August 3rd, two months from today, I will go through what should be the last major step in my cancer journey. I will finally have my reconstruction done. Just shy of two years after this whole ordeal began. My journey stretched out much longer than others, especially those with more severe diagnoses. I didn’t have any major complications or side effects. I handled chemo and radiation with relatively little issues. My adventure has just taken longer because, I will admit, I didn’t want to deal with it. I wanted time to decide each step, to process what was happening to me. After diagnosis, I waited to decide on my surgery plans until my MRI and genetic testing results were back. After my lumpectomy, I waited on my final surgery decision until after my SECOND lumpectomy. After that one, I decided on a double mastectomy some time in the future.
I pushed the start date of my chemo until the last possible week I could. The doctors prefer if you start within a certain amount of time after surgery, to lessen the chance anything continues to grow. I had a trip planned for work and refused to miss it because it’s the one time a year I get to socialize with coworkers. I then went through five months of chemo, which I wasn’t able to push back, though I wanted to so badly. Once chemo was over, I waited more. I waited to schedule a consult with my doctor about my surgery. Then when I didn’t like what I was told (the type of reconstruction I wanted was not done in my area), I waited to find a different breast surgeon and plastic surgeon. Once I got set up with the amazing surgeons I ended up working with, I had to put off the surgery due to a court date set for my divorce. Finally, August 12 I had my surgery. It all went well, I healed great. But my breast surgeon recommended radiation, and so I put off scheduling the consult for that, because of course I did. I even scheduled a second consult with a different radiation oncologist to make sure we were doing the right thing. He didn’t let me wait, and sent me to be scanned that day to set up my plan of care.
Radiation finished in December 2020. See the pattern here, its now June and my final surgery is still 2 months away. Granted, I did need to wait 4-6 months after radiation before I could schedule to make sure my skin healed, but still…its just more of the same.
Nevertheless, it’s scheduled. I have multiple pre-op appointments between now and then. Getting surgical clearance, blood work, marking appointments etc. On August 3rd I’ll have a DIEP flap reconstruction. The doctors will take part of my stomach and replace my expanders with the tissue from my stomach. I’ll forever have a scar from hip to hip. Battle wounds to lay bare what cancer did to my body. Fortunately, my spirit doesn’t carry the same scars. This is just another step in my journey, another message to share. I’ll have plenty of time to rest and appreciate the fact that I can consider my cancer battle concluded.
Sunshine and HoneyBunch 