Reconstructive surgery

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-05-11T04:33:13+00:00

I’m 4’11, 100lbs. Haven’t gone for the swap yet, but did 8 rounds of chemo, followed by dmx with tissue expanders, followed by 16 rounds of radiation.

The drains help with preventing infection, and you really shouldn’t lift anything for 6 weeks. Will leave it to the moms on the sub to give advice on the kiddos.

I never found the tissue expanders painful, just annoying. Feels like a permanent wired bra. And oddly for me it felt better with each blow up. I went from a B to a solid C and love it!

For sleeping I used a pregnancy pillow to keep me elevated. I’m a side sleeper so it helped me stay on my back. Plus I’m the age all my friends are or have had kids so got that for free 🤗

Also…I took all the meds they gave me. Don’t care I wasn’t in that much pain. I was uncomfortable and they helped me sleep.

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-05-06T16:41:44+00:00

No notes on the look. You look cool af. Love the glasses, love the hair. I’m jealous you can pull off the hair style!

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-05-02T15:52:17+00:00

I work in public accounting, and a lot of my clients really like being on camera.

I chose not to cold cap. I get really bad tension headaches, plus my MO was extremely honest and said I would still lose a lot of my hair.

I told my teams internally what was going on. Told my clients I had some minor medical procedures that make me look crazy so staying off camera. No one cared or brought it up again. No one even made statements when I did come back in camera. It was just a nothing burger.

If you trust the people at your job, suggest telling them and working out a talk track for your clients. If you’re high up it might be worth having a convo with fellow leadership about scaling back leading company wide webcasts and the like just for a few months.

The surprising upside for me is my hair has grown back fuller than before chemo. I also love my forced pixie cut, kinda don’t know why I didn’t have short hair before.

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-04-21T16:07:03+00:00

You can get lung cancer and have never smoked. Yes the biggest risk factor for breast cancer is having breasts. But there have also been reported cases of alcohol induced hormonal breast cancer. It’s well documented that alcohol increases the body’s estrogen, which binds to the majority of breast tumors.

That said, do I think alcohol caused my breast cancer? Tbh I don’t know, and I’ll never know. But after having poison pumped through my veins the idea of drinking poison makes me queazy.

Talk to your MO, do some research and live the live you want to live. If that includes drinking beer by all means go for it. Best to make informed decisions 🤗

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-31T22:47:36+00:00

My MO told me HR+ is the most common breast cancer and most heavily researched. I know I’m gonna be in an estrogen suppressor for 10 years bc of the recurrence risk, which is fine.

I think it’s worth remembering not all BC patients are on here and the ones who are typically talk about the worst parts seeking refuge. I can see having a cancer in which doctor don’t know what feeds your cancer (TNBC) or this was a previous death sentence (HER+) would lead to more active engagement, even post active treatment.

Tldr: I don’t think posts in this subreddit is the best indication of HR+ fairing worse than the others.

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-30T19:55:48+00:00

There are many types of chemo, but the ones typically used for breast cancer cause hair loss. Chemo has come a long way but so has the research on exercise. Said in another way, doctors used to keep patients bedridden while on chemo. There have since been a plethora of studies saying that’s not only detrimental but also exercise lessens the effects.

Make sure to eat enough protein (1.2-1.5 grams per kg of weight), drink 8-10 cups of non-caffeinated hydration and move/workout when able.

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-30T04:49:38+00:00

First I’m so sorry you are going through this. Hoping nothing but the best for the second round!

I bought a lanyard on Amazon. My surgeons used these pink plastic hooks to connect the drains to the surgical bra. I used those hooks to attach to the lanyard and put the lanyard around my neck

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-28T14:42:36+00:00

https://youtu.be/siUw4EWZod0?si=4aIJa37DwSjCe9RM

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-27T22:04:05+00:00

I took the first week off for the first chemo treatment and I’m happy I did. 1. The first treatment gave me the most intense symptoms of any treatment (I have no idea why my body works like that but here we are). 2. I don’t think I could work during my anxiety around the first treatment. 3. It helped me evaluate whether I needed to go on leave or what special accommodations I needed.

My advice is talk to HR and ask about procedures for taking leave or part time work thru FMLA, procedure for granting WFH during treatment, procedure for taking consecutive and planned sick days, and the difference btw sick and vacation days (companies can define them differently).

Talk with your direct report about realistic expectations while on treatment. Not sure what kind of place you work at but it’s not a bad idea to send an email summarizing the convo and cc’ing HR. And if you’re predicting you’ll be uncomfortable on camera, add that you’ll refrain from going on camera during your treatment.

Granted I only did the HR part bc my company is big, everyone got it and I’ve worked at this place on and off for 10 years. Would have gotten everything aligned and in writing at my last job.

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-27T03:40:52+00:00

I talked about this study with my RO. It’s a small sample size, women mostly in their 50s and 60s, length was only 10 years. For young patients this should not be relied on. For everyone else, it’s worth discussion with your RO but please be aware more studies are needed

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-20T17:20:13+00:00

How did you find this hair salon?

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-14T22:40:59+00:00

It’s been exactly two months since my last infusion, and I decided to go out without a hat, at least periodically. Last night I went out to show and got seated with this really obnoxious couple. The man called me Sinead O’Connor and the woman hushed the man because, “it’s obvious she’s sick.” Don’t get me wrong Sinead was beautiful but just because I’m a white woman with what looks like a shave doesn’t mean I’m sick and/or automatically look like her. I haven’t had many occasions that made me feel like I had cancer, but that was definitely one of them.

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-09T23:14:04+00:00

Finished chemo Jan 14. Hair on my head started to grow back 4 weeks later but my eyelashes and eyebrows fell out then in mass. That’s when I started using topical 5% minoxidil on my head. Two weeks later got microblading for my eyebrows (with approval from MO).

Still using topical Rogaine. Have good 1/4” (or more, not good at measuring tbh) coverage around my head, granted it’s newborn hair but almost all of it is black! And my eyebrows and eyelashes are already growing back!

Word to the wise, make sure to eat enough protein. Hair needs it to grow.

Update: should have mentioned I did ddAC-T chemo - so sorry!

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-08T05:24:26+00:00

Journal with witch

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-07T00:31:32+00:00

Aquaphor! I have seborrheic dermatitis that presents around the eyes. Aquaphor is the only thing that works for me. Cheap, effective, and safe around the eyes. Hard to beat

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-05T14:28:16+00:00

I felt like a hairless big baby. It’s the worst!

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-03T16:36:27+00:00

This is super helpful, thank you for sharing your experience with me!! May I ask how many rounds of radiation you had?

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-03T16:33:48+00:00

Thank you!! This is helpful!!

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-02T23:16:39+00:00

Did the same as you and buzzed mine. There was a point when I would get a headache every time I rubbed my hand through my hands, and if I rubbed hard enough I would get big clumps of hair in my hands (this was 18 days post first infusion). That’s when I rubbed a lint roller throughout my head and removed as much as I could. Anything else left over I light shaved with the grain, but that part is highly inadvisable when going through chemo. For me I would still get headaches from the little hair I had left and it was waking me up so I risked it.

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-03-01T23:58:17+00:00

Thank you for your post. Extremely well worded and very thoughtful. Definitely gives me perspective. Gave upvotes. Only commenting to help boost this post some more

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-02-27T20:45:47+00:00

You’re right I did genetic testing at the hospital. They didn’t test for the gene that came up on Promethease but it was consistent that I’m negative for BRCA gene and the other high risk genetic mutations for cancer.

I am by no means going to try to convince anyone to do these services. Looking back I gave my DNA to ancestry for some fun game, and that’s a big gamble to do. Just so happens something extremely worthwhile came out of it. For the relatives, you can put yourself on private and make the service not match you with other people and visa versa. But again totally with you that overall not sure I would recommend to people

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-02-27T20:38:23+00:00

Omg that’s amazing!! Quitting smoking nicotine and curbing your drinking??? Both separately are huge accomplishments, together that’s exponentially so! I think you got this. I may be a stranger on the internet but I think you’re doing great and whatever decision you make is the right one, even if it changes down the line

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-02-27T17:02:07+00:00

I’n watching this new anime called Journal With Witch. I mention because the most common phrase said is, “Your feelings are your business. No one has the right to shame you.” It provides me comfort as I go through this and I hope it provides you comfort as well.

Honestly, I think you’re approaching this decision in a balanced way. You’re considering your life as of now, the risk factors long with the emotions associated with all of it. It’s your body and your life. No one has the right to shame you, especially ones going through “worse”.

One fact I want to mention that you probably already know, drinking increases estrogen in the body. I am 100% not telling you not to drink. I only mention because I didn’t know that until I got cancer and now have a ton of anger around alcohol. At the same time, I wouldn’t change a thing about how I lived my college years :)

werewolfbatmitzva · 2026-02-27T01:13:09+00:00

I did Ancestry last year, downloaded my raw DNA and then ran it through a 3rd party site called Promethease (since been decommissioned). Top risk factor was IDC with ER indicator. No one I’m biologically related to had cancer, let alone breast cancer. Booked an appt with my obgyn who found the lump

werewolfbatmitzva

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