Breast Cancer

I remember when I found the lump six years ago this week.  I wasn't worried because I thought it was nothing to be worried about.  I'd felt a small squishy lump back in January of that year and my doctor wasn't concerned...said it was just my 'cystic breasts' (that should have been a tip off...I'd never had cysts before).  Then when the diagnoses came in the middle of July of '04 that it was metastatic breast cancer I was in so much shock that I made all of the appointments in an autonomic haze.  The surgeon, the plastic surgeon, the oncologist...I did everything by the book so when the plastic surgeon was positive that I would look better than I already did, I totally believed him.

Today, someone asked me on Facebook about reconstructive surgery after breast cancer.  Here is my reply to her and really it is to all women who read this.  "I tried for reconstruction myself but the silicon sac they implanted before I was closed up after surgery failed to inflate. My body formed a thick coat of scar tissue around it so now I have a worse scar than someone having a radical mastectomy...the skin just covers the bone :(

BUT...I wear my scar proudly and usually don't wear a prosthetic unless it's a formal event or I'm going to be with someone I know will be bothered by my 'deformity'. The way I look at it, God wants me to be this way and if walking around with a single boob makes some woman gasp and think..."OMG I hope that never happens to me and then goes and gets a mammogram" then my mission continues to be successful :)"