melsamei's Cancer Blog
September 15, 2007
| Taxol and Surgery (bilateral mastectomy)..... | Views: 11456 |
As I progressed through chemotherapy, my bloodwork was always strong and my counts were good. I attribute the good reports to my vegeterian diet and Green Miracle(powdered drink). My 6cm tumor could no longer be felt by hand nor could my swollen lymph nodes. I knew something was working and felt confident in my treatment. I tried to convince my oncologist that I did not need the 4 rounds of Taxol(Taxol is usually administered in weekly doses for 12 weeks, I received an extra large dose every other week). Some of the side effects of Taxol are numbness in the fingers and toes. I started the Taxol and the few remnants of facial hair that I had were gone. The hair loss on my head did not bother me but losing my eyebrows and eyelashes made me upset. It bothered me to look sick. My face no longer looked the same. It was easy to wear a wig or put on a scarf but you can not hide your face. Somehow my eyebrows gave me the illusion that I looked the same. My eyelashes kept my eyes clear of debris. You do not realize how functional eyelashes are until you lose them.
I made it through the Taxol pretty quickly. By now, I had lost a lot of my energy and the treatments had taken their toll on my body. It was time to make decisions about surgery. Lumpectomy with radiation, mastectomy with radiation, bilateral mastectomy, reconstruction options, plastic surgeons. I met with so many surgeons, plastic surgeons, radiologists, etc. The choices were endless. How do you choose which path to take? Do you take the standard protocol that is used for everyone or do you take a different direction? I asked all my doctors to give me the smoking gun sales pitch for each procedure. After reviewing all the information, mastectomy seemed to be the most effective surgery (less recurrence, more people living past the 10 year mark, etc.). Then radiation, all reports had varied information but most of the time chances were 50/50. I opted not to have radiation and chose the bilateral mastectomy.
Why did I choose the bilateral and expander based reconstruction? After reviewing hundreds of photos in the plastic surgeons office, the bilateral rebuilds always looked better than a single mastectomy rebuild. The bilaterals were symmetrical and perfect. It made sense, how can you match an old breast to a new breast? Next, the expander based reconstruction is much less invasive than the Tram Flap or Lat Flap procedures. If I was sedentary, either of those procedures would have been great. Also, I did not have enough fat in my abdomen to rebuild 2 breasts. Most of my friends volunteered theirs.
I had my surgery on May 16, 2007. I was scared and did not know what I would feel like when I awoke. It was comforting to see my surgeon and plastic surgeon before the surgery. Somehow, I had great confidence and trust in their abilities. I remember going down the hall and waking up. My arms could not move, my chest hurt and I felt nauseated. I knew that I was in a post-op room but I was soooo groggy from the anesthesia. Finally, I was wheeled to my room. A beautiful suite and all my family was there. My dad, my mother, my grandmother, my uncle…. Flowers galore. It hurt to move any part of my body. I just laid there listening to them. I did not want to look down or see my body. The first night was rough. The next morning, I had to get up and use the toilet. Just the action of sitting up was painful. Then, I had to move to the bathroom. Of course, by afternoon all doctors had made the rounds and I was ready for day 2 post-op. Day 2, my i.v. went bad and I switched to oral pain relief but I was feeling better. Day 3, my daughter came to visit and spend the night with me. She looked at my wounds and conversed with my doctors about them. I still did not want to look. Day 4 post-op, I take a shower. Very difficult because I had 4 drains (2 on each side) but at least I have bathed. Day 5 – I must be feeling better because I fought with the hospital and insurance about needing 1 more night. Day 6 – I go home…
Taxol and Surgery (bilateral mastectomy)....., 
3 comments)
05.04.08 - 
Thanks for your support -
I had the same feeling as you about the eyebrows. The hair on my head was no big deal, but the eyebrows was are to take.. My eyebrows didn’t fall out till after I was done with all of my chemo..
I know we go through alot but it is so worth it. It’s like being reborn again. Good luck in your journey
I can really relate to everything you’ve been through. I wanted to do a bilateral mastectomy, but my doctors advised me to just do surgery on the breast with the cancer, and wait until after radiation to perform an additional mastectomy on the other breast. They were concerned that if I got an infection after removing the “healthy” breast, that it would delay my radiation treatment. Anyways, I am now finished with radiation and meeting with the plastic surgeon today. I wondered why you didn’t do radiation? I didn’t check into all the risks associated with plastic surgery and radiation and now that it’s over… I’m starting to worry! I guess I’ll find out soon enough when I meet with the surgeon this afternoon. You were diagnosed at almost the exact same time as me, same age also. I also don’t know what stage I was… because the tumor size is still in question. I had a biopsy at the time the mammogram was taken, so some think that the MRI (taken afterward the biopsy) measured the tumor plus the swelling that resulted from the biopsy. I also don’t know how well I responded to chemotherapy. My tumor was still 1.1 cm when they took it out. I also had two positive lymph nodes, one measuring 5 mm after surgery. So… I’m just hoping that the Tamoxifen is doing its job! Good luck with the rest of your treatments. From your pictures, it looks like you have a wonderful support network! That’s so important.