Two weeks after the lumpectomy surgery, I went in to see the genetic counselor for my test results. She told me that my blood test came back positive for carrying the BRCA2 gene mutation. I knew it was a possibility, but I didn’t think it would be so. I thought my cancer was just an [...]
August 2008: Okay, moved to Florida and getting settled in. Saw my new oncologist and the plan is a 3-drug program: start with two, A & C – Adriamycin & cytocin – four treatments every 2 weeks. Followed by Taxol, weekly, for three months. Total of 6 months of chemotherapy. I had a port surgically [...]
I always thought – thanks to TV and movies – that people going through chemotherapy lose weight. Well, when I started to gain weight after starting chemo I asked my doctor why and she explained that with most cancers, yes, patients lose weight, but not with breast cancer. Great! I was finally starting to lose [...]
In February 2009, 8 months after diagnosis and 5 weeks after finishing chemotherapy, I underwent a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy with immediate TRAM flap reconstruction. I was in surgery for 11 hours and in the hospital for 1 week. The recovery was much more difficult than I had anticipated and the pain much more severe. I [...]
August 2009: I should never have had radiation. Toward the end of my chemotherapy, I went to see a radiation oncologist for an initial consultation. We discussed my cancer and the genetic attributes. I told him I was planning on undergoing an oopherectomy and bilateral mastectomy. He explained that my case was not clear-cut, due [...]