Tag: plastic surgery

Collaboration in Educating about Breast Reconstruction

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My favorite word throughout my education career has always been “collaboration”. So is the case now in my role as Founder of DiepCFoundation.org. I couldn’t feel any stronger about collaboration in educating about breast reconstruction. The change leaders I have met in the past three years on my own personal quest to educate more women and men about options in breast reconstruction motivate me daily to do more, explore new avenues to educate, support them in their mission, and stand beside them collaboratively to continue this work. This week on my social media feeds I have seen an announcement by Patricia Anstett that her book, Breast Cancer Surgery and Reconstruction, What’s Right for You, is now out on paperback on Amazon. Congratulations are in order as this was a professional labor of love for Pat. Full disclosure: Yes! I’m featured in the book and proud of it. However, I have Continue Reading →

DIEP flap Breast Reconstruction: Did I make the right choice?

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YES! I did make the right choice having DIEP flap breast reconstruction! Each December marks another year and anniversary of my DIEP flap surgery. I remember so much about the dark, cool, morning we left for the hospital, feeling calm, prepared, and ready on December 1, 2014. The time between my double mastectomy in mid-May of 2014 and my breast reconstruction were some of the most trying days of my life. In 2002, after my first breast cancer diagnosis, I had been through 2 surgeries, eighteen weeks of chemotherapy followed by six weeks of daily radiation. This was physically demanding because I was so sick and felt so weak. Fast forward twelve years to 2014. Waiting for my breast reconstruction was psychologically trying. Each month that passed after my double mastectomy only decreased my self-image as a woman due to the loss of my breasts and seeing myself in the Continue Reading →

Why do I Marvel at Breast Reconstruction & Plastic Surgery?

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I ask myself this question often: Why do I marvel at breast reconstruction & plastic surgery? October was a busy month for many who work in this field and educate about this topic. I think it was one of the busiest months I had this year. I was in six states and six different airports engaging with or educating about breast reconstruction with plastic surgeons, patients, advocates, and the public. I was exhausted yet exhilarated to know the innovations and developments in the field of breast reconstruction and plastic surgery continue to keep me motivated and captivated. It has been three years since my own breast reconstruction and yet, thinking back to November of 2014 and having no breasts on my body, it is easy to understand my own fascination with this topic. When you use your own tissue to rebuild your breasts after losing them to breast cancer, that Continue Reading →

DIEP flap Patient Advocate Prepares for PSTM17

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I am a DIEP flap patient advocate currently doing final tweaks and changes in preparation for Plastic Surgery the Meeting, PSTM17.  Wheels will be off the ground early Thursday morning to fly out to Orlando. PSTM17 will be held at the Orange County Convention Center for a five-day event full of education sprinkled with a bit of fun around the Walt Disney World theme park. Last year at PSTM16 in Los Angeles, I walked into the LA Convention Center amazed and overwhelmed, feeling like a little girl walking into Disney World for the first time. I wondered around both wide-eyed and a bit frightened at times since that was my first medical conference. Everyone was welcoming and friendly from staff, vendors, to all the plastic surgeons I was finally able to meet after “knowing” them only through social media. The classes I attended were so beneficial to my mission of Continue Reading →

Holiday Wishes on the Journey

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This is the time of year to send holiday wishes on the Journey.  If I could wrap up in boxes all the stories shared, both happy and sad, those who have been on this Journey through breast reconstruction, I don’t think there would be a space large enough to place those wrapped boxes.  We have shared struggles, triumphs, waiting for results, preparation, anticipation of surgery, celebrating completion of the reconstructive process; the list goes on. Who are we here on the Journey? We are a global community that stretches beyond cultural borders and continents.  We are women and men who have heard those dreaded words, “You have breast cancer” or “You are BRCA positive”.  Through your research, a friend, or physician you found the Journey.  You told us your personal story.  Some are still in treatment waiting to go through the reconstructive process.  Others have completed phase one and are Continue Reading →

Two-Year Post DIEP Anniversary

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Two-Year Post DIEP Anniversary Today, December 1, 2016 marks my two-year post DIEP anniversary.  Anniversaries are for remembering and celebrating.  That is what I’d like to do in this blog as I recall some of the memories etched in my mind from this day two years ago, in 2014 when my life and my breasts were rebuilt after living with a mastectomy and no breasts for seven long and difficult months.  I want to share those bright moments from that day, fun things I remember, and give hope to those who are newly diagnosed or have their breast reconstruction date on the calendar soon. Good-bye Boobs in a Box! I remember looking at my prosthesis the morning I got up to prepare for surgery.  I bid them a formal and fond farewell as I placed them in the box for the last time.  I traveled with that box more than Continue Reading →

A Tearful Golden Moment at #PSTM16

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A Tearful Golden Moment at #PSTM16 I unexpectedly had a tearful golden moment at #PSTM16 the last evening I was there.  #PSTM16 was the first conference I have attended since opening a non-profit 501c3 Foundation to support and empower patients with education about options in breast reconstruction.  I will have many more blogs to write about my experience at the conference but this was truly a golden moment for me in more ways than one. An Evening of Celebrating Twitter Connections and Friendships It was at one of many special events that occurred at the conference.  This particular event was arranged by Dr. Karen Horton, one of the many talented plastic surgeons I engage with on Twitter and other social media venues to push out valuable information to patients interested in breast reconstruction.  The event was sponsored by Allegan and it was an absolutely lovely evening.  Allergan made it memorable Continue Reading →

Goals: #Plasticsurgery #BreastReconstruction, #PSTM16

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Goals: #PlasticSurgery, #BreastReconstruction, #PSTM16 are what I’ve been rolling over in my mind for the past few days.  Tomorrow, September 23, 2016, bright and early as the sun rises I will board a plane to Los Angeles to the largest plastic surgery convention of the year, Plastic Surgery the Meeting 2016, #PSTM16. My goals for the meeting Attend educational events focused on the breast reconstruction aspect of plastic surgery. Explore and understand the latest practices and developments in breast reconstruction. Engage with vendors to learn about their products. Ask these vendors why their product is so important in the breast reconstruction process. Catch up on any new legislative news pertaining to #BreastReconstruction. Learn as much as I can about tips in networking and Social Media for #BreastReconstruction and #plasticsurgery. Report back to patients in blogs about what I have learned at the meeting. Meet more board certified ASPS surgeons who Continue Reading →

Pregnancy After DIEP flap Breast Reconstruction

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Pregnancy After DIEP flap Breast Reconstruction I meet amazing women and hear inspiring stories of courage in my breast reconstruction education and outreach. We share pictures, laughs, tears, fears, and stories of triumph in my conversations with these women warriors. Chats with these women, not only in the U.S., but across the globe fuels and energizes me to continue this advocacy. This story, pregnancy after DIEP flap breast reconstruction, touched my heart as a mother of two boys. I am fortunate through my travels to meet DIEP flap patients in person. Nothing gives me greater joy than sharing my experience and listening to others’ journeys through their own breast reconstruction process. It is a shared strength and sisterhood few understand and appreciate. One fortunate meeting and follow up story I wrote might seem nothing short of miraculous.  Although for each of us, our stories too, feel miraculous after we’ve reached Continue Reading →

Breast Reconstruction: Benefits vs. Cosmesis

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What are breast reconstruction benefits and are the benefits vs. cosmesis equal or separate? Although this question may not have been stated in these words, women considering breast reconstruction must think about this complex question. No one can come close to knowing what this decision involves except the patient themselves. Not only is it a difficult and complex process of logic but it involves a great emotional decision as well. I am speaking about breast reconstruction in very specific circumstances. Humans are faced with many unexpected events in life catapulting us to become educated about a topic we never imagined we would be learning about. A cancer diagnosis or finding you have a gene mutation putting you at high risk for breast cancer is one of those life events. Those who are considering breast reconstruction after cancer or for prophylactic reasons to greatly decrease chances of a cancer occurrence go Continue Reading →