JudithCST's Journey with Invasive (Infiltrating) Ductal Carcin...
Patient: Breast Cancer > Invasive (Infiltrating) Ductal Carcinoma
Patient Info: Finished active treatment less than 5 years ago, Diagnosed: about 9 years ago, Female, Age: 78
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Radiation: Drag this icon to show a specific radiation therapy experience.
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Implant chemotherapy port
Procedure or Surgery
This person has yet to add any details about this experience.
Double Mastectomy
Procedure or Surgery
This person has yet to add any details about this experience.
Breast Reconstruction (Flap)
Procedure or Surgery
I started my reconstruction on the same day as my mastectomies. I had drains for a year, and several infections requiring hospitalization due to a persistent seroma that would not go away. It's been over two years since my surgeries and I'm finally started to feel more like myself again, I still have more corrective reconstruction to do, but I am in no hurry at this point. Lots of complications from this reconstruction. I wish every day that I had never done it.
Chemotherapy
Drug or Chemo Therapy
8 weeks of adriamycin, 8 weeks of taxol. Wasn't as bad as I expected, but it's no day at the beach. The taxol was a little harder to manage than the adriamycin.
Infection
Side Effects
Infections after latissimus flap reconstruction: enterococcus, pasteurella and c-diff (not all at once fortunately but all requiring hospitalization). I became an expert in administering my own intravenous antibiotics at home. I live alone so it was challenging, but educational. I also had to have one of my wounds surgically debrided and needed to carry a wound vac around for 3 months after that to try to resolve a persistent seroma that kept getting infected relative to my transflap reconstruction.
External radiation
Radiation
6 weeks of radiation, 3 locations, 5 days a week. Glad that's over!