Category: News

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 →

History of DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction

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  The history of DIEP flap breast reconstruction, as with most medicine and surgery, has certainly evolved over the years. Patient recovery and healing, post operative outcomes and efficacy of the surgery has likely played a significant part in that evolution. The first attempts at flap reconstruction date back as far the 1800s. The advantage of using the deep inferior epigastric perforators (DIEP) as a means of breast reconstruction was primarily promoted by two surgeons in the mid 1990’s. Dr. Phillip Blondeel of Belgium and Dr. Robert Allen of the U.S. were the two surgeons who convinced their fellow plastic surgeons of the advantages of DIEP flap over TRAM flap as it did not use the rectus abdominis muscles thereby giving patients a more desirable outcome by not sacrificing their “sit-up” muscle. Many Must Travel to Find a Qualified Micro-Surgeon DIEP flap surgery is complex and involved.  It takes specialized Continue Reading →

Genetic Testing

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Is Genetic Testing A Scary Road to Travel? It is one of the hot topics in the medical world, “Genetic Testing”. A recent report from NBC Nightly News reports on the the risks and benefits of genetic testing.  Why do individuals choose to do it? What are the benefits and risks? What is the cost? Is it covered by insurance? Does it risk an individual’s chances of further insurance coverage in the future if they test positive? My Own Personal Experience I can only speak from my personal experience and reasons to explore genetic testing for myself. There are certain criterion that determines if you are a candidate who will likely benefit from genetic testing. I fit two of those conditions. One, I had breast cancer at a fairly young age, 47. Two, I had a recurrence of the original cancer I had at 47 but more importantly a newly Continue Reading →

The Perfect Breast Shape and Plastic Surgery

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How I got to the “Breast” Shape Ever Twitter is such a valuable tool for me. A year ago my Twitter account was full of nothing but educational websites. I returned to school to attain my M.Ed. and I used it for the sole purpose of gathering information about the latest “speak” in education. I did not tweet, like, retweet, or DM (direct message). I only lurked and learned. The lurking and learning changed in October of 2014. School ended for me to focus on my health.  My Twitter account went from education to all things breast cancer and breast reconstruction. I entered the world of plastic surgery as a breast reconstruction patient after undergoing a double mastectomy following a second breast cancer diagnosis. It was a world I was unfamiliar with and had much to learn about both on an academic and emotional level. I was now following, being Continue Reading →

Bone Density and Aromatase Inhibitors

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The Devil and the Details Today was a four month visit with my oncologist after my second diagnosis of breast cancer one year ago.  One of the purposes of the visit was to discuss bone loss while on Arimidex, the Aromatase Inhibitor I will be taking for ten years, unless of course they come up with something new between now and then. I was diagnosed with both invasive and in situ lobular carcinoma (LCIS) in my left breast twelve years ago. After two lumpectomies to achieve clear margins, eighteen weeks of chemotherapy and six weeks of daily radiation I took Tamoxifen for five years. Last year I had a recurrence of LCIS in the left breast and a new and different cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), in the right breast. Because of the new cancer in the right breast and the fact I had a recurrence in the left Continue Reading →

A Letter to Secretary Sylvia Burwell

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Dear Secretary Burwell, I enjoyed reading your bio on the HHS.gov website because I found we have a few things in common and I value human connections. We are both passionate about ensuring that individuals lead healthy and productive lives. Your outreach is far greater than mine and I am grateful for your passion and mission. My outreach, smaller though no less important, is to breast cancer patients who have been faced with a mastectomy. We are both former Seattle residents. As former President of the Global Development Program for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation you focused your efforts again on health.  I was an educator in Seattle at Sacred Heart School in Bellevue and had a brief opportunity to meet Melinda Gates when she visited our school and came into my classroom.  I was struck by her unpretentious manner and was humbled to speak to her and meet Continue Reading →

Breast Cancer Education Act

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A Time to Educate I have spoken to many women in the past six months since I became an advocate for breast reconstruction.  I am frequently reminded by these women that the education, resources and information is simply not being discussed at the first stages of a cancer diagnosis.  I was fortunate to have the information regarding my choices for breast reconstruction the day I was told I was going to have a double mastectomy due to a second recurrence of breast cancer.  I want every woman to be able to have that conversation with their physician.  The front line of education has to start in the health care community.  We can add outreach through support of this bill. A Call for Support Let’s Close the Loop It is time we closed the loop in breast cancer education.  Women have a right to live beyond diagnosis, treatment and survival.  Women Continue Reading →

How Has Breast Cancer Changed You?

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Cancer: Connections & Catalyst Many articles and questions are posed:   “How has breast cancer changed you?” Here is one example  from the About Health website, just one from a myriad of articles published after doing a quick search on the topic. I think it’s fair to ask that question to anyone in any phase of life. How has the news of the day changed you? How has having children changed you? How has visiting a foreign country changed you? How has being married changed you? How has being divorced changed you? How has changing your hair color changed you? How has losing weight changed you? How has becoming a vegan changed you? Blah, blah, blah and on and on…… Individuals and Change Individuals are affected by events in life in either very positive ways or extremely negative ways.  So OK!! We’re all individuals and I get it.  My feeling Continue Reading →

National Dance Day

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The last Saturday in July is observed as National Dance Day .  It has been set aside as the day honoring the benefits of dance to everyone.

Dancing is not only the performance of art but also the way to show people personalities as well as to help people raise their mood and improve their health.

Dancing is an integral part of my life. When I was growing up my parents would frequently put their favorite vinyl records on the turn table and along with my two sisters we would dance to favorite show tunes and legendary crooners like Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and others.

The Wedding Dances

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When our oldest son was married, I was polite and enjoyed mingling and meeting all the guests at the wedding until…. The music started. Then I never left the dance floor and danced with anyone who was next to me. It wasn’t much different at the weddings for my godson and nieces.  In fact, the song I chose in the YouTube video below is the song that my niece and I have long dubbed, “our song”, because when it comes on, I look at her and together we sing, “I love you, I love you, I love you!”  She played it at her wedding and the two of us went out to the dance floor and rocked out together.

Carpe Diem and the Power of Music

Fun-day Friday Dance

It only seemed appropriate then to celebrate the final phase of my breast reconstruction with a dance. Here is what took place that Fun-day Friday just minutes before my breast reconstruction surgery.  I don’t know who is lucky enough to have a micro-surgeon with such compassion and such a great sense of humor to embrace and honor my request to do this.  It was not an easy task and I’m not suggesting anyone do the same thing.  There is an element of safety that we had to work around.  I truly thought I’d be up dancing with the team but due to safety concerns, understandably, I had to remain on the surgical bed.  Just watch my feet as I can hardly stand it that I’m not on the floor with them doing the “sprinkler” or shaking my booty with them.  Thanks to the great surgical team, too, for joining in.  You are all the best!  I do think it elevated all of our moods that morning and certainly brought out each individual personality.  Enjoy, and if the music so moves you…. Get up and dance!

Happy National Dance Day!

Breast Reconstruction Fears After Mastectomy

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Breast reconstruction fears after a mastectomy and not knowing all of the steps involved prevent many women from making the decision to move forward with reconstruction.  My breast reconstruction journey began when I had my annual mammogram on April 2, 2014.  My radiologist informed me the mass she found in my right breast was highly suspicious of cancer.  I had to return to her office the next day to confirm this with a core needle biopsy (CNB). The results were ready five days later. My radiologist asked me the day she took the CNB if I knew of any breast surgeons to review results of the biopsy with me. I had been to see one about five years previously to have a benign cyst removed. I was very impressed with the surgeon and asked to schedule the results of my CNB to confirm whether I had cancer or not with Continue Reading →