Finally Feeling Cancer Free

 

• July 21st, Breast Cancer Diagnosis.
• Surgery 1. August 31st, Double Mastectomy.
• Surgery 2. December 14th, Died Flap Breast Reconstruction.
• Surgery 3. March 21st, Total Hysterectomy and Breast Revisions.

That’s three surgeries with six weeks each of recovery. That’s like four months of recovery and healing!

I still have some breast revisions (just touch ups), but they will be minor and they will be outpatient. These revisions are no surprise as they were expected as a part of the DIEP flap breast reconstruction process. It’s a complicated breast reconstruction, but I knew that going into it. These revisions will not require me to take any time off work, other than maybe a day or two, but taking 6 weeks off after a surgery is now OVER! 

I had my last big surgery on Wednesday, March 21st, and came home the following day. My daughter Tess came in from Dallas for a week to help Mike take care of mom. She helped me shower as soon as we came home from the hospital. Having my 26 year old daughter help me shower became a tender moment I hadn’t anticipated. She was so careful, so cautious, so tentative. For her to see my body right now with so many scars and fresh incisions, was a moment where I felt weak and we reversed roles as mother/daughter. There have been a lot of tears between the two of us over the last 8 months.

When I got in bed that night, I had this wonderfully overwhelming feeling that I was finally free of cancer worries. I was technically cancer free after my tumor was removed in August with my mastectomy, but that night last week was the first night that I was finally feeling cancer free.

I made a lot of big decisions after being diagnosed. The diagnosis scared the crap of me. I wanted to learn all that I could about my particular breast cancer (who knew there were so many different types of breast cancer!) and I wanted to know everything that I could do to reduce the risk of any reoccurrence.

Double Mastectomy

With a history of breast cancer on both sides of my family. I decided to have the double mastectomy. My breast surgeon confirmed that was the best thing that I could have done when she called five days after surgery to tell me that the pathology report showed precancerous cells of a different type of breast cancer in the other breast. I would have likely dealt with a breast cancer diagnosis in my future. I had gone with my gut, and I was glad that I did. I decided to keep going with my gut.

DIEP Flap Reconstruction

I knew that I did not want implants. I was not fond of the idea of a foreign object in my body, and I had heard that women that had mastectomies, then had implants, had several complications that included infection and rejection. Although there are many women that chose this route with zero complications, more than anything, I just didn’t want implants in my body and I didn’t want to have to worry about replacing implants 10-15 years down the road, or ever. Once I learned about the DIEP Flap Reconstruction, I knew that was the route that I would take. A 8-10 hour microsurgery with a 6-10 week recovery time, revisions to follow. New breast made out of my body’s own tissue. That was what I wanted. I was ready.

Hysterectomy

Because I had an estrogen positive cancer, I asked my oncologist if removing my ovaries was recommended since ovaries produce estrogen. I was reading about women who had estrogen positive breast cancer and were having hysterectomies and he had not mentioned it. His recommendation was to take Tamoxifen every day for five years, a common recommendation for breast cancer patients who are premenopausal. 

After doing some reading, I discovered that Tamoxifen had several unappealing side effects, one of them being the risk of Uterine Cancer. What?

If I was going to take Tamoxifen (which I have hesitantly agreed to take), I wanted my uterus removed along with my ovaries.

I called my GYN to get her opinion and she was on board for a total hysterectomy.

After discovering through my Diet Flap support group that I could have Phase 2 of my breast reconstruction and a hysterectomy at the same time, I decided to look into that. I found out that my plastic surgeon and a group of GYN’s do work together to schedule this for patients.

When I called the KU Cancer Center to inquire, I was asked if I would like a regular GYN or an oncology GYN. Oh! I was not aware that there was such a thing as an Oncology GYN! Yes, I would like to talk to an Oncology GYN!

It sure would have been nice if my oncologist would have let me know that and asked me if I would like to talk to one of them to ease my worries or perhaps discuss the possibility of a hysterectomy with one of them.

Long story short, I met with Dr Jewel. I loved her. She was 100% supportive of me having a total hysterectomy, and she told me that she works regularly with my plastic surgeon to schedule these surgeries together so the patients can have one less surgery date and be under anesthesia one less time.

I’m in the process of asking for a new Oncologist.

Although it has been a really long eight months, I have no regrets in the decisions that I have made. I’m almost at the end of this. 

Iliac Aneurysm

Between surgery number two and three, it was discovered in a CT scan that I had to have for my diet flap surgery, that I had an iliac aneurysm. This is in my pelvic area. After having an ultra sound, it was determined that the aneurysm was not at risk for rupturing at this time due to it’s size. My vascular surgeon (I have one of those now) is recommending monitoring it every six months. I’m still not crazy about the idea that I’m walking around with an aneurysm, but he said that it is more of a risk to fix it than it is to monitor it. I’ve decided that I just have to put this in the back of my mind, otherwise I will go crazy. The really good things are that I do not have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, my weight is healthy and I stay active. The doc says that if those things remain unchanged, this aneurysm may never present a problem. (I still don’t like it.)

Other Than A Lack of Sleep, I feel Great

I’m feeling extremely fortunate that I have had three major surgeries with zero complications. With each surgery, recovery has been much easier than I had anticipated. Some of that may be the fact that although I consider myself to be an optimistic person, I did mentally prepare myself for a worst case scenario, just in case.

I have a lot of discomfort with different areas of my breast and tummy feeling very tight and lots of intermittent sharp pains, but that is to be expected for a few months. It’s uncomfortable, but not painful.

My mood is good and one of the most difficult parts of recovery is feeling well enough to do something, but knowing that resting is the best thing to do.

I’m still trying to figure out how to get a good nights sleep, but that’s about the only struggle I seem to be having. Each surgery has required several weeks of sleeping on my back only (9 weeks with the mastectomy, 5 weeks with the Diep Flap, still on my back with this revision surgery), and that has caused me to constantly wake up and try to readjust in bed without actually readjusting at all.

It’s a small price to pay to be Cancer Free.

A very dear and sweet friend of mine is not cancer free. She is fighting lung cancer and she is fighting it hard and doing all that she can do. I ask you to please send good vibes her way, pray for her, think good thoughts, whatever you feel inclined to do. I really want her to be cancer free with me.

“love the life you live, live the life you love”