Author: Terri

I am a patient educator and advocate for choices in breast reconstruction after a mastectomy. Statistically, many women are not being informed of their choices due to many factors. Breast reconstruction is a personal choice. Providing information and education about those choices is a patient rite. It is the mission and focus of my work to provide that education and information.

A Letter to “Life it Up 365”

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To my friends, Dana and Colleen, at Life it Up 365: I found your website, “Life it Up 365” in late July of this year. After reading it I had an idea for my own private Face Book page. I wrote a blog entitled, “Breast Cancer, Breast Reconstruction & New Challenges”. I posted it to my private Face Book page with this comment: What have you done as a result of your cancer diagnosis or finding that you are BRCA positive? Have you tried something new? Has it been fun, frightening or both? Share your story with us at the Journey in a brief comment response. I will compile your responses into another blog and share them with Dana and Colleen at Life It Up 365 in early September. I didn’t get as many responses as I thought I might but the ones I did receive from my members are Continue Reading →

DIEP flap Recovery: the First Week Home

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DIEP flap recovery, the first week home from hospital, or in my case back to my rental, was something I called on my best friend and caregiver to help me recount the details of. We had a few good laughs over some events I will share with you in this post. My husband was only able to be there for one week during my hospital stay.  Since I flew over 800 miles to have my DIEP flap surgery I had my best friend fly in to take over for him the week I left hospital. We chose to stay in a Vacation Rental by Owner. Lots of Sleep during DIEP Flap Recovery My surgery was on a Monday and I left hospital on Saturday. The sunshine and fresh air were divine after being in a hospital bed for five days. I got into the apartment rental, changed into my favorite Continue Reading →

DIEP Flap Surgery for Breast Reconstruction

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The embedded breast reconstruction options video is one of the reasons I chose the plastic surgery group to perform my DIEP flap breast reconstruction. Since this blog was published, PRMA has now added another microsurgeon to their team, Dr. Ramon Garza III. There are other plastic surgeons across the U.S., highly qualified, who successfully perform flap reconstruction to rebuild breasts for those affected by breast cancer. However, there are few who do it in high volume, have a high success rate, and with great compassion. It is a specialized surgery requiring years of training, practice and skill. It is imperative to know what makes a successful micro-surgeon and what women are looking for when they choose someone to perform this intricate surgery. I have listed on my resource page the following key questions to ask your plastic surgeon. How many procedures have they performed? What is their success rate? Do Continue Reading →

Release from hospital after DIEP flap surgery Phase 1

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Release from hospital after DIEP flap surgery Phase 1 Release from hospital after DIEP flap surgery begins your individual part and responsibility of healing and recovery. You have been in hospital for a few days, usually four to five, depending on your individual recuperation after surgery. You have been tended to 24/7 either by your doctor, a physician’s assistant, the nursing staff, specialist or other staff assistants. It’s time to go home or as I like to refer to it since I was an out of town patient, back to your place of healing. What do you need to know? Your catheter has been removed and you have been to the bathroom by yourself by now. You are free of the IV’s that have been part of you since you got out of surgery. The entire process of being released from hospital is an event in and of itself. You Continue Reading →

Trending on Twitter #Ilooklikeasurgeon

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Trending on Twitter #Ilooklikeasurgeon Trends on Twitter and much of Social Media go at break neck speeds. Here today and gone tomorrow. There has been something trending on Twitter the past few days that inspired me to write this post. The trend followed the hash tag #Ilooklikeasurgeon and began with an article written about diversity and equality from a London surgeon, Dr. Ed Fitzgerald. A resident in surgery, Heather Logghe, MD, started the trend with pictures on Twitter.  And yes, it exploded on Social Media!  Dr. Kathy Hughes, a surgeon and one of my favorite bloggers,  even started a Facebook page to honor this community.  I was mesmerized and actually found two surgeons I follow on Twitter who posted these two pictures.                 I know Dr. Chrysopoulo personally and many of you who read my blog probably feel like you do, too, as Continue Reading →

Maintaining Health Records during a Cancer Diagnosis

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Maintaining Health Records during a Cancer Diagnosis This is a post about the importance of maintaining accurate health records during a cancer diagnosis. But, today is probably one of the most difficult posts I have written in a while because of the events listed in this post that happened withing a month’s time to me and my family in 2014 during the time of my second breast cancer diagnosis. Why I do What I do I am an educator for all options of breast reconstruction after mastectomy.  After much research on my part to find a skilled, compassionate and qualified plastic surgeon; I had a very positive experience.   I know that all women are not told about their choices for reconstruction like I was.  Additionally, some have not had the powerful and positive experience that I did. I share my experience through outreach and  I educate others in hope of Continue Reading →

Breast Cancer, Breast Reconstruction & New Challenges

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Breast Cancer, Breast Reconstruction & New Challenges What new challenges have you taken on since being diagnosed with breast cancer?  What have you had to deal with after losing your breasts to cancer, or finding out that you are a BRCA gene carrier? I was inspired to write this blog based on an article seen on social media from Living Beyond Breast Cancer. I include my BRCA friends in this post because I advocate for all choices of breast reconstruction and we have all had the perspective of experiencing some difficult decisions regarding our health. Events in life, good or bad, change us. They catapult us into decisions that we likely would not have come to based on the event. Being diagnosed with cancer for the second time in 2014, facing a mastectomy and then delayed DIEP flap reconstruction later that year, reset my compass. A Side Trip on my Continue Reading →

DIEP Flap Post Surgical Garments

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The type of DIEP flap post surgical garments you will wear may very depending on your plastic surgeon. This is a photo I took on my computer. Keep in mind this is from my surgery in 2015 and what they give patients now may be updated. But it is a page taken directly out of the Breast Reconstruction Planner from my surgical group, PRMA in San Antonio. They are very comprehensive helping you plan every step of the way but I wanted you to hear an experience from a patient’s standpoint and the type of DIEP flap post surgical garments I wore. Are they glamorous? No, but you learn to conceal their bulkiness with accessorizing! Here is a picture with my nurse Denise. You can visibly see the outline of my drains but you don’t see any of my post DIEP flap surgical garments.  Are they comfortable? They’re not uncomfortable Continue Reading →

Length of Hospital Stay : DIEP flap Breast Reconstruction

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Length of Hospital Stay: DIEP flap Breast Reconstruction The length of  your hospital stay after DIEP flap breast reconstruction will likely be four to five days. My surgery was on a Monday morning, I was in my room by 10 pm that evening, and I left the hospital on Saturday morning. Although my surgeon came in to ask if I was ready to leave on Friday, I stayed one extra day only because I didn’t feel strong enough to go back to the vacation rental. He gave me the option to stay another night based on how I was feeling. Remember, I flew in from out-of-town, 800 miles out of town! I had to be 100% positive in my mind that going back to a foreign environment, the vacation rental, was going to be conducive to my healing process for the week I would be there following my release from Continue Reading →

Postoperative DIEP flap Recovery

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Postoperative DIEP flap Recovery Postoperative DIEP flap recovery, pain management, and progress with movement and activity, are some of the most common questions, concerns, and fears women ask me about. I wanted to share my photos in this blog to give women visual of progress I made during my recover from DIEP flap surgery. This was my recovery time and everyone will be different to some degree. I had very few “hiccups” in my recovery and it went as expected. The most difficult part for me was not pain, which was controlled quite well. My challenge came in lying still for five days. But as I frequently tell interested candidates, you have just been re-sculpted by an artist, your plastic surgeon. Treat your piece of art, your newly built breasts, with respect and nurture it back to health with patience and care. All good art work takes time! My First Continue Reading →