Today, 12 days Post Mastectomy with DTI Reconstruction was supposed to be a happy day. Today I showered for the first time in 12 days - a full shower including washing my hair - myself! I woke up done with my medication, including my pain medication even though I’m still in pain I’ve made it manageable with Tylenol. Today at 5:13pm my world changed. I heard the words “It was cancer” “You had cancer” when my breast surgeon called me with my pathology results. I had a very rare form of breast cancer - a malignant Phyllodes tumor. The most common treatment for this form of tumor is a Mastectomy, which I clearly got. Why am I so scared then as my surgeon spoke in past tense? I still have a lesion on my liver and ovary, that like my tumor that was there for years have come up benign on imaging. For years (many) I’ve had breast tumors (with a past scare including a lumpectomy in 2014) - even though my malignant tumor was large it was always a “wait and see” approach. That is, until I hunted out my breast surgeon as I knew something was wrong and she fought very hard to not only get my surgery approved but connecting her schedule with my plastic surgeon as well. I hope this cancer wasn’t in my body long enough to spread, I hope that I didn’t wait too long, I hope that the other lesions (that I at least know about) are benign. I will be very proactive about my health now - I will be getting every scan necessary, every blood and gene test,seeing every specialist I can. I will never let a doctor to tell me to “wait,see,follow up in 6 months” again. I am sad, I am scared, I am angry. I don’t remember much after 5:13pm tonight but I am not okay. It’s okay to not be okay. I’ll have more information on testing plans and pathology knowledge on Friday after my appointment with my breast surgeon. #mastectomy #breastcancerawareness #breastcancer #phyllodes #breastreconstruction #fightlikeagirl #positivevibes https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl9pndQFCqX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=9pz2wsex73xv
