Reconstruction – not yet, maybe never!

I understand why women might feel strongly one way or another about breast reconstruction. However, I’ve felt conflicted about whether to proceed with it. My head has told me not to while I've had a gut feeling that I should. In this post, I consider why I felt this way and how my perspective has …

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My choice to delay breast reconstruction

It’s been just over a year since my double mastectomy. Faced with a multitude of choices and unknown paths for my treatment, I decided to delay breast reconstruction so have been “living flat” since my surgery. Having recently revisited options for reconstruction I have again decided to postpone any reconstruction, for the moment at least …

Hair again – through and post-chemo

I’m overdue a conclusion to the first part of my post on hair loss during chemo. It was an emotional post because losing my hair was a big deal for me. I felt more trauma thinking about losing my hair than my breasts because, to me, it was a more significant part of my identity. …

Chemo – the final rounds

Chemo is over – hooray! I haven’t posted an update for while, partly because of the last couple of rounds were more upsetting than I expected and partly due to fatigue that hit me after round 3. I've also had welcome distractions through school holidays and a visit from my mother-in-law but I have wanted to continue …

Hair loss during chemo – part 1

The thought of losing my hair has troubled me since I found out that chemotherapy was a likely part of my treatment plan. I didn’t have chemo last time I had breast cancer so didn’t have to deal with this then. In my last post I wrote about how I opted to use cold cap …

Chemo – round 1 to 2

As with most chemo drugs, there's a long list of potential side effects for those I’m on (TC – taxotere/docetaxel and cyclophosphamide). When chemotherapy was confirmed to be part of my treatment plan, the side-effects I focused on were sickness and hair loss (specifically the wild mane on my head). I’ll start with a bit …

My mastectomy

Six weeks ago, at the age of 35 (for another week anyway!), I had a double mastectomy. My understanding is that this is sometimes called a bilateral mastectomy (meaning both sides) and also referred to as a contralateral mastectomy (where breast has cancer and the other is healthy). Regardless of the terminology, I had both breasts …

Silver linings of support, love, kindness and peculiar moments (choosing to laugh instead of cry)

I remember my mum teaching me proverbs when I was little and my favourite was “every cloud has a silver lining”. I do try to look at the upside of situations and believe in the benefits of a positive mental attitude. Although my usual cheer has diminished of late (being diagnosed with cancer twice does …

Breast cancer again – and the start of a blog!

Earlier this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Again. The first time was seven years ago when I was 28 and bizarrely I didn’t really think too much about it back then. Being so young and having no family history of the condition (at that time, things have since changed) meant it was quite …

Welcome to my blog!

Hi and thanks for reading my first ever blog! I'll begin with a little intro... I decided to start a blog because I love telling stories, sharing personal experiences and analysing situations in a practical, honest and light-hearted way. Through blog articles, I hope to express my personal thoughts as I face my own quandaries …