Reconstruction and Radiation
Hello ladies,
I begin my chemo on Monday. In a weird way it feels good to be getting on with the treatment although I am very frightened. I have all the meds and different items suggested on hand for the big day. At my visit with the Onc he said I could begin reconstruction when I am on Herceptin alone. I wrote to my ps and he said I could not begin reconstruction until the portacath had been removed....sigh. I want to have silicone implants as I do not believe I want to cut any other part of my body and anyhow being quite slim I am certain they could not find enough flesh to create two breast mounds. The Onc said the protocal was to take all my nodes but the surgeon decided to take only 8 which were all negative. Both the Onc and surgeon do not believe I need to do anything more but I am being sent to the Rad.Onc to see if he feels I need to do radiation. My question is will radiation interfere with reconstruction? Thanks, Carolyn
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12/17/08 biopsy after two 6 mos mammo recalls
12/30/08 diagnosed high grade IDC & DCIS ER/PR +, Her2 (+++) post menopausal/age 57
1/15/09 double mastectomy/skin sparing; no evidence of vascular/lymphatic invasion, 8neg/8 nodes (tumor 8.0mm)
2/16/09 given portacath/removed 4/30/10
2/18/09 "surprise" 2.0mm tumor/positive borders~completed 28 rads 10/09.
2/23/09 until 4/19/10~treatments every 3wks (4 Cytoxan + Adriamycin, 4 Taxol + Herceptin, 13 Herceptin alone)
8/09 osteoporosis diagnosis/Zometa 3 yrs of 1x/6 months
Chemo side effects; Deafness, kidney function loss
11/09 began Aromatase Inhibitor (Femara)/Feb2014, stopped Femara early/after 3 mos began Tamoxifen for 8 mos to complete 5 years
11/10 Reconstruction, directly to silicone implants
12/11 nipples by skin graft/Right breast size reduced
I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind
Some come from ahead and some come from behind.
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me!
Dr. Seuss
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