I don't remember when I first heard about The SCAR Project. It was probably through the YSC. Yesterday, D and I got to visit the last day of the 2nd annual gallery exhibit of The SCAR Project, a collection of images of young women facing breast cancer, beautifully photographed by David Jay.
The SCAR Project website explains:
The mission is three-fold: raise public consciousness of early-onset breast cancer, raise funds for breast cancer research/outreach programs and help young survivors see their scars, faces, figures and experiences through a new, honest and ultimately empowering lens.
For me, this project is so special because when I was doing my research for my own cancer surgeries and decision-making, the one thing I could not find enough of was good examples, and images, of other young women who had been through a similar experience.
I hope to soon get involved with this project. Please check it out here:
The SCAR Project website
The SCAR Project Facebook Page
Also, last month I participated in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Central Park, as part of the New York-Presbyterian hospital team. I raised nearly 2X my $250 goal and it was a nice way to celebrate finally circling back around to a year since this all began! Click here for my donation page and for more information please go to the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer website.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Can't a girl catch a break?!
Last night I had emergency surgery to remove an ovarian cyst I didn't know I had. What's worse is I am smack in the middle of my orientation for a new internship program I have started.
Saturday night D and I were celebrating his grandfather's birthday with his whole family. I was having weird discomfort all night but I thought it was a GI issue - - maybe I ate too much or had gas or something. Trying to go to the bathroom didn't help though.
I made it through all of Sunday (yesterday) feeling perfectly fine as usual. Then, around 10 or 10:30 PM I started developing a bit of an abdominal pain that started spreading and becoming more and more painful and violent. Before I knew it I was crying in excrutiating pain (and I actually have a really high pain tolerance!). I was pretty sure it must have something to do with my new IUD. If not, then it had to be GI-related or maybe a UTI.
We called my OB/GYN since the IUD was my first thought. She was concerned I could be pregnant despite the IUD, or have ruptured a cyst. She advised us to go to the hospital she is affiliated with so that she could come take care of me if my condition warranted a visit from her.
While trying to put on some clothes to wear to the hospital, I ended up sprawled on my bedroom floor in pain. Something was definitely wrong.
At the hospital, once we finally were given a bed in the ER, my doctor's team, a resident and a PA, came to see me. After a pregnancy test turned out negative, they explained they were concerned I had a cyst and did an ultrasound to look for one. Sure enough, I had a moderate to large cyst (5 x 7 cm) on one of my ovaries. They explained how a cyst can cut off the blood flow to an ovary so you have to remove a big threatening cyst like that or you can lose your ovary. They were pretty sure I was going to have to go immediately into emergency surgery, but were waiting for my doctor for the final word.
When my doctor came she basically confirmed everything they said except that she didn't think the blood flow to the ovary was being cut off. That said, it was a large cyst and I was in a lot of pain, so there was no room to send me home "under observation" - - I was definitely going into surgery ASAP. I would not be going back home without having surgery first.
By the time I was being wheeled into surgery it was probably around 4AM this (Monday) morning. As they pushed me to the OR in a wheelchair, all I could think was "I can't believe I'm about to have another surgery!" It just didn't seem real. It didn't seem possible!
Before the surgery my doctor had explained that depending what kinds of incisions she had to make and what she found once inside, I could be in the hospital anywhere from just that day, to three days, to up to a week. Fortunately, I ended up with the most ideal situation: she was able to do the surgery laparoscopically, with just a slit above either hipbone, and the ovary was not cut off from its blood source and did not have to be removed. I could leave the same day. (Since coming home I found out from D that the cyst actually ruptured sometime between the ultrasound and the surgery.)
I spent the whole morning recovering in the PACU. I was allowed to eat but my mouth was so dry and no amount of ice chips, water, tea, cranberry juice or losenges was helping. So I felt like I was choking on the eggs that my brother-in-law brought back for me. When D brought sugary croissants it was exactly what I needed to get the salivary juices flowing! I also finally managed to pee too. I had a lot of discomfort but as soon as my CBC results came back normal, I could go home!
I was given some basic discharge instructions and a presription for percocet, which I had already had at home from my last surgery. At home I took some drugs and then we snacked and napped. As soon as the 6 hours of drug effectiveness was up, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my abdomen. I took more drugs and we ate dinner. Now, I am still walking funny and sitting up straight is a challenge, but the drugs help enough that I am going to try to make it back to school tomorrow. Wish me luck!
What a night.
Saturday night D and I were celebrating his grandfather's birthday with his whole family. I was having weird discomfort all night but I thought it was a GI issue - - maybe I ate too much or had gas or something. Trying to go to the bathroom didn't help though.
I made it through all of Sunday (yesterday) feeling perfectly fine as usual. Then, around 10 or 10:30 PM I started developing a bit of an abdominal pain that started spreading and becoming more and more painful and violent. Before I knew it I was crying in excrutiating pain (and I actually have a really high pain tolerance!). I was pretty sure it must have something to do with my new IUD. If not, then it had to be GI-related or maybe a UTI.
We called my OB/GYN since the IUD was my first thought. She was concerned I could be pregnant despite the IUD, or have ruptured a cyst. She advised us to go to the hospital she is affiliated with so that she could come take care of me if my condition warranted a visit from her.
While trying to put on some clothes to wear to the hospital, I ended up sprawled on my bedroom floor in pain. Something was definitely wrong.
At the hospital, once we finally were given a bed in the ER, my doctor's team, a resident and a PA, came to see me. After a pregnancy test turned out negative, they explained they were concerned I had a cyst and did an ultrasound to look for one. Sure enough, I had a moderate to large cyst (5 x 7 cm) on one of my ovaries. They explained how a cyst can cut off the blood flow to an ovary so you have to remove a big threatening cyst like that or you can lose your ovary. They were pretty sure I was going to have to go immediately into emergency surgery, but were waiting for my doctor for the final word.
When my doctor came she basically confirmed everything they said except that she didn't think the blood flow to the ovary was being cut off. That said, it was a large cyst and I was in a lot of pain, so there was no room to send me home "under observation" - - I was definitely going into surgery ASAP. I would not be going back home without having surgery first.
By the time I was being wheeled into surgery it was probably around 4AM this (Monday) morning. As they pushed me to the OR in a wheelchair, all I could think was "I can't believe I'm about to have another surgery!" It just didn't seem real. It didn't seem possible!
Before the surgery my doctor had explained that depending what kinds of incisions she had to make and what she found once inside, I could be in the hospital anywhere from just that day, to three days, to up to a week. Fortunately, I ended up with the most ideal situation: she was able to do the surgery laparoscopically, with just a slit above either hipbone, and the ovary was not cut off from its blood source and did not have to be removed. I could leave the same day. (Since coming home I found out from D that the cyst actually ruptured sometime between the ultrasound and the surgery.)
I spent the whole morning recovering in the PACU. I was allowed to eat but my mouth was so dry and no amount of ice chips, water, tea, cranberry juice or losenges was helping. So I felt like I was choking on the eggs that my brother-in-law brought back for me. When D brought sugary croissants it was exactly what I needed to get the salivary juices flowing! I also finally managed to pee too. I had a lot of discomfort but as soon as my CBC results came back normal, I could go home!
I was given some basic discharge instructions and a presription for percocet, which I had already had at home from my last surgery. At home I took some drugs and then we snacked and napped. As soon as the 6 hours of drug effectiveness was up, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my abdomen. I took more drugs and we ate dinner. Now, I am still walking funny and sitting up straight is a challenge, but the drugs help enough that I am going to try to make it back to school tomorrow. Wish me luck!
What a night.
Friday, August 5, 2011
The Pink Daisy Project
I just read about this great resource in this article on CNN.com
Check out their website here: The Pink Daisy Project
Check out their website here: The Pink Daisy Project
Friday, July 29, 2011
Breast Cancer in the News - - Here's What I'm Reading
When a Breast Cancer Surgeon's Mother Undergoes a Double Mastectomy
Washingtonian - July 5, 2011
Brooklyn Cancer Survivor Receives Donations Of Breast Milk For Her Baby
CBS New York - July 28, 2011
Breast Cancer: Tamoxifen Saves Lives but Some Women Go Without It - ABC News
July 29, 2011
Washingtonian - July 5, 2011
Brooklyn Cancer Survivor Receives Donations Of Breast Milk For Her Baby
CBS New York - July 28, 2011
Breast Cancer: Tamoxifen Saves Lives but Some Women Go Without It - ABC News
July 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Clean Boob of Health
If you hadn't guessed by my month-long departure from this blog, we finally went on that long-awaited, much-deserved vacation I had been looking forward to. We went to Brussels, with day trips to Bruges, Leuven & Amsterdam, for about 9 days in May and had a wonderful time. Usually when we go on vacation I can immediately forget about everything I'm leaving behind and just bask in the relaxation and fun and culture of the trip. This time, it took me until at least half-way through the trip to finally start to relax and shed all the stress I had brought with me. Leading up to the trip I had been trying to finish up all my coursework, from my two incomplete classes at school. I had assignments and exams to makeup and was such a stressed-out mess that my face broke out in stress-induced dermatitis (according to my new dermatologist). We've been back from Brussels just over two weeks now and I'm finally beginning to feel like a normal person again. And it's summer, my favorite time of year, so I'm the happiest girl in America right now!
Today was my first post-mastectomy, post-implants mammogram of my right breast. I was really nervous about squishing my implant in that crazy machine. I had to sign a paper stating that I understand that while it is extremely uncommon, there is a possibility of implant rupture and further, that the benefit of the screening outweighs the risk of an implant rupture. It was explained to me that normally only two images are taken of each breast (only one breast in my case), but that with implants four images are taken: two of the whole breast (front & side) and two of just as much breast tissue as they can image while pushing the implant as far into the back of your chest as possible (front & side). I have had a mammogram before so I wasn't surprised by the yanking and pulling, followed by incredible pressure; but when the technician had to push the implant out of the way in order to take a picture of just breast tissue alone, that was definitely a bit uncomfortable. In the end all that matters is that when the doctor called me to her office to review the results of the exam, she gave me a clean boob of health! Woohoo!
My technician was a young girl who's friend was just diagnosed with breast cancer. The friend, who is only 37, has two young children. I told her to please tell her friend about Young Survival Coalition, so I think it's fitting that I give another "shout out" here to the YSC. Young Survival Coalition's website and support group meetings were very helpful to me before each of my surgeries. Check out their website here.
Today was my first post-mastectomy, post-implants mammogram of my right breast. I was really nervous about squishing my implant in that crazy machine. I had to sign a paper stating that I understand that while it is extremely uncommon, there is a possibility of implant rupture and further, that the benefit of the screening outweighs the risk of an implant rupture. It was explained to me that normally only two images are taken of each breast (only one breast in my case), but that with implants four images are taken: two of the whole breast (front & side) and two of just as much breast tissue as they can image while pushing the implant as far into the back of your chest as possible (front & side). I have had a mammogram before so I wasn't surprised by the yanking and pulling, followed by incredible pressure; but when the technician had to push the implant out of the way in order to take a picture of just breast tissue alone, that was definitely a bit uncomfortable. In the end all that matters is that when the doctor called me to her office to review the results of the exam, she gave me a clean boob of health! Woohoo!
My technician was a young girl who's friend was just diagnosed with breast cancer. The friend, who is only 37, has two young children. I told her to please tell her friend about Young Survival Coalition, so I think it's fitting that I give another "shout out" here to the YSC. Young Survival Coalition's website and support group meetings were very helpful to me before each of my surgeries. Check out their website here.
Friday, May 6, 2011
S-T-R-E-S-S
The word "stress" does not even begin to describe what I've been experiencing the past few weeks. Between still reeling from our cancer experience, running around like crazy in order to take make-up classes at school during lunch breaks and early evenings from work, and deadlines for a final paper and final exam approaching, plus the non-stop stampeding of the toddler upstairs, I've been ready to blow my top any second.
Over the past two or three weeks I developed some scaly dry red patches under my nose and on my chin. I went to a dermatologist who decided it looked like a type of dermatitis triggered by...you guessed it, stress! She said "Have you been under a lot of stress recently?" My first reaction was just to laugh. Sometimes when there's nothing else left, that is all you can do. This morning, D went to a cardiologist for a chest pain he'd been having. After thoroughly checking his heart and lungs it turns out it's probably just...yep, stress.
The good news is that after busting my butt for the past few weeks, I've crossed most of my responsibilities off my list and this weekend all I need to do is make two tiny adjustments to my final paper and continue studying for my exam next Wednesday. I'm so prepared that I don't have to cram all weekend either. Our yoga teacher is out tomorrow but I think we're gonna hit up our back-up yoga spot. The best news of all? Our vacation is getting closer and closer.
Over the past two or three weeks I developed some scaly dry red patches under my nose and on my chin. I went to a dermatologist who decided it looked like a type of dermatitis triggered by...you guessed it, stress! She said "Have you been under a lot of stress recently?" My first reaction was just to laugh. Sometimes when there's nothing else left, that is all you can do. This morning, D went to a cardiologist for a chest pain he'd been having. After thoroughly checking his heart and lungs it turns out it's probably just...yep, stress.
The good news is that after busting my butt for the past few weeks, I've crossed most of my responsibilities off my list and this weekend all I need to do is make two tiny adjustments to my final paper and continue studying for my exam next Wednesday. I'm so prepared that I don't have to cram all weekend either. Our yoga teacher is out tomorrow but I think we're gonna hit up our back-up yoga spot. The best news of all? Our vacation is getting closer and closer.
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