Advocacy Archives - DIAGNOSED

April 15, 2020April 27, 2020

When you thought it was over…Burning your reconstructed breast…

Breast reconstruction is just the beginning. Once your breast cancer treatment is over, and most of the anxiety that goes with it. You then face new challenges!

Just over a week ago, I burned my reconstructed breast. Four months after immediate reconstructed and 7 weeks after finishing radiation.

The only thing I will emphasize, is do not have any heat around your breast at all!

This means, hair dryers, lamps, heating pads, hot water bottles, boiling water, cooking items… I hope you get the point!

I am not the first to do this but I hope I am the last.

When you loose all sensation after breast reconstruction you must be aware at all times of what is near you! Heat, knives, sharp objects, or ice all of these and more can completely destroy the tissue over your implant.

I am writing this post from the hospital bed I was admitted to several days ago. I burned my reconstructed breast using a heat lamp. Before you ask why? I was getting ready to start rehabilitation for my arm post-mastectomy.

This is also not the most ideal time to be in hospital. The world is currently on lock down due to the COVID-19 pandemic!

I had to have a nasal swab before I could be admitted for surgery to ensure I didn’t have COVID-19. This means being in the isolation ward for about 24 hours, with other people like you and also suspected COVID-cases! Once cleared your moved to the ward with many other people who all past the test. All private rooms are saved for COVID-19 patients!

After just finishing Cancer treatments this is the last place you would want to be.

The good:

I don’t feel a thing.

The bad:

I am “on the board” waiting for a surgery slot. I am not sure what will happen but my surgeon hopes to save as much as he can. After having a nipple-sparing mastectomy I may loose my nipple areola complex along with skin.

One week post-operative:

Luckily, the surgeon was able to save my nipple with most of the skin. My breast is now much smaller and looks very badly scarred. I am just praying something can be done to fix it later or it heals miraculously.

This experience has made me wonder why they don’t warn women about this!

Another aspect that I wasn’t prepared for, was nerve pain after removal of the tissue expander. It feels as though the entire breast area is on fire.

Homeopathy is amazing, for general pain arnica and nerve pain hypericum perforatum.

January 5, 2020January 6, 2020

Breast Cancer: 32 Variations

It’s shocking to be diagnosed with breast cancer, but it’s even more shocking to learn about the details of breast cancer.

When I first heard about my diagnosis I thought ok no problem I can deal with this.

Then I learn’t about how complex breast cancer is!

I will break it down as simple as possible.

A women with breast cancer could have any of the following 4 main types:

Ductual
Lobular
Combination of lobular and ductual
Inflammatory.

These basically are referring to which part of the anatomy of the breast the cancer has developed. Each type has a completely different DNA composition. The most common being ductual affecting 90% of women.

Some women may also have DCIS or LCIS and this is noted as breast cancer in its infancy:”in situ”.

On top of that there are 8 different possible combinations for each type of breast cancer.

This translates into 32 different breast cancers essentially, as all are not treated the same.

For example, someone with ductual cancer could have these 8 possible combinations:

Triple positive (ER+, PR+, HER+)
Triple negative (ER-, PR-, HER-)
Estrogen positive (ER+) only
Progesterone positive (PR+) only
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) only
Both ER+ and PR+
PR+ and HER2+
ER+ and HER2+

This is just a heads up! Next I will cover what each one means and how treatment differs.

September 8, 2019September 8, 2019

Remembering how I used to be…

Being diagnosed with a serious illness kind of pulls you into a new world. One that usually is solely focused around your health and wellbeing. Definitely will not complain about that.

But on occasion you get a glimpse into who you used to be.

Today, I had a flash back to the old me me driving in a snow storm. Only 2 years ago on my way from meeting my potential PhD supervisor. The meeting went longer than anticipated and I ended up in a snow storm on the highway home.

I could see now how hard I was pushing myself!

Just barely recovered from typhoid fever and I remember not feeling well. I was completely out of sorts. I was on edge most of the time, mostly because I really wasn’t feeling well but all doctors said I was fine.

It was definitely a mental struggle to be told your fine and everything inside of you was screaming otherwise. I had to tell myself I was fine and push even harder, thinking it must be in my head.

We really know so much more than anyone at any moment gives us credit for. We need to learn to listen and believe in ourselves enough to have others take us seriously. Even when we have no reason or cause but know that something is off.

I would never go back to who I used to be, if anything this diagnosis has helped me clarify many things in my life and also made others take me more seriously.