Honoring our Ancestors
I was talking to an old friend today, and I realized I have a whole new family to feel grateful for. All the women who have been through breast cancer treatment before me, who participated in studies and gave of their own bodies.
All the things my doctors are doing for me, all the things they "know" about how to treat me, are based upon those women. It blows me away every time how much we "know" now about how much we need to remove with the tumor, which chemo drugs to take and how much, which drugs prevent recurrence. Even with my reconstruction, my plastic surgeon knows he needs to put an expander in me to create a "breast shape" out of my pec muscle and skin, before he puts an implant in. And that's because another doctor tried putting one in another woman with a mastectomy, and her muscle squished the implant flat, and they realized they needed to do something else. And how many women did it take to figure out the expander? How many surgeries?
Thank you ladies. Thank you so much.
I am proud I am doing my part, I'm in three studies- I hope in the future it's even better for those who must unfortunately encounter this on their path.
All the things my doctors are doing for me, all the things they "know" about how to treat me, are based upon those women. It blows me away every time how much we "know" now about how much we need to remove with the tumor, which chemo drugs to take and how much, which drugs prevent recurrence. Even with my reconstruction, my plastic surgeon knows he needs to put an expander in me to create a "breast shape" out of my pec muscle and skin, before he puts an implant in. And that's because another doctor tried putting one in another woman with a mastectomy, and her muscle squished the implant flat, and they realized they needed to do something else. And how many women did it take to figure out the expander? How many surgeries?
Thank you ladies. Thank you so much.
I am proud I am doing my part, I'm in three studies- I hope in the future it's even better for those who must unfortunately encounter this on their path.