Jenn

I don’t know how I feel about Pinktober. I think most people are aware of how common breast cancer is. Breast cancer fundraisers are everywhere, but most of the money raised goes toward breast cancer prevention and early detection efforts. Very little of it, only 2-3%, is dedicated toward research for Stage IV, metastatic breast cancer.

The expanders stay in for a couple of months, and then you have another surgery to exchange the expanders for implants. The plastic surgeon threw me for a loop when he asked me if I wanted fat grafting. The surgery took about 2 hours. The surgeon told my parents in the waiting room that everything went well and that he was “very pleased” with the results.

When the forecasters said the storm was still a Category 5 and our area would take a direct hit, our family of five (and dog) hastily evacuated. We headed to the west coast, since Irma did not look like she was going to hit Tampa. Then we headed further north and west into the Panhandle, where my husband’s aunt offered us a home where we could stay. It wasn’t going to hit our home after all.

When I had my double mastectomy, they inserted devices called tissue expanders in the areas of my chest where my breasts used to reside. Then you leave the expanders in for a couple months in order to stretch and prepare the skin and muscle for implants. In September, the tissue expanders will be removed and replaced with implants in a surgery called “The Exchange”. The surgeon brings different sizes of implants into the surgery to figure out which ones look best.