When I was diagnosed on October 6th of 2006, there was no question that I was going to have a to have a mastectomy on my right side. I also had to have all my lymph nodes removed on that side - 3 of the 20 were cancerous. It's sad that I found this when my baby was 6 months old. It's great that having a baby made my breasts a size E. They contained a lot of mess. The tumor itself was 5 centimeters of invasive ductal carcinoma (cancer, cancer). Surrounding that was 10 centimeters of Ductal carcinoma In-Situ (pre-cancer). I was stage 3A at diagnosis. NOT GOOD. After chemo, I knew that I'd be doing radiation, so reconstruction wasn't going to happen until, at least, 6 months after that. Radiation kills EVERYTHING. Your skin and muscle are forever atrophied. So, it makes recon a huge process.
There are several ways to go about reconstruction after mastectomy and radiation. Some women are able to move tissue from their tummies or asses up to their chest. The great thing is that you get a make-over and insurance has to pay ... again, Cancer has some perks. As for me, I didn't have enough fat in those areas to move. So, women like me end up having to do what's called a Lat-Flap. A plastic surgeon, essentially, removes portions of your back tissue and lat muscle and tunnels it around your side. They, then, attach the muscle to your chest muscle and graft the skin onto the mastectomy site. This is done because the chest needs to be expanded. Radiation renders your site so tight that there is no way it could be expanded (in preparation for implants) unless there is extra skin.
I, also, decided to remove the other breast ... the "unaffected" side. I'm happy to rid my life of "real" breasts. I don't want breast tissue or anything resembling it in my body.
I'm not a person that has extra funds. I knew that I'd need to take time off of work. So, I decided to do all my surgeries at one time. Thus, I had my general surgeon - a hot little number (and brilliant surgeon) named Christine Lee do the prophylactic mastectomy. She did my original surgery and she's amazing. My plastic surgeon, Wandra Miles, then took over and performed the lat-flap surgery. She implanted the "expanders" on both sides in preparation for the implant exchange. That will happen in October, I think.
The expanders are there for 5 months. I go to my plastic surgeon's office to get them injected with saline weekly, for 10 weeks. Then, they sit for 3 months so my skin and muscle settles and gets use to them. In October, they will be removed and replaced with implants.
Funny thing is, I will have no nipples. So, I'll have "Barbie boobs" until the skin heals and the implants settle.
After 3 months time, the surgeon will do what's called a "twist and stitch" procedure. She clips tissue in the middle of the breast and pinches/twists and stitches it together to create a nipple. After that heals, they will tattoo the aureola on.
The whole process takes around 12 months ... maybe 15. I'm scarred, but that will fade.
I've had friends say, "You're like the bride of Frankenstein." Or, I've heard, "You look like a quilt!" All of these just slay me! It's so funny. I love to see the looks on people's faces when they ask to see my "canvas." That's what I've been calling it. This is progressive and there is no way to tell whether or not the hard work will pass or fail. I don't know if all this hard work will pay off or if it will atrophy or scar up or get incapsulated. I am a work in progress. But, cancer aside, aren't we all?
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