This Time Last Year
It’s October 1st, marking the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
This time last year, I was just finishing my eighth and final round of chemotherapy. While I was pretty active documenting my time throughout egg freezing and chemo, I went quiet on social media come mid-October. So now, I’d like to fill you in on the gaps of time spent offline last year.
While the treatment process up until this point was far from easy, there seemed to be a guided road map of sorts. For those who don't know, there is a very specific chemo regimen for my kind of hormone-positive breast cancer. It’s about as aggressive and intense as it gets, but it's tried and true and has been used regularly since the 70s.
The surgery portion of my journey could not have been more opposite. No guide. No roadmap. There seemed to be no clear way to go about this next step. I received numerous conflicting opinions from doctors who all had their own ways of doing things and felt strongly that theirs was right. It became very apparent, very quickly, that this decision would be a personal one that I would need to navigate with attention and care. The consequences of this decision felt as weighty as they were: potentially fatal and forever.
I was meeting with surgeons left and right, discussing various surgery options, procedures, types of implants, and the list goes on. I became fluent in the language of breast surgery. A new vocabulary was learned: over the muscle, under the muscle, lumpectomy, single mastectomy, double mastectomy, lymph node dissection, sentinel node biopsy, tissue expanders, straight to implant, silicon, radiated tissue, and capsular contraction. I felt like I learned ten years’ worth of medical school content in two weeks.
It was too much. I stopped posting online, narrowing communication to a small circle of friends and family. I was exhausted, frustrated, and unsatisfied with the options presented to me. Due to a time crunch, and the immense pressure I was under, I went ahead and scheduled a surgery date with a surgeon in Los Angeles, California.
Let me make it clear: you should never have to “settle” for decisions about your body. Especially ones that could be life-altering. Any choice made regarding your health should be one that YOU feel comfortable with and empowered by.
Here's where Jill McKeon comes in. Jill McKeon is the best patient advocate I know; she also happens to be my mother. After extensive research and many sleepless nights, she came across Dr. Anne Peled, who runs her practice out of northern California.
Dr. Peled, who is a breast cancer survivor herself, approached my case with a patience and warmth that I had not yet encountered.
She’s also on the cutting edge of new technologies and is an innovator in the world of breast surgery. She showed me before and after pictures that looked seamless, and even accommodated aesthetic changes like augmentations or reductions at her patients’ requests.
We soon canceled our original appointment with the surgeon in Los Angeles and got on board with this new plan of action. Although I never would have wished for this surgery, I truly began to feel confident in the decisions I was making for my body.
Dr. Peled was also the only surgeon to share with me her choice of implants: Sientra. Sientra’s safety profile is incredible,1 offering the most comprehensive and longest warranty of any breast implant manufacturer. Choosing an implant brand with a strong safety profile was extremely important to me – I’m young and I’ve got a long life to live! The fewer complications in the future, the better!
I want women to know that they have choices when taking on the surgery phase of treatment. Find a surgeon that you truly love and genuinely want to work with in the process of educating yourself and assessing your options. Don’t settle for less.
I believe this made the biggest difference in how I view my body today. I’m not sure if it was all of the preemptive grieving I did while preparing for surgery or how much I loved my results, which are so natural looking and feeling, but a mastectomy was not nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be. If you’d like to know more about this part of my journey or have specific questions: my DMs are always open. <3
A mastectomy and reconstruction do not mean the end of confidence – I promise!!!
XO,
M <3
I encourage you to learn more about Sientra and their commitment to safety! This content is sponsored. For more information about Sientra visit: https://sientra.com/breast-reconstruction/
Reference:
1. Stevens WG, Calobrace MB, Alizadeh A, Zeidler KR, Harrington JL, d’Incelli RC. Ten-year core study data for Sientra’s Food and Drug Administration—approved round and shaped breast implants with cohesive silicone gel. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2018;141(4S):7S-19S.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: Sientra’s Silicone Gel Breast Implants are indicated for breast augmentation in women at least 22 years old and for breast reconstruction. Breast augmentation includes primary breast augmentation to increase the breast size, as well as revision surgery to correct or improve the result of primary breast augmentation surgery. Breast reconstruction includes primary reconstruction to replace breast tissue that has been removed due to cancer or trauma or that has failed to develop properly due to a severe breast abnormality. Breast reconstruction also includes revision surgery to correct or improve the results of a primary breast reconstruction surgery. Breast implant surgery is contraindicated in women with active infection anywhere in their bodies, with existing cancer or pre-cancer of their breast who have not received adequate treatment for those conditions and, who are pregnant or nursing. Key complications include capsular contracture, implant removal, rupture and reoperation. For more detailed information about the risks and benefits of Sientra breast implants, please visit sientra.com/resources or call Sientra at 888.708.0808. Sientra breast implants with high-strength cohesive silicone gel are only available through board-certified or board-eligible plastic surgeons.
The sale and distribution of this device is restricted to users and/or user facilities that provide information to patients about the risks and benefits of this device in the form and manner specified in the approved labeling provided by Sientra, Inc.
