So Long Surgeries – Reconstruction Zone Complete

I’ve spent the last 2.5 years planning my life from one surgery to the next, this constant cloud hanging over my head. The prepping, the worry, the anticipation, the uncertainty. I’m not going to sugar coat it. Breast reconstruction has been hard. Now, as I sit here three works post op, still sore, tender and...

An Open Letter to My Body

I never felt like you were good enough. From the time I was an adolescent into my teens, I was embarrassed of you. Changing shyly in the bathroom, afraid to show others the mounds that were quickly beginning to form on my chest. The unwanted stares and insults hurled at me as I ventured into adulthood....

One year foobiversary

What’s in a choice? I’ve had a lot of people asking me recently about my surgery choices. Specifically, why I underwent a lumpectomy two years ago to then have to go in for a bilateral mastectomy one year later. I’ve written about it here and here but wanted to provide the fresh scoop as I...

The reconstruction saga continues: Part 2

It feels like this post has been a long time coming. Being able to share what will hopefully be the last chapter of my breast reconstruction journey for a long while. It was emotional putting these pictures together, remembering that innocent hope as I headed into my first surgery that I would be back to...

The good, the bad, and the ugly

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 6 months since my bilateral mastectomy and immediate latissimus dorsi flap breast reconstruction. Prior to my surgery, I found a lot of the information online to be focused on mastectomies using a tissue expander or implant only and it was difficult to access any personal first-hand experience...

Out with the old, in with the foobs

Never in a million years did I think that my regular vocabulary would include things like breast cancer, reconstruction, expanders, and that I would have to “shop” for the right size and shape breasts to replace my own. But here I am six weeks post implant exchange surgery. After waiting 5 months for my body...

Expanders, foobies, frankenboobs, rocks, boulders…what do you call them?

Expanders, foobies, frankenboobs, rocks, boulders. These are just a few of the names for tissue expanders coined by other breast cancer survivors. After the mastectomy and lat flap reconstruction, it was an adjustment period getting used to these new foobies. I felt like I was walking around like a robot at times because the circumference...

Bye Bye Boobies!

After months of anticipation, countless meal prep, cleaning of the house and trying to get myself in the best shape possible, the big day was finally here for my bilateral mastectomy with immediate latissimus dorsi flap reconstruction. I had been called by the hospital admitting department the day prior to instruct me to be at...

Reconstruction zone ahead

  Feel it on the First! Early detection is key! Despite going through surgery and treatments over the last 10 months, I have struggled with the uncertainty that I am “cancer free” moreso after the news from my oncologist in December. He had another pathologist look at my case and discovered there were a few...

Let’s Get Rid of This Beast!

A week and a half after getting my results that I have breast cancer, I was on my way to see a surgeon to determine the next course of action.  One of the things I have learned is that it is so important to bring another set of ears to your appointments as there’s a...