerves of my other armpit! Daughter still leading this little competition with a dermoid cyst - complete with blonde hair and teeth bits! Any more tales of the benign but odd?It pays to get a second opinion
My male surgeon recommended a mastectomy and that I should consider a double mastectomy and DIEP as the fat they don’t use gets thrown into the bin! He was not open to looking at other options. However he did refer me to his colleague a plastic surgeon and my out of pocket expenses would be $10k-$20! I found an amazing female surgeon and had surgery 3 weeks ago. She performed another wide excision and mammoplasty. Dr Eva Nagy North Shore Private has done a fantastic job. My pathology came back as cancer free too. So not only do I still have both my breasts I have my $20k as well. So very happy. I had an all female crew and they were upbeat, positive and professional. I received exceptional care. These woman are gifted and amazing Just putting out there ladies that there are options for us
