Category: Emotional Recovery

Your spouse/partner; telling your children; telling your parents and siblings; reaching out to friends; friends who latch on for the drams of it all; when to ask for help; how to be grateful for help

Finding Trusted Breast Reconstruction Resources

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You are newly diagnosed with breast cancer, going through treatment, or just found out you carry a gene mutation and are at high risk of developing breast cancer. It seems important to begin  to explore all your options for breast reconstruction. Your mission, finding trusted breast reconstruction resources.   The thought of any surgery is scary to you. You have the information your health care team gave you. Now you want to talk with someone who really gets it but more importantly someone you can trust. Family and friends are there to support you but can sometimes feel smothering. They try their best to help and console you. Sometimes you need time away, to think, to formulate questions, to find firsthand experience about the choices you know you are facing. Can You Find Trusted Breast Reconstruction Resources in Facebook Groups? We live in the age of social media, so you Continue Reading →

A Breast Reconstruction Tattoo Completes a Patient Journey

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Connections made through the breast cancer community often become delightful friendships. So is the case with Sandra and me. We both had our DIEP flap breast reconstruction done in San Antonio at PRMA, Plastic Reconstructive Microsurgical Associates. Sandra is also a member of the Journey Facebook page. She volunteers her time when I make visits back to San Antonio for my Foundation work. I invited her to sit down and share her story. You can view the video in the blog of how a breast reconstruction tattoo completes a patient Journey. Sandra’s plastic surgeon informed her at her consult for her DIEP flap surgery that she would be losing her nipples. She felt comfortable with this decision for her best health and aesthetic outcomes knowing he would rebuild the nipples during the second phase of her breast reconstruction. The tattooing of the areola area could be done after healing from Continue Reading →

Breast Reconstruction Patients Sharing Their Journeys

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A group of women joined each other for an evening of friendship and support. Sounds like great fun, doesn’t it? It went far deeper than that. Or perhaps I should say, it went far “DIEP-er” than that. Each of the women who gathered for the event were scheduled for or had DIEP flap breast reconstruction. They all belonged to the Facebook group, DiepCJourney, known simply as “The Journey” to many. These women were all breast reconstruction patients supporting each other and sharing their Journeys. Social Media Breast Reconstruction Group: The Journey Social media holds great value finding like-minded people you can connect with. But little compares to personal connections, meeting someone in person, sharing a hug, and lending special individual and emotional support. The group of women I met in San Antonio on a warm April evening shared stories they understood before they met in person. Most of us were Continue Reading →

Undeniable Physical and Psychological Changes After Breast Reconstruction

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Facing the possibility of mastectomy is frightening for most. You have breast cancer or a genetic mutation putting you at high risk for developing breast cancer. The body parts that are front and center on your body are about to be removed. You are sitting in front of a plastic surgeon as the surgical process is described to you. You know there will be undeniable physical and psychological changes after breast reconstruction. How in the world do you begin to even process all of this? How Will I Feel Physically After Mastectomy? My breasts gave me a sense of balance I didn’t realize until I began to stumble over my own feet after my double mastectomy. I thought I was just recovering from side affects of anesthesiology. Walking through my house I would randomly trip like a baby taking its first steps. I felt clumsy and awkward. My breast surgeon Continue Reading →

Breast Reconstruction Decorative and Restorative Tattoos

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Two patient advocates, both breast cancer survivors, walk into a tattoo parlor in downtown Seattle. Sounds like an intriguing story, right? It was. I had the honor to have patient advocate Kirstin Litz join me for an intense day of patient advocacy work in the great city of Seattle. Our day began with a cup of coffee for the road, of course. We arrived in the densely populated district of Capitol Hill early morning to visit Eric Eye. We were there to interview him about his work doing breast reconstruction decorative and restorative tattoos. I have never had a tattoo but after visiting Eric we talked about the possibilities of a decorative tattoo in my future. He asked me what I was thinking about. I told him I have deep Irish heritage and I love to dance. Van Morrison is one of my favorite musical artists. I explained to Eric Continue Reading →

The Eye of a Restorative Tattoo Artist for Breast Cancer Patients

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There are those who choose their profession based on their interest and background training. Eric Eye was inspired to expand his practice and professional skill as a tattooer after learning about restorative tattoos for breast cancer patients. This blog is dedicated to Eric Eye after I spent time with him in his Seattle studio on Capitol Hill. Eric is the eye of a restorative tattoo artist for breast cancer patients. The streets of Capitol Hill are an eclectic collection of ethnic restaurants, music shops with vintage albums, coffee shops, parking meters lining the streets waiting to be fed, and above ground wires strung from telephone poles draped like spider webs across the streets. There are businesses sharing the same brick and mortar in a single block separated by walls and glass windows with entrances leading to long narrow hallways and locked corridors. A Breast Cancer Patient’s First Visit to a Continue Reading →

Let’s Honor All Choices and Decisions after Mastectomy!

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I am speaking to anyone who knows a person who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I am speaking to anyone who knows a person who has a genetic mutation putting them at high risk of developing breast cancer. These individuals are faced with difficult choices after hearing the news in either circumstance. Let’s honor all decisions and choices after mastectomy, please! No one can fully understand how difficult the decision is except the person facing a surgical treatment option. Your body, the body you had before mastectomy, is going to be altered. I hear far too often from those facing mastectomy they are questioned, criticized, and left feeling unsupported and confused about their decision to reconstruct their breasts or remain flat. Why does this happen? Here are some statements I hear from those who don’t feel supported: Oh, you’re getting a boob job, huh? Wow! I wish I could Continue Reading →

Whitney’s Story: Prophylactic Mastectomy and DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction

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Our Journey personal story takes place this week with my neighbor. It is Whitney’s story of prophylactic mastectomy and DIEP flap breast reconstruction. Whitney has the genetic mutation for ATM and CHEK2 putting her at very high risk for breast cancer. She is a young woman in her mid-thirties who very much wants to be a part of her children’s’ lives. She will be having her surgery when they are one and four years old.  Whitney was the tender age of 24 when she watched her own mother die of breast cancer. She was her caregiver so her decision to undergo prophylactic mastectomy and DIEP flap has not been easy. Here is her story. A Neighbor on the Journey from Mastectomy to Breast Reconstruction I am blessed. Each day I engage with an amazing group of women on the Facebook page I administer, The Journey. When I found out Whitney Continue Reading →

Recovery from Breast Reconstruction: A bit like the Winter Doldrums?

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Does recovery from breast reconstruction seem a bit like making it through the winter doldrums? Sometimes, yes, it does. The recovery period, for any breast reconstruction takes a bit of time. However, if you have had any type of autologous (using your own tissue) breast reconstruction you will be recovering for a few weeks. Long, cold, snowy, winter days when you can’t get out of the house reminds me of my own recovery from DIEP flap surgery. Fatigue and Recovery from Breast Reconstruction You will be fatigued for a few weeks after surgery. Your body is working overtime to rid itself of the effects of anesthesia. You are also in healing mode so it will take a lot out of you when you are released from hospital. I often tell women I knew when I was getting back to normal when suddenly one day, I no longer needed my daily Continue Reading →

How Difficult is the Decision to Have DIEP flap Breast Reconstruction?

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A Difficult Decision for Me to Have DIEP flap It is very difficult to make the decision to have DIEP flap breast reconstruction. I had this surgery in 2014 after a second breast cancer diagnosis and losing my breasts after a double mastectomy. I want to share what other women go through to have this amazing yet complex surgery. Who Might Consider Having DIEP flap Surgery? I listen to stories from basically two groups. The first group are women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.  It is not always the case, but the hope is I hear these women are given all their options for breast reconstruction. Otherwise, how could they even make an informed decision about their choices to reconstruct their breasts? It is most important all options for breast reconstruction are presented after careful assessment of biopsies, various imaging procedures, that should include a shared decision-making conversation Continue Reading →