Hey friends, thank you for being along with us for this part of our journey. While Annie may post once in a while, most of the time I (Bill) will be writing the updates and hitting the Post button.
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Quick Background
Several years ago, given her family cancer history, Annie got genetically tested for the BRCA (pronounced “bracka”) mutation. BRCA has two flavors, and you may remember Angelina Jolie has the more common BRCA1 one. Annie, declaring her originality, received the less-famous but just as shitty BRCA2 mutation.
The big bummer is the mutation results in significant increases of both breast and ovarian cancer. In 2011, while we were still living in Virginia, Annie had a bilateral salpingo oophorectomy (say that five times fast!) to remove the chance of ovarian cancer. Of course it came with immediate and abrupt menopause, which I’m told really kinda sucks.
It would’ve been ideal to further reduce her risk at the time, but given the lengthy recovery process, the timing never worked out until now. Anything you might need your chest muscles for is out of the question for 6-8 weeks. So “shooting a wedding” and this upcoming surgery wouldn’t ever appear in the same sentence.
Next Steps
On Feb. 8, she’ll get her opportunity and reduce her chances of breast cancer further with a (here comes another 50-cent phrase) bilateral prophylactic mastectomy. It ain’t your typical boob job, cupcake. Having all your breast tissue removed and replaced with “expanders” isn’t an ideal way to start anyone’s day. But it’s the best way to ensure her breasts don’t turn all Breaking Bad on her. During the same operation, her plastic surgeon will begin the process for breast reconstruction by installing “expanders”. All in all, everything should be finished about 3 months or so later, including a much-shorter and less-painful operation at the end to replace the expanders with sorta-permanent implants).
This Wednesday, it’ll likely take about six hours in the OR, and she’ll stay the hospital one or two nights, depending on how good she, and how generous the insurance company, feels. I’ll stay the night in the hospital as well, as long as she doesn’t send me home due to my snoring. When she’s ready, we’ll bring her home and get her to bed to rest and recover. We have friends who’ve dealt with this procedure (and often their cancer) and we’ve read innumerable blogs (she’s read more than me, admittedly) and have a strong support network. Even meals are getting covered–thanks, y’all! We’re both exceptionally grateful to have you here. Your warm thoughts, support, and kind words in however way you express them are welcome, thank you.
Next update will be around the 8th or so…