Recurrence and Breast Reconstruction

Scripture of the Day:

Psalm 103: 1-5 (NLT)

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with all my whole heart I will praise His name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things that He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. He renews my youth like the eagle’s.

The following is from a website that concerns recurrences. Sadly some people have to go through the process more than once. The website that I took this from is at the bottom.

Recurrent breast cancer

Recurrent breast cancer means the disease has returned after treatment. Most recurrences appear within the first two or three years after treatment, but breast cancer can recur many years later. This type of breast cancer may come back in the breast, chest wall or in other parts of the body.

Breast cancer that returns locally (i.e., in the area of the surgery) is called a local recurrence. If the disease returns in another part of the body, it is called metastatic breast cancer. Women with recurrent breast cancer will receive treatment based on where the cancer returned.

Recurrent Breast Cancer

The next thing after the mastectomy is choosing a form of reconstruction. I was given 4 choices. The first was to do nothing. 

I had a double mastectomy and for about 5 minutes I considered doing nothing. I hate wearing a bra. This would've solved that problem. 

The next is a prosthesis. 

These things are very spongy and I was surprised. They seemed pretty heavy to me. I hated the thought of readjusting those every time they fell out of place.

The third was implants.

There are two types of these...saline and silicone. I originally wanted the saline. The thought of silicone leaking into my body was an awful thought. But my plastic surgeon, whom I really like, convinced me to use the silicone. He said they would be more natural. Since I can't compare the choices, all I can say is these silicone implants are fine. You can feel that they are not real. So, if these are better, I really can't imagine how fake the saline ones would've looked.

The last is complete breast reconstruction. This I was told would take 12 hours of surgery and they would take material from my stomach and use it to make my  breasts. It involved breaking my ribs, I was told. Twelve hours and broken ribs did not appeal to me so I chose the implants. You can read about reconstruction at the site linked below.

Breast Reconstruction

If you are making this journey as I am, may God bless you with His healing touch. I know He loves you.