Breast reconstruction: a patient's story

This presentation will aim to show the effect of breast reconstructive surgery on the life of a young woman and her family. Diagnosed at the age of 29 with breast cancer, I was totally petrified at the thought of losing a breast and could not imagine going through life after a mastectomy. A first subcutaneous mastectomy with a simultaneous implant went disastrously wrong and I was left badly scarred. Fortunately, this was followed by a successful latissimus dorsi breast reconstruction, which gave me back some sort of shape and, in time, my confidence. However, this was not an easy passage with emotions on a perpetual roller coaster. Learning to live with both the fact that I had had breast cancer at such an early age, and having to get used to a new body image (when I was quite happy with the old one) took some time. When, 20 years later, another breast cancer diagnosis was made, it was a very different patient who decided straightaway to have a mastectomy and reconstruction. This time the idea of a mastectomy was no longer terrifying although the diagnosis was still a shock. It would have been very simple to have reverted back to the "helpless victim" feeling I had experienced the first time around. The second reconstruction went very well and as the cancer was caught early no other treatment was necessary. Although not so frightening this time, there was still a period of adjustment and grief as I was faced with yet another body image change.