Back to the Rodeo.....cuz' it ain't my first one.  Just how many rodeos I'll attend on this journey remains to be seen.  My blog began with a triple negative breast cancer diagnosis in 2005. My story is 18 years in the making.  It's been a pretty wild ride with it's fair share of bumps in the road. 

If you've been following this story you know I've had discomfort for some time now. I finally got around to tackling it.  Back in my 2018 entry I mention this chronic pain. Believe me I do/have done all the things that I hoped would make me feel better. That's when the mindf*ck comes front and center again.  It goes like this....I guess I'm back to surgery...then all the memories of the surgeries I've had, twice as many as I should have had, come back...then I put it off until I have time to really think it through...then something else in life comes along... so the focus shifts and I just deal with it....keep on keepin' on.  

I've come to a place where I couldn't wait any longer, something had to change.  When I would bring this up at my yearly check ups the outcome was always the same.  I would get the shoulder shrug from my Docs.  "You've been radiated." Which in medical speak means "You're screwed." And if I heard it once I heard it a bajillion times, "radiation is the gift that keeps on giving." "Also you've had a staph infection there, your skin is extremely thin in that area." Translation "Double screwed."  So along with not really wanting to deal with it all there was a hopelessness accompanying it.

I found new doctors that gave me hope.  This is not to say that my previous Docs weren't good to me. But I realized that their part in my story is over and it's time to move on.

On friday 2/24 I went to Christiana hospital and was operated on by Dr. Stephanie Caterson. The procedure: Left breast reconstruction revision with a capsulorrhapy for implant pocket reshaping, capsulotomy and implant exchange, right breast reconstruction revision with implant exchange.

AKA a Titty Tune Up. That's the best way I know how to describe it.  The hopes are that the strangling/pulling sensation that I felt so intensely will get some relief.  In surgery scar tissue was removed to help. My left sided needed the most tuning up. This is the side that had cancer and suffered the most trauma. My right side didn't necessarily need anything, but implants aren't built to last forever.  Eventually the right one would need switched too so to keep the surgeries to a minimum I opted to have them both switched out now. Because again...how many rodeos will it take? I did come out of surgery with NO DRAINS and that was the best news to hear.  I can't express how grateful I am not to deal with those again.  

Circling back I'm cancer free! So that trumps all this bullshit.  I have a follow up appointment this week, I'll update here. 

For those that have followed all these years, thank you! I love you! If you're reading for the first time, you've learned something about me. Thanks for being here. Yeehaw! Welcome to my Rodeo. 

With Much Love,

Tana