Every scar tells a story. Here’s Angi’s:
Angi Navarro
I got my first port in April 2005. I was told I should probably get a port prior to chemo (for breast cancer), so I found a general surgeon who could perform the surgery ASAP. I only had to do four rounds of chemo, but I didn’t want to take any chances with ruining my veins. As it is, I only have one arm which can be used since I had lymph nodes removed on the other side. After I completed my chemotherapy, I went ahead and set a date to have it removed, since it was pretty much useless as far as using it instead of an IV for surgery and such. My general surgeon didn’t find it necessary to take me back into the OR to remove my port. Instead she did it right in her office, claiming it wouldn’t hurt. At the time I had it removed, only three months had passed. So when she took a scalpel and sliced through the original incision, she was cutting through a healing wound — and it hurt. The site never healed correctly after that. Scar tissue formed on top of scar tissue. But still, it wasn’t all bad.
In 2008, when my cancer returned, it was thought that I would have to endure chemo again. So when the breast surgeon went in to remove bits of my chest wall, she placed a port so I wouldn’t need another surgical procedure. It wound up unnecessary, as I underwent radiation instead. The port sat unused until April of this year. I was undergoing breast reconstruction surgery, so my plastic surgeon removed it. Not long after, as it was healing, I noticed some areas that hurt when I touched it. Upon closer inspection, I found that I had very small bits of nylon surgical sutures poking out of the scar. I couldn’t pull them out or cut them any closer to the skin. These stitches sticking out, along with scar tissue on top of scar tissue, made for a pretty uncomfortable area. When I found out that I would be having revisions made to one of my breast implants, I asked my surgeon if he could make it a little less sightly. He agreed to revise the scar for me as part of my procedure on Monday. I’m looking forward to being able to wear my seat belt and bra straps comfortably again.
There’s a lot more to Angi’s cancer story than this. You can read all about it on Cancer is NOT a Death Sentence.
If you’ve got a story you’d like to share, please leave a comment, and I’ll be in touch.
Tags: Angi-Navarro, Chemotherapy, Port, Surgery
check out this site about survivors of breast cancer – it’s called the scar project.
http://www.davidjayphotography.com/TheSCARProject/
I’m so sorry you had to go through this Angi. I’m going to check out your blog this afternoon. I’m currently writing about the loss of my mother to Breast Cancer. She was 54. I have two young children and now my world has flipped. Take care and best wishes for you future health. Bravo.
I was diagonosed in Jan. The doc’s said the tumor was about 2 cm. They said they could do a double mastectomey and use my belly fat to reconstruct, which included a tummy tuck. I thought wow, how wonderful to get something good out of something so bad. Was just realeased fro the hospital 2 wks ago. The doc’s got the pathology report back and said that the tumor was actually 6cm and it involved all 32 nodes. Now, I have to wonder, did I make a mistake going for the reconstruct, because if all those nodes are involved dosen’t that mean it has spread everywhere? I am just so confused now, before I thought breast cancer wasn’t a death sentence, now I’m afraid it is for me.
Christine,
I think you’ve done the right thing with the mastectomy, and the reconstruction, too — because now, when you recover and beat breast cancer, you’re going to have a beautiful new body as a prize! Just so you know, I’ve met women over the years who were told they had 6 months to live, and that was 20 years ago. Miracles happen every day. Hang in there, take one day at a time, and just keep breathing. Attitude is everything, so keep on believing you will be fine, and guess what? You just might be!
Cheers,
Jacki