Once More Unto The Breach!

Remember that time, five years ago, when I had preventative mastectomies to reduce my risk of breast cancer?

Well, turns out the implants used in my reconstruction have put me at risk of a completely different type of cancer - breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL).

“That’s crazy! How could your doctors let this happen?” you ask.

Preventative medicine comes with risk - especially when treatments are new. The BRCA gene mutations were first isolated 25 years ago, so testing, screening, and preventative treatments are relatively new. As with all new endeavors, there will be bumps in the road. In this case, the implants recommend for an optimal outcome when I had my initial surgery have also turned out to be optimal for breeding lymphoma.

The risks of my actually developing this form of lymphoma are hazy at best (1 : 3,000 to 1 : 90,000) thanks to varied record-keeping practices around the world, but given that I’ve been experiencing side-effects only seen in 3% of patients I’ve decided its time to say good riddance to these traitorous timebombs.

It may seem that I keep getting knocked down by my BRCA mutation, and its true the journey has not been simple or easy, but fighting cancer never is. And that is what I’m doing - I AM FIGHTING CANCER. I’m fighting to stay one step ahead. To live on my own terms.

Every so often I fall down…
but I hit the ground running (and laughing) - and that is what matters.