[JillaryJill]

Hi,
You can see my path is similar to yours from my signature...Stage IIIc, double mastectomy.
The tissue expanders feel terrible...no nice way to say it. They are hard as rocks...I hated every minute of having those expanders being part of my body. I did not wear a bra at all during my expansion, reconstruction, I wore camisole's without the bra support in them. I have not worn a bra since my ordeal. I never went back for nipple surgery and my reconstructed breasts are high and firm (no jiggle) about a B cup size. I don't need a bra. My onc, radiation onc, and plastic surgeon all say what a terrific result I have from reconstruction but I do not think they look natural at all. The side where they removed lymph nodes has some lumpiness under my arm. I swim for fitness and I used to be the type that would disrobe in the locker room, no matter who was watching, now I am in the changing room...very shy about how altered my body is.
In terms of scans etc. for Stage III, my Dr. waits to conduct scans when you report symptoms. The science behind this she says is, too many false positives, danger to your body from the radiation from the tests themselves, not a big clinical difference between catching Stage IV early or when a patient reports symptoms. This is difficult mentally...I am often anxious about what is lurking in my body..will I reoccur?
In terms of talking to younger women, I found they are curious...and scared they might get BC as well. I feel if you can share some knowledge with them that you have learned from your experience you may help one person catch BC early. I have dense breasts and all of mammograms have a disclaimer saying due to patient having dense breasts, certain lesions might not be detected. I like to tell young women to know what breast type they have...and seek out alternatives to mammograms if they can...my confidence is mammograms is greatly reduced.
Good luck with chemo...it's all doable. Also, have fun with your wig. All my brothers, nephews, and my male coworkers and friends tried my wig on. I have a photo gallery of everyone with my wig one....it was fun to see people laugh at themselves with my wig on...and guess what they forgot I was bald and did not even look at my bald head!