Monday, March 26 marks the 1,000th day since diagnosis. I wasn’t counting up to this day. I discovered it thinking about my three year anniversary coming up in June. I couldn’t help but do the math.
What it does bring into perspective is thinking about my Grandpa Hollis. He was an original member of the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team. He made 1,001 jumps before he hung his parachute. I can’t imagine jumping out of a plane every day since I was diagnosed. It really hits home how many 1,001 jumps really are. Here’s his profile … kinda cool: http://www.goldenknightsaa.com/roster/detail-spt.asp?memberid=1380
I haven’t updated my blog since my last surgery in December. The outcome wasn’t what I had hoped for. The easiest way to explain it is the radiation has severely compromised my skin on the left side and it is very thin – you can feel the implant through the skin. It doesn’t move and still is painful. The more I talk to other patients and medical professionals, it turns out it isn’t all that uncommon. Many patients seem to have problems with expanders and implants following radiation – both from an infection standpoint and looking somewhat normal.
Following the advisement from both my breast surgeon and former reconstructive surgeon, I’ve switched to a new reconstructive surgeon who specializes in a procedure called the DIEP flap. Not many surgeons do this procedure because you have to be a micro-surgeon to do it and the surgery is a 10-hour procedure. She will take out my implants and use my stomach tissue to make new breasts and they will use the stomach skin to replace the radiated skin. The recovery is lengthy – four to six weeks. I will be in the hospital for five days – two of which will be in ICU to make sure the flap transfer does not fail. While the surgery and recovery will be arduous, the benefits are removing the radiated skin and not having any foreign objects in my body. If I had stuck with my implants, I would be looking at replacing them at least once, probably twice in my lifetime, plus the doctors are concerned about that thin skin holding up over a lifetime.
Once I decided to have this surgery, my surgeon urged me to gain weight. She said you can never have too much to work with. I’ve gained 7 pounds and been eating whatever I’ve wanted, so that’s been a bonus. No dieting! On my pre-op appointment, she grabbed all my belly fat and said, “This is GREAT!!!” I chuckled as I feel certain this is the only time in my life a doctor will praise me for gaining weight.
On a serious note, I could use your prayers. The surgery is April 9 and I’ve been pretty nervous. I surprised myself of actually being scared of surgery – you’d think I’d be okay with this after all I’ve been through, however, if the flap fails (which they’ve assured my surgeon has a zero percent failure rate after 500 of these surgeries), I will have to go back to wearing prosthetics. Plus, the recovery will be tough. I’m in ICU for two days where they wake you up every hour to make sure the flap doesn’t fail and I can’t walk for four days. I was having issues sleeping due to being nervous, but I think I’ve finally made peace with my decision. I know it is the right decision. It still isn’t easy to do, no matter how many times you’ve gone into surgery.
If all goes well, I will have to have one follow up surgery about three to four months after – just to finish shaping everything. That one should be easy – outpatient and only out of work two to three days.
I had hoped by the three-year mark I would have been done with all of this, but that won’t be the case. I can’t change it so I won’t worry about it. It is what it is.
Thanks again for keeping up with me.
Love,
Marcy
