Living with Cancer, more on what the journey was like 3 years ago. Reconstructive Surgery: I thought that the benefit to having cancer, the bright side, would be the reconstruction. After all, I was a little girl to begin with. It would be nice to have SOMETHING! Be careful for what you wish for! My initial mastectomy also involved the first stage of reconstruction. My plastic surgeon placed tissue expanders under my skin and muscle to stretch the area to allow a pocket to be made to later hold implants. Well, those expanders hurt! They were like deflated playground kick balls under my skin. They poked out in every weird direction and rubbed under my skin, causing pain. No fun. Once I was healed enough, they began filling them with saline a little at a time to stretch my skin. I would be sore for days after an expansion. The expanders have a metal disk in them that the PA would place a magnet over to detect where exactly to place the needle to inject the saline. The needle used would about make you pass out. It was huge! About 50 ccs of fluid were injected each week until I reached 600 ccs. Considering that I had little tissue to start with (remember, tiny girl), I didnt have much to expand. The goal was to get through radiation and wait another 6 months for my body to heal and then place the silicone implants in the pockets. Good plan, except that I cant seem to heal and am prone to infections. My incisions were always a problem. Lots of complications with incisions popping back open and fighting infections. I was on antibiotics for a very long time. Finally, after a year, my implants were in, but one wouldnt stay. Just a short time later, I fought an infection that landed me in the hospital for days on IV antibiotics. Not long after, my incision popped open so much that I could see my implant. Boom, in the hospital having it removed. Cant expose the pocket or the implant. So, then I had one implant and absolutely nothing on the left side. I was concave and very deformed. I could feel my chest wall under my skin. I had to stay that way for 6 more months! I ended up getting a prosthesis that inserted into my bra to make me feel more comfortable. With my clothes on you really couldnt tell. It was hard and very emotional for me to lose my breast again. That dumb incision popped open again and had to be surgically closed AGAIN, and this time there wasnt even anything under the skin. Radiation really does a work on the skin. Mine just wouldnt be the same. After the 6 months, I got my new expander, but this time, I didnt have enough tissue to expand. I had to borrow from my back. They took tissue and muscle from my back and, leaving it connected to the blood supply, tunneled it around to the front and created healthy skin to form a new breast. It was the most painful surgery yet. The incision on my back was enormous and I had a football shaped breast on the front. Thats a lot of incision inches! It was successful and I was able to expand the new tissue and get a new implant. I now have a football shaped scar on one breast and a straight line scar on the other. Not beautiful. Oh, and no, I wont be doing the nipple reconstruction. Im done. 8 surgeries to fix and repair and fix again, but Id do it all over again. I had the most wonderful PAs and Dr. Edney, my plastic surgeon, was amazing. He wanted me better as much as I did. How did I get through all of that? The Lord! How do people get through it without him? He encouraged me in his word to persevere, and taught me that trials are intended to grow my faith and dependence on Him. Do you know someone you can encourage fighting this battle. Love them! Serve them! They are going through real trials! (I apologize for the graphic nature of some of these pictures, but this is the reality of cancer).
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 03:40:10 +0000
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