Thanks for the Mammories....

The Double Mastectomy Decision      The decision to have a double mastectomy is not an easy one.  In your head, it quickly makes the most sense...get rid of the boobs, get rid of the cancer.  But of course, it is not that easy.  Your breasts are a part of your body, a part of your self, a part of your sexuality.  Unfortunately, women often have to make this decision quickly.  Suddenly they are not only faced with a cancer diagnosis, but the difficult questions of removal and reconstruction.  It is important to remember that removing both breasts does not completely take away the risk of having breast cancer again. Though it is minimal, there is still some breast tissue left.  Many women choose to remove both for symmetrical reasons, with the hope that they will look the same.       In August 2012, I was diagnosed with breast cancer on one side, and only needed a single mastectomy. I was suddenly face with this difficult decision.  A few days later, I was offered a chance to participa

I am happy to say that I am home and functioning after my reconstruction surgery today!!  My surgery was scheduled at 1:00 pm today.  So of course, I had to stop eating and drinking at midnight.  For those of you who know me well, I love to eat, so this was a bit of a difficult task for me!  We arrived at IU Health University Hospital right on time at 11:00 am.  After confirming my name, date of birth, medications, and procedure to be done about 12 times, and having two doctors draw all over my chest with a black Sharpies, I was ready for surgery.  They let me walk down to the OR.  What a strange feeling it is to walk into your OR and jump up onto that very skinny table.  After one more round of confirming my name, date of birth, and procedure to be done, all five people in the room got busy.  The anesthesiologist was attaching very cold stickers to me.  One nurse was covering me with warm blankets, while another was putting on the blood pressure cuff.  Another nurse was putting on