What are the Odds?

What’s new in my breast cancer journey…

It’s October , which means its breast cancer awareness month, so I thought I should take this opportunity to share with you what has been going on in my breast cancer journey.

Well friends and champions, this has indeed been quite the adventure. There really hasn’t been any part of this that has been the norm. Not from the way that I discovered my breast cancer, to my journey through this breast cancer landscape, to where I am now.

If you have read my previous posts you may be aware that I discovered that I had the BRCA genetic mutation (often referred to as the cancer gene), then I found out that I already had breast cancer. I did not have any signs or symptoms of breast cancer, NONE. Only 5% of breast cancer cases are genetic, so I’m a bit of a rarity. To add to the uniqueness of my situation for the past few months I have been dealing with my implants flipping over.

Yes. Flipping over. You did read that correctly.

My breast implants are flipping over. It’s okay if you laugh, I do not take offense. I mean, really? This is just one of the strangest things and it is a bit humorous. Who knew that your boobs could be upside down? They just kind of flip over as if they have a mind of their own. So right about now I expect that you are laughing or your mouth is hanging open in shock at just how weird this is. I agree, it is.

To answer the question you are thinking, NO, this definitely is NOT normal. In fact, my surgeon has never seen this before in her 27 year career. She had not even heard that this could happen. Most plastic surgeons will never see this in their practice, and the ones that do, will likely only ever encounter this once in their entire career. It is, to say the least, a unique situation.

Next steps for me now are to replace these implants with new ones, which means another surgery. My plastic surgeon is looking into new and alternative options that will work well for me. It could be a few months before I have another surgery. In the meantime I have an amazing physical therapist that is working with me to help keep them right side up and is willing to flip them as needed. I also had my first MRI, since my mastectomy, sitting in the waiting room brought back a lot of emotions from all the testing the year prior, but I had wonderful technicians that were so warm and kind. My initial results came back clear, and I will be heading back up to OHSU this month to meet with my doctor for a check up and to go over the results in detail. For the moment, I am feeling grateful and at peace.

Friends and Champions, this has been such a wild ride, from the unconventional way that I found out, to 5 surgeries in 8 months, to flipping implants. Through it all I have found a new resilience. Determination, peace and hope have surfaced in a way I hadn’t previously experienced. I know this wild ride isn’t over, it never will be, not completely anyway. But I am here, I am still me and I am pretty happy.