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Health & Fitness

Becoming an Amazon

My first cancer transformation: A right mastectomy.

In Greek mythology, the Amazons were a tribe of women warriors who had their right breasts removed so they would be able to use a bow, arrow and spears more freely in battle. Removing my right breast was the first step of my battle with breast cancer.

I arrived at Middlesex Hospital early on the morning of March 16th, 2010. After getting changed into my lovely new hospital clothes, I was able to hang out with my mother, father and aunt for a little while.  After all the doctors had autographed my right boob (kind of like being at a rock concert) to confirm that it really was the bad one, my aunt and parents said goodbye and headed back to the waiting room.

This was the first time that I cried because I was actually sad about what was going to happen. The gravity of the situation swept in as they left the room and I would have given anything at that moment to leave with them and forget the whole thing. The surgery was going to take approximately 5 hours or so because I was also having reconstruction surgery after the actual mastectomy. I remember being wheeled into the OR and all I really remember was seeing the gleaming surgical instruments lined up. There wasn't enough time for it to sink in that they would all be used on me. Before I knew it I was knocked out and when I awoke I was in recovery. I drifted in and out on my way up to South 4 (the oncology floor at Middlesex) but I was awake enough to remember seeing my family already in my room waiting for me. The next day, several coworkers came into see me, as did other family members. Later in the afternoon, my best friend from high school came into see me. This would have been an ordinary visit had she not just returned from her tour of duty in Iraq. She quite literally had just gotten off the plane at Bradley and was on her way home toDurham when she and her mom stopped in. Still dressed in fatigues, she brought a balloon and a much needed visit since we hadn't seen each other in a while.

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I remember not wanting to look down at my surgical site while I was in the hospital. It wasn't that I didn't want to see the incision but I just didn't to see that there was nothing there anymore. Before I went to thehospital I took pictures so I could remember what I looked like. I ended up documenting much of my transition from mastectomy to implant with my digital camera. No one will ever see those pictures, but I wanted some visual documentation to go along with the journal I was keeping. Plus I wanted to see before and after images as I continued to go through reconstructive surgeries.

 I spent two nights in the hospital and then went home to recuperate with my parents. Before I left, I received a pneumonia shot and I soon developed a very sore arm which turned into a swollen, very red arm. I was unable to use my right arm after the
surgery but the allergic reaction caused my left arm to be unusable as well. I partially attribute gaining my range of motion back on the ride side to the fact that I couldn't use my left arm. The most painful portion of this part of the recovery was the two drains that I had attached to a lanyard that I wore around my neck. I had to record the amount of fluid before I emptied them as they continued to draw fluid away from the surgical site. I spent two weeks with those drains before my plastic surgeon removed them and I remember feeling amazing after they were taken out. There wasn't any more irritation, tugging or
pain. What was very strange during the months following my surgery was that I had phantom pains where my right breast had been. I'd have a pain or itch and then I'd look down and there was nothing where the pain was coming from.

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It wasn't long after my surgery that I decided I wanted to look into a career change. A career in nursing all of a sudden made perfect sense and this feeling increased as I continued my recovery and began chemotherapy.  I would like to become an oncology nurse and eventually a breast cancer nurse navigator. I want to be a resource for other young women because there is such a lack of information available for women under 30 who are dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis. I want to give back since my medical team gave me so much.

I visited Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana Farber Hospital in Boston the first weekend in April to discuss all the results of my surgery. My oncologist and I both thought second opinions were wise so I met with a second oncologist and a fertility specialist because I was undecided about whether or not I would move forward with egg preservation. (I decided not to.)

Luckily, all of my doctors were on the same page with what my next treatment would be. I was scheduled to start chemotherapy on April 23rd, 2010,
and would receive four rounds of Cytoxan and Taxotere. As luck would have it, my last treatment would occur on my 27th birthday in June.

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