HOW THIS ALL CAME ABOUT
Now: Why am I here blogging and why I think you may have stumbled into my life. My biography, short version, as I said I am a 65, soon to be 66 year old woman with stage 4 cancer. 
This is my third rodeo, in 2004 I found a lump, after having a mammogram, just three weeks prior that showed me clean. I had two lumpectomies, margins were not clean, so I had a mastectomy on my right breast and with it a deep flap, which is a reconstruction of a breast out of the fat from my stomach, which I will tell you I did not have much of, and two arteries from the same region and had me made a living, breathing breast. I was on the operating table for 15 hours and under anesthesia for 16 hours. Two more operations regarding the reconstruction and a year from hell. I do not know if I would have a deep flap again. Only good thing out of the operation is that I had a tummy tuck, which I still say I did not need. I was in intensive care for 6 days, they actually used Doppler radar on me. They used the radar to see if the new arteries were fully attached and pumping blood to know that the breast was going to survive. When the doctor said to me I can stay in the hospital for another few of days and run the risk of infection or go home, I chose to go home. Who wouldn’t have?
I had two lumpectomies, margins were not clean, so I had a mastectomy on my right breast and with it a deep flap, which is a reconstruction of a breast out of the fat from my stomach, which I will tell you I did not have much of, and two arteries from the same region and had me made a living, breathing breast. I was on the operating table for 15 hours and under anesthesia for 16 hours. Two more operations regarding the reconstruction and a year from hell. I do not know if I would have a deep flap again. Only good thing out of the operation is that I had a tummy tuck, which I still say I did not need. I was in intensive care for 6 days, they actually used Doppler radar on me. They used the radar to see if the new arteries were fully attached and pumping blood to know that the breast was going to survive. When the doctor said to me I can stay in the hospital for another few of days and run the risk of infection or go home, I chose to go home. Who wouldn’t have?
When I was finally being wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair, I looked around at the world, saw a cirrus cloud pass over me, heard sounds of people and children talking and laughing, heard a horn honk, saw life out of a hospital bed for the first time, it felt like forever, and waited for my husband to pick me up to go home to my two young children, my family, I realized one thing at that moment and it became my mantra; I am not going to worry about when I will die, but live my life until I die.
NOTE: BOSOM BUDDIES There is a group that I must tell you about that is wonderful. They are called Bosom Buddies. Because there is so much breast cancer they are able to match you up with a person who has experienced the same exact type of cancer and the same exact treatment that you are going through. They come to your house and they give you information and support. They tell you what you will go through and what to expect. I highly recommend them, especially if you are going through this alone. I loved what they do and what support that they had given me. But when I was done with my operation and got on my feet I had to say goodbye. They always introduce themselves as a two year survivor, a five year survivor, a twenty year survivor, they always refer to themselves as a survivor and I cannot relate to being called a survivor. I personally cannot allow cancer to become the defining element of my life. I survived, period. I do not want to think about my cancer, until I have to. I refuse to let it invade every element of my life. But this is me. I do not fault anyone that thinks differently.
Share Us
Previous Post
Next Post