louiseg

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My story

I was first diagnosed with DCIS in July 2003 at the age of 35. I had a

mastectomy and a sentinel node biopsy. Unfortunately I was allergic to

the blue dye that was injected during the mastectomy to track the

sentinel node drainage and I ended up in ICU! Consequently I didn't

have my tram flap reconstruction until November 2003. I looked on the

positive though.....the tram flap reconstruction gave me a lovely flat

stomach! and I was pleased with the breast reconstruction too :)

I recovered fairly quickly and got on with life.

Then I got a shock! 7 years later, in July 2010 I had my annual check-

up mastectomy and ultrasound. On the ultrasound they found a lump

which showed as 1.6cm. My surgeon, who I had been seeing ever

since the first diagnosis for my annual check-ups, was quite

concerned about it. I was sent for an immediate biopsy that afternoon

and after a worrying weekend, waiting for a diagnosis, I had that

terrible phone call from the surgeon telling me that I had a stage 2

intermediate grade invasive ductal tumour! I was shocked and I was

also angry that I could end up with cancer yet again....it just seemed

so unfair to have to go through it all again :( I had a three week wait

before I had another mastectomy, sentinel node biopsy and

immediate lat dorsi reconstruction. I was in hospital for a week and

when I went home on the Thursday I felt sore but good. On the Friday

I started to feel quite full in the breast. Over the weekend I became

more and more uncomfortable and on the Monday I went to see my

Plastic Surgeon who said that I had a haematoma which needed

to be drained. I was admitted on the Tuesday and had 400ml of

blood drained! I felt a lot better by the time I went home on the

Wednesday. On Thursday I went to the breast surgeon who told me

that my pathology results were pretty good. The nodes and margins

were clear and the tumour was oestrogen and progesterone

positive. I went for a CT scan on the Thursday afternoon to check my

organs for any spread and then a bone scan on Monday of the next

week. These weren't pleasant but ok.....they had a few problems

finding veins. Now I have an appointment with the oncologist on

Wednesday, an MRI (they found a shadow on my liver) on Thursday

and back to the Plastic Surgeon again on Friday. I am thoroughly

sick of doctors appointments and tests but the journey goes on....

Member blog

Can of worms?

Posted by louiseg on 16 Aug 2012, 01:51PM

Ok I might be opening a can of worms here but I am wondering what other people think....

HBF Run for a Reason

Posted by louiseg on 27 May 2012, 03:52PM

A friend and I completed the HBF Run for a Reason in Perth this morning. Other than a bit of a cold start to the day, it was wonderful! There were so many people there (over 20,000 entrants) and each one had there reasons for participating.

I decided to do it to prove to myself that, even after having two bouts of breast cancer, you can live and enjoy life to the maximum.

I raised $525 for the Breast Cancer Network from friends and family!

Tags:

enjoy life

My Boob Rotated!!

Posted by louiseg on 02 May 2012, 04:45PM

I woke up about a week ago to find that my new boob (the one with the implant) looked really weird! It was flat at the bottom and a big lump at the top!! Luckily I gave it a bit of a massage and pushed and prodded it until it looked normal again and didn't feel any pain or discomfort. I went to see my surgeon yesterday and he said that the implant had rotated! Apparently it only happens in about 1% of cases (and it just had to be me, didn't it?!). It is caused when you get fluid building up in the pocket that they make to put the implant in. When you lie

Update

Posted by louiseg on 02 Mar 2012, 04:10PM

Gee, time flies doesn't it?! I can't believe it has been so long since I have put a post on here (I've answered some and nosied around but haven't put one up myself since September last year!!).

Genetic Testing Results

Posted by louiseg on 12 Sep 2011, 01:47PM

Hi Everyone

Today I got the results of my genetic testing....it was inconclusive! I'm not sure if I am happy or not? If it had been positive, at least I would have know what had caused my cancer and would have taken steps to ensure that it didn't come back (eg having my ovaries removed). Now I don't really know what to do.

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