October 2021 Surgeries

jspringer4

Thought I’d give a little update on my month-long rollercoaster ride.

My surgery went well with no complications and I got to keep my nipples, which is strangely important to me. Pain wasn’t terrible and I mostly got by with just the muscle relaxers and Tylenol/Advil.

My pathology was a huge surprise. Both breasts were actually IDC and there was DCIS and LCIS mixed all through my breast tissue. There were also micrometastases in one of my sentinel nodes. Gotta love that BRCA2 mutation! None of my scans picked all of this up due to how dense my breast tissue was. My surgeon said going the BMX route probably saved my life because who knows when one of the other spots would’ve shown up on a mammogram.

IDC + micrometastases + BRCA2 got me a recommendation to do chemo. So I’ll be starting 2 months of AC on 12/16, followed by 3 months of Taxol.

I had my first follow-up with my plastic surgeon a few days after I was discharged where I had two of my four drains pulled (yay!) and where he noticed I was developing necrosis above each incision (boo!).

When there was no improvement a few days later, I was scheduled for a revision. My scars now look like something Frankenstein would have, but he at least got all of the dying tissue removed and everything is healing well now. He’ll be cutting those when I have my implant transfer so I’m sure he’ll clean it up at that point.

They still won’t let me raise my arms above my shoulders because my boob skin is super thin and stretching was putting too much pressure on my skin from the expanders. I’m thinking I might leave the expanders deflated for a while because of this. I really want to give my skin time to fully heal and start to thicken up before something starts pushing on it from the inside.

So, that’s been my ride so far. I really don’t want to scare anyone who reads this because my experience is not typical, but I also want anyone who is being put through the ringer like I feel I am to know you’re not alone.

mle42

Oof. Jspringer, that sounds rough. BRCA2 is a b*tch, for sure! Hope your healing is a little smoother from here on out, especially before you start chemo. Sending you lots of good wishes!

mamacure

Ouch Jspringer! You are a trooper. Sending you healing thoughts! Thank you for keeping us updated.