My Self Together Again !!!!!

"First of all I would just like to thank you all for the work you are doing and the awareness you are bringing to the subject of mastectomy and reconstruction. I am a 51 year old woman, I will be having a double prophylactic mastectomy and immediate reconstruction with tissue expanders. I am scared to death, but also know that this is the best decision for myself and my family to reduce my risks. Watching the slide show was extremely emotional but also comforting. Thank you. I am more than willing to help spread this message in ANY way that I can. I would use any materials to help Chicago and its surrounding areas to be more aware and accepting of this subject. Thank you for this Blog to prepare me and give me information much needed for such a serious and complicated process. Makes it much less frightening !!!!

Finallly coming to about Reconstruction for me

I have been bitten by the cancer bug for the past 10 years. I have had 2 reoccurences , going thru chemo time and time again. I am know finally after 7 years deciding on going thru with reconstruction.
I was unable to with my first bout go straight to reconstruction. My doctors ordered me to go straight to chemo and radiation, and I felt a need to at the time take their direction. So I did.
After dealing with a double mastectomy, and the healing of that, I could only think of getting as far away from anything I could of had to do with cancer or hospitals or doctors etc. etc.etc.
Honestly, I was still married at the time and my husband did not seem to care which made it easier for me to decide to let it go for now. So I did.
Three years later and now after my second reoccurence I am looking at the possibility of getting new breasts finally, Reconstruction. I have to say there is so much to learn about the subject, and everyone is different, body type, etc. Even doctors have different ideas of how to do it depending on how your body is shaped.
I have very little skin on my left side, it is so tight due to surgery and scar tissue , and on my right side alot more skin, a little fat, so I would imagine it will be different.
I am not afraid of the surgery but a little anxious on how it may look in the end.
I will keep you posted on my research and when it all comes to fruition.
Keep posted for now, it is a whole new ballgame from here, a whole new world will open up I am sure.
Maureen

Cancer Myths

First i want to say I did try the previous recipe that i shared in my last post for sleep and I believe it did help, i will continue and share my results. Secondly: Rumors. Sometimes they make me crazy, hearing all these words, I have learned to just not listen sometimes. Kind of like what i don't hear won't hurt me.

Just a few of the rumors I hear about cancer often:

1. THE RISK OF DYING FROM CANCER IS INCREASING IN THE U.S., ACTUALLY ACCORDING TO REPORTS LISTED BY AMERICIAN CANCER SOCIETY, BOTH NUMBER OF DEATHS AND NUMBER OF NEW DIAGNOSES OF CANCER HAS DECLINED STEADILY IN RECENT YEARS.

2. ONLY SMOKERS GET LUNG CANCER. NOT TRUE.. WHILE SMOKING DOES ACCOUNT FOR THE MAJORITY OF LUNG CANCER DEATHS, 10-15% OF LUNG CANCER DEATHS DO OCCUR IN NONSMOKERS.

3. LASTLY, THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY REPORTS, THERE IS NO GOOD EVIDENCE THAT SUPPORTS A LINK BETWEEN BREAST CANCER RISK AND ANTIPERSPIRANT USE."

Will new airport body scanners increase hassles for breast cancer survivors?

Change is not always necessarily good.

Earlier this month, a New York Times article offered up a few first impressions on the new full body-screening devices coming soon to an airport near you.

Currently, reporter Joe Sharkey writes, the Transportation Security Administration "has 105 of them at 31 airports, and is awarding contracts to have about 450 installed at various airports by the end of this year. Eventually, these machines [technically, "millimeter wave scanning machines"] will replace the familiar magnetometers that you walk through at checkpoints."

The article drew a "robust reader response."

Sharkey shares some of it in a follow-up column today. While most of the feedback concerns the lousy (and even hostile in some cases) attitude of the TSA screeners, one specific reader experience is worth sharing here with you as an fyi:

[T]he body scanners, which detect mass rather than just metal, have introduced complications for some women who are breast cancer survivors. One woman, who asked that her name not be used, said a female screener had asked her to step aside after a body scan. “She asked if I had had any surgery to my chest area, and I responded that I had had a mastectomy and that I wore a silicone breast prosthesis. She thanked me, said, ‘Affirmative’ into the headset.”

Asked about the readers’ comments, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, Greg Soule, said passengers with medical devices outside the body, like a breast prosthesis or a colostomy bag, “will be offered a private screening.”

Brave new world, here we come...

If you've had any experience with these new scanners or wish to share your thoughts on this, please leave a comment.