Tag: BRCA gene mutation

Wonder and Happiness: Pregnancy Post-DIEP – Part 2

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Emily is one of over 5,700 global members of the DiepCJourney Facebook group. I am honored to share her story of wonder and happiness: pregnancy post-DIEP – Part 2. More than a year later, I am finally prepared to reflect on the full experience of having a child after DIEP flap reconstruction. To recap, I am BRCA1+ and had a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy with DIEP flap reconstruction in June 2018 at the age of 36 and phase 2 corrective surgery with fat grafting in October 2018. I became pregnant with my 2nd child in April 2019 which left me wondering. At 38, after a full-term pregnancy with no complications, I was induced and delivered a healthy 7-pound 4-ounce baby girl on December 18, 2019, exactly one week after her sister’s 9th birthday. I wondered whether pregnancy would mess up my surgeon’s beautiful work. I am happy to report to all of Continue Reading →

What Do Breast Cancer and BRCA Friends Share in Common?

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I know that Heather Barnard and I share a lot in common! We are both educators. Breast cancer has affected Heather and me. Heather and I have had a mastectomy. Heather and I had breast reconstruction. We both write blogs about our breast reconstruction experience. Finally, and most coincidentally, we had the same plastic surgeon perform our breast reconstruction. What makes our friendship unique? We have never met in person. Heather and I live over 9,000 miles apart. Our shared commonalities, however, have bridged those miles and made us friends. Her Twitter handle says it all, @expattravelmom. She teaches in Singapore and in her off time travels extensively with her husband and three great children. I had my DIEP flap breast reconstruction in December of 2014. Heather had a prophylactic mastectomy with immediate implant breast reconstruction in June of 2015. Dr. Chrysopoulo was our connection. Heather would message me asking Continue Reading →

Genetic Testing ~ A Tough Decision

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Genetic Testing ~ A Tough Decision A recent article I read, Beyond BRCA: Testing negative and living in the “gray zone” for cancer risk, motivated me to write a personal response.  This is the story of my own genetic testing that for me was a tough decision. The article was about a fellow Twitter advocate in the breast cancer community, Stacey Tinianov. We have a bit in common as you can see by the list. Both love coffee and tweeting. You can find Stacey on Twitter @coffeemommy and me @6state Both maintain a healthy diet and active lifestyle Both gave birth to our children before the age of 30 Both had two children and nursed them Both love the “blueberry diet”… AKA…”a lifetime of following the myriad of published “cancer prevention” techniques Both diagnosed with breast cancer in our 40’s (me> a 2nd diagnosis in my 50’s) Chemotherapy – Shared Continue Reading →

#WorkoutWednesday

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#WorkoutWednesday Exercises Let’s call today’s blog #WorkoutWednesday. I’m back at my desk today after an amazing trip to one of my favorite places on the earth, Seattle, Washington. I was able to enjoy family and friends as well as schedule meetings and dinners to connect with more amazing women in the breast cancer and breast reconstruction community. I unpacked my week and a half’s worth of luggage as well as my “portable office” after my flight yesterday. I was amazed at how happy I was to set my laptop back up in the office space in my home or as I have fondly named it, “The She Shed”. I missed writing, blogging, researching, sharing and reaching out to the on-line community. But the face to face meetings I had last week were invaluable. There will be blogs written as follow-ups to those experiences. It was important for me to get 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 →