Teresa, I am glad you followed your instincts, and I wish you a smooth recovery!

hugs,
Oana

On 11/29/07, lizdavies01@... <lizdavies01@...> wrote:
> Oh wow, didn't know this was happening. Congratulations pn trusting your own
body. Wishing you a joyous recovery!
>
> Love,
> The Davies'
> Rob, Liz, Carter and Finn
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Teresa Howard" <georgiadoula@...>
>
> Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:54:29
> To:alaboroflove_webgroup@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [alaboroflove_webgroup] my surgery update
>
>
> Thanks for all of the prayers and thoughts regarding my surgery. On
> November 15th I went in to Northside expecting to have a prophylactic
> mastectomy with DIEP reconstruction due to my BRCA +1 status- meaning
> I carry the ovarian and breast cancer gene that causes my chance of
> cancer in those areas to be 87%. Since I had a hysterectomy 18 years
> ago- the risk was only for breast cancer.
>
> The surgery was an eight hour procedure. I did great through the
> surgery. But due to some scarring from 18 years ago, I was only able
> to have the DIEP procedure done on the left breast and for the right
> breast a bit of abdominal muscle was used to help the vascular
> integrity of the right breast.
>
> I escaped the hospital on Sunday and traveled to Julie's in Athens for
> my recovery. I was able to get out two drains before discharge. And
> returned on Tuesday to Atlanta to get the remaining four drains out.
> They were disgusting!
>
> If I ever doubted that my surgery was a mistake- which in the midst of
> pain I frequently did- the pathology report on Tuesday sealed any
> regret. Although the lump I had that proved to be benign was in my
> left breast. My right breast proved to have cancer cells. The best
> possible cancer you can have in your breast is ductal carcinoma in
> situ- DICS. So it was stage 0- non invasive, slowest growing and non
> life threatening. I meet with an oncologist in a few weeks after he
> has looked at the pathology report- but the thought from my surgeon is
> that no further treatment will be neccessary.
>
> I stayed at Julie's til the next Sunday and returned to my home in
> Lawrenceville. Pam Hannah, my best friend lined up visitors with lunch
> for a few weeks. I have been recuperating and managing to keep up with
> the company emails and getting my TIVO fix on the shows while I was away!
>
> My recovery is four to six weeks. My new "girls" look great but I am
> sore and tired a lot during this healing time. This proves to me that
> you need to listen to your intuitive voice- and move forward in a
> proactive way. I have no regrets on my decision in any way. I look
> forward to healing and being sure of my freedom from breast cancer!
>
> Thanks again for your prayers and thoughts!
>
> Teresa
>
>
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>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
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>
>