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I have improved greatly, but I am still dealing with a variety of symptoms and have to pace myself throughout the day.

It's been very difficult to deal with. My best wishes for your recovery. I am hoping that doctors are finally getting up to speed on what many of us are experiencing. I've been meeting several people in online groups who have the same experiences we have had this year, and our experiences have shown gaps in the healthcare system which need to be attended to. Thank you for sharing.

You are welcome. When I made them, there was very little information available to me about what I was going through. I'm happy to see there's more out there these days.

Thanks. It's been almost three years, and I'm working on adjusting to the new normal.

@@mandyl9852Hope you are in good health and spirits!

My videos are made to provide others with information about my experience. This is particularly important to people who will be going through partial or full mastectomy surgery or those who know someone dealing with a similar situation. Providing information about the appearance of scars during healing helps people to understand the process. I had no idea about what to anticipate going into this process. The surgical team provided very little information on what would happen, and I did not know enough to ask the questions for the answers I found myself wanting later. I am proud of my scar - it shows that I am a survivor. I have no reason to feel humiliation. If I could flaunt it on the regular, I might consider that. It is a physical demonstration that I can do difficult things, that the human body is capable of amazing healing, and of the advancements of modern medicine in helping cancer patients. However, I am sensible that there are others who may feel differently.

Than you.

Chemo was a much more significant challenge than the mastectomy. I'm missing skin sensation from the surgery, but I am also missing nerve sensation due to chemo-caused neuropathy in my fingers, toes, and scalpl. I also get random bursts of pain because of it. A little of the nerve sensation has come back over the last couple of years - it's a little like having a leg "go to sleep" but without the tingling pins and needles sensation. Breasts are not particularly sensitive in the first place (yes, nipples, but not breasts in general), so the removal is mostly an aberation and inconvenience. I get worried about injury or infection in the area because of the numbness. I feel like my body has been mutilated but not that I'm less feminine. But, having talked with other women, this is not always the case. I don't know that it's the mastectomies, though. Chemo is very isolating and challenging. Some people can pick up where they left off afterward - they are the few. Some people go through radical personality and belief changes due to the process as well. The rest of us are somewhere in the middle of that. It's messy. Reconstruction from breast cancer has varying results, but they are never like the real thing. Realistic nipples and nipple sensation are basically a surgical impossibility. The best results I've seen are done with tattoos. After looking into it, reconstruction was not a good option for me. I'm allergic to silicone and I do athletics and other physically demanding activities. Implants are all made of silicone. Implant placement can cause nerve damage and movement restriction. Autologous reconstructions can take years of sequential surgeries. I know a lady with double reconstruction who still questions her decision to go through the surgeries involved, and I suppose there may come a time when I question mine. But that time isn't now.

I am a Latvian of course I'm interested in anything (good) that can help with my current situation.

I am a Latvian trust me I understand. Ivventura@yahoo.com

I am a Latvian ok.

I've been dealing with chronic pain since I was fifteen. I was diagnosed with very late stage cancer. The pain included difficulty breathing - frequent coughing wheezing fits, pain throughout all my joints, etc. Chemotherapy helped with some of the pains and made others worse. I have permanent neuropathy which also causes pain, sometimes unexpectedly it just shoots through the nerves - SO, take everything I say with a grain of salt from here on out because I'm not sure which pain is from where. After surgery, there was pain with the swelling and scar tissue. I had to use a device to learn to breathe again as well. My arm atrophied a little bit because of post-surgery stuff. I started to do physical therapy exercises after that to regain mobilization. I've heard some people struggle with the exercises because of the pain and give up on them. I have trained in a couple of different sports, so I had experience judging on whether to lean into the pain or back off. Regaining and maintaining mobility was very important to me, and it is still somewhat painful - sometimes I get the shooting pains with tingling numb aching from fingertip, across the chest, and down to the heel when I exercise, and then it takes time for that to heal. Since I'm involved in sports, I keep at it, but it's tolerable although somewhat problematic. So, in short, I'd recommend physical therapy. I wouldn't do massage unless you've got somebody with the extra training to deal with surgical issues - they could do damage if they don't know what they're doing. Best wishes to you with your recovery.

Loved the guitar

Thank you. I am working on it.

Thank you, but I'm just a person - bravery and cowardice, all in the same person.

Thank you. That's a fun video.

Thank you. God be with you as well.

There are ups and downs, but I'm doing pretty well - the surgery healed up well and with self-therapy exercises, I have full use of my arm again. There is occasional discomfort, but the present is a good place for me.

It's difficult for anyone who doesn't go through chemo to understand what it really does and the toll it takes on a person's life. I'm currently in recovery and trying to move forward with my life, but I hit a bump with my DCIS diagnosis and mastectomy. It sucks that they didn't use any painkillers for the biopsy - if we've got access to modern medicine, we should be able to benefit from it's use. I am glad you are doing better. I'm still fighting the fear that it will come back or that I'll be diagnosed with another cancer - stage IV, bleh. Good luck to you as well.

That's the challenge isn't it? To live each day to the fullest with the unknown of when and if a recurrence will occur. Transcending this state and owning i, so it doesn't own you, cancer can't take that from you. *totally agree on the chemo.

Thank you. I was diagnosed with Stage IVB Hodgkin's Lymphoma. It took a combination of various doctors a long time to figure out what was going on - for a long time all my medical test results came back normal and some tests resulted in false positives. My oncologist was surprised when I got my DCIS diagnosis, but she was also the one encouraging me to get the medical tests I'd been putting off because of chemo. I count myself fortunate to have caught the breast cancer early.