I am 30 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer, specifically invasive ductal carcinoma. Before my diagnosis, I didn't even know what that meant. Now I have been forced into a reality where I not only know what it means but my doctors appointments and daily thoughts are filled with other previously unfamiliar words like neoadjuvant therapy, metastases, HER2 and triple negative.

I started this blog in hopes that some of the information I share may be helpful to other young women in a similar situation. Rather than posting my day to day experiences, feelings and progress, I plan to share some of the things I have learned along the way. Being dealt this hand in life at 30 years old brings with it some unique issues and questions. Will I ever have kids? How will this affect my relationships with my husband and friends? What is my long term prognosis?

Through this site you may find that my way of dealing with things is a bit different. I want to be educated about my disease and take an active role in my treatment and recovery. I want to understand every part of my pathology report, what it means, and feel confident that my doctors are recommending the best course of action. At each stage in my journey, I have experienced challenges with finding answers to my questions and ensuring that the medical professionals treating me really understand who I am and why my way of dealing with this disease may be unlike other women. My hope is that people will be able to relate to my experiences, learn from them and find some comfort that they are not alone.

Monday, 16 November 2015

Mastectomy

The first few days after surgery were rough but not nearly as bad as I thought they would be. The anticipation and not knowing what to expect can send you into a dark place but I am here to tell anyone else about to go through this that you will be fine. The pain is manageable, the drains are annoying, bathing is a pain and you will have a couple new scars that you didn't have before but you will make it.

Pain- When I woke up from surgery I was nauseous but they quickly gave me some drugs and the feeling went away. They had put morphine into my IV so I didn't really feel any major pain while in the hospital. I guess they wanted me out of there as soon as possible because my surgery finished around 5pm and I was discharged by 9am the next morning. The pain didn't really kick in until I got home the next day but with a few Tylenol 3's, I was good to go. 

Drain- It was annoying, especially when sleeping but I found that putting a pillow under my arm made things more comfortable. I am a side/stomach sleeper so had to learn to sleep on my back but it is possible. I have some pregnant friends and I can't imagine sleeping with a bowling ball in your stomach would be any more comfortable so I sucked it up. My drain was in for 6 days and the nurses said it could be up to 3 weeks so I was happy about that. I attribute my speedy healing to the high dose Vitamin C IVs I did leading up to my surgery but I will write another post about that later. 

Bathing- The link I included in the last post mentioned getting a lanyard or something to put around your neck and clip the drain onto when in the bath tub. I found that really helped to make sure the drain didn't pull. I didn't shower until the drain was out because I wanted to make sure it didn't get infected but that is my personal choice. The hospital said that I could start showering 2 days after, as long as the wounds were covered. 

Important tip for anyone with a port- Ask if your surgeon will remove the port at the same time as your surgery. I only thought to ask because I had read someone else's blog. Why go through another procedure where more needles and freezing are needed to remove the port? None of my doctors mentioned this as an option but when I brought it up, my surgeon said it wouldn't be a problem. When I woke up from surgery, voila, my port was gone! At least there was one positive part of that experience.
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