Tag: #breastcancer #mastectomy #reconstruction #tp53 #lifraumenisyndrome
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I Didn’t Mean to Change Careers
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My career pivot didn’t start with a plan, but with a life turned upside down. I didn’t mean to change careers. I just wanted to survive breast cancer, figure out how to live with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS), keep my kids alive (they also have LFS), and maybe stop waking up…
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What the Ocean Gave Me
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There are places to go when language runs out. When answers stop helping and silence feels more honest than explanation. After my diagnosis, after the surgeries, after the blur of medical decisions, I didn’t know what to do – so I went to the water. It’s ironic – that healing…
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Living with Chronic Uncertainty
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There are people who live by five-year plans. Color-coded calendars. Life goals with deadlines. I was never one of those people, so why is this so hard? I wasn’t the five-year-plan type.I didn’t have my life mapped out on vision boards or bullet journals. I made choices, took chances, and…
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Leaving Before You’ve Proven Yourself
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What happens when illness derails a new job — and how to let yourself go anyway. Five months into a new job, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.One month after that, I learned I had Li-Fraumeni Syndrome — a rare genetic condition that increases the risk of developing multiple types…
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What Reconstruction Really Means – Body, Mind, and Beyond
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When we talk about breast reconstruction, it’s easy to think of it as a purely physical process – a series of surgeries, procedures, and eventually, healing that result in a new version of what was once there. For me, it was a way to restore a sense of wholeness after…
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Part 6 – The Final Pour: Fat Grafting and Everything it Didn’t Fix
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This is 6 part series about my breast cancer and reconstruction surgeries—some real talk, a bit of education, and most importantly some humor. Here’s how it works: fat is removed through liposuction—think thighs, hips, flanks, and abdomen in my case—processed, and then injected back into the chest to restore a…