Sverid says that if she had to do it all over again, she would wait longer to get fitted for post-mastectomy clothing. "I went in like three weeks out from surgery and you should really wait about three months," she recalls. "I was still swollen. So now I have all these expensive mastectomy bras and camis I don't wear because they don't fit right.
More about surgery
More to come
It will be at least January 2009 before Sverid is finished with Herceptin treatment (not to mention the five-year tamoxifen regimen she'll be starting in July 2008). She always planned on having reconstruction, but with some radiation treatment still to go—coming on the heels of months of Adriamycin, Cytoxan, and Taxol—all that's up in the air.
"I cannot do reconstruction until at least six months out from radiation," she says. "Your skin changes during and after radiation. It can shrink and get thick like leather, I was told. So the surgeon needs to see the final outcome and make sure he can manipulate it."
Sverid has learned to take the long view. "You slow down and find patience you didn't know you had," she says. "You cannot make it go any faster so you have to let go. My biggest complaint right now is fatigue and joint aches, lethargy, fuzzy brain [from the chemo]. But I am accepting of all this because I know my body is doing a major battle and needs to rest to recover. There is light at the end of the tunnel and I will be dancing with such joy when I get there."
Visit Lesa Sverid's breast cancer blog at lesasbreastcancer.blogspot.com
