Satisfaction Rate 94% - 100%
Women who have breast reconstruction after an elective mastectomy are satisfied with their decision, have low complication rates and 98 percent would do it again, reports a study in July’s Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). In addition, breast reconstruction after preventive mastectomy was as safe as or safer than reconstruction in women with breast cancer and had excellent cosmetic results.
“Breast cancer is a terrible diagnosis and decisions regarding treatment are never easy. This study shows that women with cancer in one breast who choose to have their other breast removed as a preventive measure are happy with their decision and a high percentage would do it again,” said Scott Spear, MD, study co-author and past ASPS president. “More remarkable is the 100 percent satisfaction level, as well as the 100 percent willingness to have breast reconstruction again, for the women who chose to have both breasts removed.”
The study examined 74 women who had preventive mastectomies and subsequent breast reconstruction between 2000 and 2005. Forty-seven patients had breast cancer in one breast and elected to surgically remove their other breast (unilateral prophylactic mastectomy). Twenty-seven patients did not have breast cancer, but chose to surgically remove both breasts due to a high-risk of developing breast cancer (bilateral prophylactic mastectomy). The cosmetic outcome was scored by 14 surgeons who looked at post-reconstruction photos and evaluated the result on a 1 to 4 scale (4 being an “excellent” result).
The study found that women who had a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy were 100 percent satisfied with their breast reconstruction and 100 percent of them would have the surgery again. Ninety-four percent of women who had unilateral prophylactic mastectomy were satisfied with their reconstruction and 96 percent of them would have reconstruction again.
The complication rate for reconstruction in women who had bilateral prophylactic mastectomy was 3 percent and 10 percent for those who had unilateral prophylactic mastectomy. Additionally, the study noted the cosmetic assessment for all patients was a score of 3 out of 4.
“These women look and feel the same or better and their risk of cancer has been taken off the table,” said Dr. Spear. “For women who know they are at risk, this option gives them the opportunity to be active about their health and appearance rather than reactive. They can have excellent cosmetic results, low surgical risk and a high level of satisfaction with their breast reconstruction. This is empowering for women.”
According to ASPS statistics, more than 57,000 breast reconstructions were performed in 2007, up 2 percent since 2006.
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Dr Chrysopoulo is board certified in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He is a breast reconstruction surgeon offering all types of breast reconstruction surgery after mastectomy for breast cancer. PRMA Plastic Surgery, San Antonio, Texas. Toll Free: (800) 692-5565. Keep up to date with the latest breast reconstruction news by following Dr Chrysopoulo's Breast Reconstruction Blog.
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Sunday, August 3, 2008
The City of Blooderly Love
Quick: Name the three primary components of the blood.
If you said white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets, you've been paying attention. If not, you may need to pick up a copy of Blood for Dummies.
I'll bet most of you didn't know (and probably don't care) that the white blood cells have six major components. Here they are, along with their usual percentage composition in the WBCs:
What I love about these names are the three "phils," or the Three Amigos of the white blood, as I like to call 'em. The "phil" comes from the Greek "philos" (not to be confused with phyllo dough) for love. It's the same root as in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.
Now, if you're still awake, let me review absolute values, a number derived by multiplying the percentage times the total WBC, which is normally between 4,500 and 10,000.
Just to give you an idea about how high my eosinophils have been, the normal absolute value is between 100 and 300. My percentage has been as high as 55% with a total WBC count of nearly 20,000. That means that my absolute value has topped 11,000, about 36 times the norm. A count of 1,500 is considered a red flag, and mine has been seven times that high.
I'm not exaggerating when I talk about my whacky eosinophils being out-of-control. Studying the Greek origins and understanding the terminology is my simple way of restoring a little order - and a little love - to my baffling counts and symptoms.
If you said white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets, you've been paying attention. If not, you may need to pick up a copy of Blood for Dummies.
I'll bet most of you didn't know (and probably don't care) that the white blood cells have six major components. Here they are, along with their usual percentage composition in the WBCs:
- Neutrophils 50 - 70%
- Eosinophils 1 - 3%
- Basophils .4 - 1%
- Bands 3 - 5%
- Monocytes 4 - 6%
- Lymphocytes 25 - 35%
What I love about these names are the three "phils," or the Three Amigos of the white blood, as I like to call 'em. The "phil" comes from the Greek "philos" (not to be confused with phyllo dough) for love. It's the same root as in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.
Now, if you're still awake, let me review absolute values, a number derived by multiplying the percentage times the total WBC, which is normally between 4,500 and 10,000.
Just to give you an idea about how high my eosinophils have been, the normal absolute value is between 100 and 300. My percentage has been as high as 55% with a total WBC count of nearly 20,000. That means that my absolute value has topped 11,000, about 36 times the norm. A count of 1,500 is considered a red flag, and mine has been seven times that high.
I'm not exaggerating when I talk about my whacky eosinophils being out-of-control. Studying the Greek origins and understanding the terminology is my simple way of restoring a little order - and a little love - to my baffling counts and symptoms.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Pickup Andropoff (The Russian Chauffer)
Here's a little hint: If a friend is having an out-patient procedure and you have a choice of dropping off or picking up that friend, select the drop-off duty.
Hospitals are funny. If they say they want you there at 1:30 pm, they mean 1:30 pm. The driver can pull up right in front of the hospital at the appointed time as Paula did (I redeemed my free ride), wave sayonara and be outta' there faster than you can say, "Pickup Andropoff."
But that doesn't mean that everything will run like clockwork after that. I was scheduled for my bronchoscopy at 2:30 pm, but, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, I didn't get wheeled into the O.R. until 5:45 pm.
And then my vitals were slow to recover to the checkout level. After that, I threw another wrench into the schedule by wretching (watch out for that wretch wrench). That meant another x-ray and more observation.
So the estimated 4 pm time of pickup turned into 10 pm. That's just the way it goes sometimes.
Hospitals are funny. If they say they want you there at 1:30 pm, they mean 1:30 pm. The driver can pull up right in front of the hospital at the appointed time as Paula did (I redeemed my free ride), wave sayonara and be outta' there faster than you can say, "Pickup Andropoff."
But that doesn't mean that everything will run like clockwork after that. I was scheduled for my bronchoscopy at 2:30 pm, but, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, I didn't get wheeled into the O.R. until 5:45 pm.
And then my vitals were slow to recover to the checkout level. After that, I threw another wrench into the schedule by wretching (watch out for that wretch wrench). That meant another x-ray and more observation.
So the estimated 4 pm time of pickup turned into 10 pm. That's just the way it goes sometimes.
Bee Movie party
Potty training has been progressing very slowly. I'm not sure why I am surprised that she is doing anything slowly (see the previous post). I mean, the child flat-out refused to walk until she was nearly 19 months old. When she was 15 months old, our doctor sent us to a physical therapist at the children's hospital. He concluded that there was nothing wrong with her, that she could walk if she wanted to ... she just didn't want to. His official diagnosis was stubbornness.
My child was officially diagnosed with stubbornness by a medical professional. Why did I think potty training would go well? Why?
We've been using an elaborate system of rewards. She gets one dinosaur fruit snack for going No. 1, two dinosaur fruit snacks for No. 2. Once she completes all of the other potty-related tasks on her own (flushing, putting her pants back on, washing her hands), she gets a sticker. She used to get the sticker just for peeing, but I have upped the stakes. Earlier in the summer, I found a huge stack of really nice children's books at a yard sale for a dime or a quarter each. I'd been using them as rewards: If she could stay accident-free from wakeup time to nap time or from naptime to bedtime, she'd get a new book.
I finally ran out of books, so I needed a new strategy. A couple of weeks ago, I found a package of balloons in our basement. Why did I have balloons in the basement? I have no idea. You can pretty much find anything in our basement these days. Once, the moms' group needed some cardboard and plastic table cloths for a craft we were doing. I went down to the basement and found ... some cardboard and plastic table cloths. If there is anything you need, I can probably find it in our basement. It's like Mary Poppins' magic carpet bag. I know we need to clean it out, but I'm a little scared of being sucked into a vortex that leads to the underworld.
Where was I? The balloons.
I cut out five circles of paper and labeled them with the numbers one through five and hung them on the bathroom mirror. Next to the number five, I hung up a picture of a "Big Reward." In this case, it was the opportunity to stay up "late" and watch Bee Movie with Mommy and Daddy. Every time she kept herself accident-free for half a day, I'd blow up a balloon and hang it on one of the numbers. Once she collected five balloons, she'd get her Bee Movie Party. She'd also get to take the balloons down and play with them, which turned out to be even more exciting than the party.
These photos aren't so good because of weird bathroom lighting, but you can sorta see it. This is my Wizard of Oz-themed bathroom, hence the weird decor. I have two Wizard of Oz clocks. They don't work, but I just tell people they're on "Oz time". The extra balloons are for decoration, to get her motivated before she had earned the first one:
Last night, she finally earned her Bee Movie party. It was very exciting. We started the movie around 5:30 or 6 p.m., but we put her in her pajamas beforehand, I put on my pajamas, and we told her it was "very late at night", and she seemed to buy that. We had "picnic food" and got to eat it in the living room in front of the TV, which has never happened before. She liked the movie, but she had a lot of questions about it. I'm glad I had already seen the movie, because I spent 90 minutes answering a nonstop stream: "What's the bee doing, Mommy? Is that his car? Is he going to school? Where is the teacher? Where is the bee's mommy? Is the daddy bee at work? Does the bee have a brother? Why is the bee flying?" and so on.
Afterward, we watched one of the special features on the DVD, which was a music video of "We Got the Bee." You know, like the Go-Gos song: "We got the bee, we got the bee, we got the bee ... YEAH! We got the bee!" Jerry Seinfeld was in it (as himself, not as a bee cartoon), and I pointed him out, but she didn't care. A few weeks ago, though, we did teach her to say, "Hello .... NEWMAN!" Funniest thing ever.
Anyway, the Bee party is over. I hope we made some progress. The next reward is going out for ice cream. She's already earned one balloon. This means that Mommy gets ice cream, too, so I'll be extra encouraging on this one.
My child was officially diagnosed with stubbornness by a medical professional. Why did I think potty training would go well? Why?
We've been using an elaborate system of rewards. She gets one dinosaur fruit snack for going No. 1, two dinosaur fruit snacks for No. 2. Once she completes all of the other potty-related tasks on her own (flushing, putting her pants back on, washing her hands), she gets a sticker. She used to get the sticker just for peeing, but I have upped the stakes. Earlier in the summer, I found a huge stack of really nice children's books at a yard sale for a dime or a quarter each. I'd been using them as rewards: If she could stay accident-free from wakeup time to nap time or from naptime to bedtime, she'd get a new book.
I finally ran out of books, so I needed a new strategy. A couple of weeks ago, I found a package of balloons in our basement. Why did I have balloons in the basement? I have no idea. You can pretty much find anything in our basement these days. Once, the moms' group needed some cardboard and plastic table cloths for a craft we were doing. I went down to the basement and found ... some cardboard and plastic table cloths. If there is anything you need, I can probably find it in our basement. It's like Mary Poppins' magic carpet bag. I know we need to clean it out, but I'm a little scared of being sucked into a vortex that leads to the underworld.
Where was I? The balloons.
I cut out five circles of paper and labeled them with the numbers one through five and hung them on the bathroom mirror. Next to the number five, I hung up a picture of a "Big Reward." In this case, it was the opportunity to stay up "late" and watch Bee Movie with Mommy and Daddy. Every time she kept herself accident-free for half a day, I'd blow up a balloon and hang it on one of the numbers. Once she collected five balloons, she'd get her Bee Movie Party. She'd also get to take the balloons down and play with them, which turned out to be even more exciting than the party.
These photos aren't so good because of weird bathroom lighting, but you can sorta see it. This is my Wizard of Oz-themed bathroom, hence the weird decor. I have two Wizard of Oz clocks. They don't work, but I just tell people they're on "Oz time". The extra balloons are for decoration, to get her motivated before she had earned the first one:
Last night, she finally earned her Bee Movie party. It was very exciting. We started the movie around 5:30 or 6 p.m., but we put her in her pajamas beforehand, I put on my pajamas, and we told her it was "very late at night", and she seemed to buy that. We had "picnic food" and got to eat it in the living room in front of the TV, which has never happened before. She liked the movie, but she had a lot of questions about it. I'm glad I had already seen the movie, because I spent 90 minutes answering a nonstop stream: "What's the bee doing, Mommy? Is that his car? Is he going to school? Where is the teacher? Where is the bee's mommy? Is the daddy bee at work? Does the bee have a brother? Why is the bee flying?" and so on.
Afterward, we watched one of the special features on the DVD, which was a music video of "We Got the Bee." You know, like the Go-Gos song: "We got the bee, we got the bee, we got the bee ... YEAH! We got the bee!" Jerry Seinfeld was in it (as himself, not as a bee cartoon), and I pointed him out, but she didn't care. A few weeks ago, though, we did teach her to say, "Hello .... NEWMAN!" Funniest thing ever.
Anyway, the Bee party is over. I hope we made some progress. The next reward is going out for ice cream. She's already earned one balloon. This means that Mommy gets ice cream, too, so I'll be extra encouraging on this one.
Breakfast with Ronald
blood work for the oncology side on yesterday in preparation for my Monday visit to the UT SW Spa, which will be a long day cancer doctors, lung transplant doctors, and I will hunt down the newest team member an endocrinologist just to find out where his office is located.
We had breakfast this morning at the Golden Arches, per Raegan’s request, and the urging of Rhonda and Ravyn, I did not win the popular vote on this and we were all at Ronald’s house (McDonalds) by 9:30, grumble grumble I’d rather eat at home less chance of getting sick.
We had breakfast this morning at the Golden Arches, per Raegan’s request, and the urging of Rhonda and Ravyn, I did not win the popular vote on this and we were all at Ronald’s house (McDonalds) by 9:30, grumble grumble I’d rather eat at home less chance of getting sick.
Friday, August 1, 2008
You can't have cookies for breakfast!
Wait a minute ... yes you can!
Photo of fabulous breakfast cookies:
Let me explain: I've mentioned before that WCK starts preschool in a few weeks, and we have to be there at 8 a.m. This scares me a little bit, because WCK moves really slowly in the mornings. We're trying to encourage her to put her clothes and shoes on by herself, and she also likes to "help" make breakfast. I know these are important things to learn, but even the simplest tasks seem to take forever. I always thought I was a patient person until I had to wait for a three-year-old put her shoes on. And these are very uncomplicated shoes with Velcro straps. Don't get me started on the endless eternity of sitting on the potty.
At the rate we're going, it seems like we're going to have to wake up at, like, 3 a.m. to be ready. Maybe we just won't go to bed at all, and we'll start putting shoes on at 7 p.m. the night before.
I knew I had to start speeding things up. I've reduced the time on the getting-dressed thing slightly by putting her in nightgowns at night instead of shirt-shorts-combo pajamas. You might scoff at the notion that simply eliminating one pair of shorts can save a lot of time, but amazingly, IT DOES. IT SAVES A LOT OF TIME.
That's how long it takes her to take a pair of shorts off.
Breakfast is another big problem. If she doesn't get to "help", World War III breaks out in our kitchen; however, simply making and then consuming a piece of toast or a bowl of instant oatmeal can take what seems like upwards of 10 hours, not counting cleanup time. My proposed solution to this: Breakfast cookies. I found the recipe online, and it is all healthy ingredients. WCK helped me make the first batch, and they turned out great. We had a few for snacks, and then I stuck the rest in the freezer. My plan is to always have some breakfast cookies on hand, and then bring them out on preschool mornings.
"GUESS WHAT??!!?!" I'll say, speaking enthusiastically in all capital letters. "IT'S PRESCHOOL DAY! WE DON'T HAVE TO MAKE BREAKFAST TODAY!! WE GET TO EAT COOKIES!! MMMM ... FORBIDDEN COOKIES!"
This had better work, because I am not waking up at 3 a.m.
Here is the recipe:
2 cups bran flakes, crushed (or substitute multi-grain flakes)
2 cups oatmeal
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt (I used vanilla flavored)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup skim milk powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Crush cereal, and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add oatmeal, wheat germ, and cinnamon; set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine yogurt, applesauce, vanilla, honey, beaten egg, and skim milk powder: mix well to combine.
Add baking soda and baking powder to the yogurt mixture. Mix well.
Gradually add the cereal and oatmeal mixture to the yogurt mixture and stir well.
Add raisins and mix to combine.
Scoop a heaping tablespoon of the batter and roll it into a ball. Place onto a non-stick cookie sheet, or lined with baking parchment, and lightly flatten.
Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes. Makes 24 cookies.
Photo of fabulous breakfast cookies:
Let me explain: I've mentioned before that WCK starts preschool in a few weeks, and we have to be there at 8 a.m. This scares me a little bit, because WCK moves really slowly in the mornings. We're trying to encourage her to put her clothes and shoes on by herself, and she also likes to "help" make breakfast. I know these are important things to learn, but even the simplest tasks seem to take forever. I always thought I was a patient person until I had to wait for a three-year-old put her shoes on. And these are very uncomplicated shoes with Velcro straps. Don't get me started on the endless eternity of sitting on the potty.
At the rate we're going, it seems like we're going to have to wake up at, like, 3 a.m. to be ready. Maybe we just won't go to bed at all, and we'll start putting shoes on at 7 p.m. the night before.
I knew I had to start speeding things up. I've reduced the time on the getting-dressed thing slightly by putting her in nightgowns at night instead of shirt-shorts-combo pajamas. You might scoff at the notion that simply eliminating one pair of shorts can save a lot of time, but amazingly, IT DOES. IT SAVES A LOT OF TIME.
That's how long it takes her to take a pair of shorts off.
Breakfast is another big problem. If she doesn't get to "help", World War III breaks out in our kitchen; however, simply making and then consuming a piece of toast or a bowl of instant oatmeal can take what seems like upwards of 10 hours, not counting cleanup time. My proposed solution to this: Breakfast cookies. I found the recipe online, and it is all healthy ingredients. WCK helped me make the first batch, and they turned out great. We had a few for snacks, and then I stuck the rest in the freezer. My plan is to always have some breakfast cookies on hand, and then bring them out on preschool mornings.
"GUESS WHAT??!!?!" I'll say, speaking enthusiastically in all capital letters. "IT'S PRESCHOOL DAY! WE DON'T HAVE TO MAKE BREAKFAST TODAY!! WE GET TO EAT COOKIES!! MMMM ... FORBIDDEN COOKIES!"
This had better work, because I am not waking up at 3 a.m.
Here is the recipe:
2 cups bran flakes, crushed (or substitute multi-grain flakes)
2 cups oatmeal
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt (I used vanilla flavored)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup skim milk powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Crush cereal, and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add oatmeal, wheat germ, and cinnamon; set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine yogurt, applesauce, vanilla, honey, beaten egg, and skim milk powder: mix well to combine.
Add baking soda and baking powder to the yogurt mixture. Mix well.
Gradually add the cereal and oatmeal mixture to the yogurt mixture and stir well.
Add raisins and mix to combine.
Scoop a heaping tablespoon of the batter and roll it into a ball. Place onto a non-stick cookie sheet, or lined with baking parchment, and lightly flatten.
Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes. Makes 24 cookies.
Eeyore or Tigger?
For my dear friends who have called and commented and emailed because you're worried about me and my spirits (and not the kind that come in a bottle), I wanted to assure you that I'm doing fine emotionally.
I will admit that it's difficult to hit a health slump after a multi-month stretch of feeling on top of the world. But I know that this situation is temporary. It shouldn't be too much longer before we get this puzzle solved and I'm back to running around like a Gasa-Gasa Girl.
Dr. Forman asked me to send him an email reminder this weekend so that he can manually go in and check the results from the bronchoscopy. (Since another doctor is performing the procedure, he won't automatically get the results.) That way, he can possibly prescribe meds this weekend if something shows up on the scope.
So, as always, I'm in good hands at Hope, good hands at home and surrounded by a community of friends and supporters holding my hands.
I will admit that it's difficult to hit a health slump after a multi-month stretch of feeling on top of the world. But I know that this situation is temporary. It shouldn't be too much longer before we get this puzzle solved and I'm back to running around like a Gasa-Gasa Girl.
Dr. Forman asked me to send him an email reminder this weekend so that he can manually go in and check the results from the bronchoscopy. (Since another doctor is performing the procedure, he won't automatically get the results.) That way, he can possibly prescribe meds this weekend if something shows up on the scope.
So, as always, I'm in good hands at Hope, good hands at home and surrounded by a community of friends and supporters holding my hands.
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