About
four months following double mastectomy surgery, Debbie began the slow
process of breast reconstruction with a visit to her plastic surgeon.
She had just completed her chemotherapy treatments. In these pictures,
she is "marked" for tissue expansion surgery
in an appointment the day before the surgery. A Sharpie pen was used by
her surgeon, providing a kind of map for him to follow during surgery.
Debbie had many appointments with her surgeon leading up to
reconstruction to discuss all of her options.
During the surgery, Debbie will essentially have small balloons, called tissue expanders,
inserted beneath the skin and chest muscle - where that small excess of
skin was left at the time of the double mastectomy. At subsequent
appointments, the surgeon will inject a measured amount of saline into
the expanders, which will help stretch the skin in preparation for
permanent implants later. The tissue expansion surgery lasts about 45
minutes and was performed at the hospital. Debbie was under general
anesthesia for the procedure.
This
is Debbie following tissue expansion surgery. After inserting the tiny
balloons during surgery, her surgeon also injected 200cc's of saline
into each breast (while she was still under anesthesia) to begin to
stretch her skin. He also removed the chemotherapy port below her
collarbone, which was no longer needed. You will notice throughout the
remainder of the pictures that Debbie's port scar heals very nicely.
Gathered near her waistline are the tubes from the drains that she went
home with, which are similar to those she had following double
mastectomy surgery. Some women do not require drains following tissue
expansion surgery; your doctor will decide this during the procedure.
For Debbie, the surgical drains were used to remove excess fluid from
the site.
Debbie's reaction following the tissue expander surgery was a difficult one. Not only was she sore and uncomfortable, but after being without a chest for several months and anxiously looking forward to returning to something more like normal, she found very little had changed. Mentally, she expected to look down and see a noticeable difference in her chest; instead, at this point in reconstruction, very little expansion had taken place.
What's more, she had to deal with the inconvenience of drains again. "Even though I think I knew how it would be through all the meetings that my doctor and I had had, when the day actually came, I was really disappointed," Debbie said.
Like many young, professional women, before her diagnosis, Debbie was accustomed to her personal independence, to being in full control of her life. She was able to accomplish what she wanted on a time schedule that suited her. It was around this stage in the reconstruction process, then, that she became anxious to be finished with the challenges associated with the disease and its aftermath. She had given her body over to medicine after her diagnosis, and now, post-treatment, it seemed to be taking forever to recapture her old self. Her surgeon recognized this and talked with Debbie about the need for patience. A good support system is crucial during this process, not just from friends and family members, but from your medical team especially - Debbie had that.
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