I am feeling grateful and blown away that an entire year has passed since my mastectomy. I am hesitating typing "cancer free" here because the reality is once you've been told you have cancer, you always live in fear of a re-occurance. I am now hoping to get a whole body scan if possible. However, I am grateful for my amazing doctors at KU, the decision to do the mastectomy and the support through my recovery. Feeling blessed!
Congratulations on your milestone and your wonderful attitude! Wishing you many, many more anniversaries.
Congratulations on your milestone!!!!
Congratulations!! Wishing you many more years of good health and happiness!
Congratulations on your milestone!
Congrats!!!! I am a 32 year survivor of Intraductal Comedo with had no known real treatment or survival in 1992. But, mine was found when it had not invaded other tissue. EARLY detection was the key. It was the darker age of treatment, but KU used mine to develop newer technique. 6 years later I heard You have cancer again…same kind in same breast, just a new incident (early detection) with no connection to first one. Again, it was found in a very small state. It was 1998 before microvascular treatment was developed. So I opted for bilateral mastectomy with a tunneled TRAM FLAP from lower abdomen. Very lengthy operation, but had good outcome and my body tolerated it all well. Am lopsided, but alive and been cancer free since 1998. Early on I tried to find the positive things that came along or became because of my cancer journey. Finding ways to turn to something positive is sometimes a challenge, but the reward is so much better! Lots of people who don’t have cancer to deal with have some pretty negative things happening as well. My high school counselor had said I should go into social work. I laughed as I was a math/science nerd! Breast cancer has helped me find what my counselor found way back then. Encouraging others and helping them navigate life (breast cancer or other hurdles) helps me find positivity as to why I went thru it. I love to help others prepare for surgery AND RECOVERY of any kind, but especially breast cancer related. For someone petrified of any kind of shot, I have found I am strong and my body likes how I do recovery… which is good since I’ve had over 20 surgical procedures. Each time the doctor is amazed at how fast I recover. My trans rectus muscle was used in the TRAM FLAP so I developed other muscles to pick up some of that function/strength. Learning new ways sometimes is a challenge, but oh, so worth it and helping the rest of my body stay in good shape. None of my doctors ever thought I’d still be here now. Feed the body, but also FEED THE SOUL!!! CONGRATS!!!