Angi

Health Interests

Breast Cancer,  Recurrent Breast Cancer,  Breast Reconstruction,  Mastectomy,  Chemotherapy,  Radiation

Drugs I am Taking

tamoxifen

About Me

Hi, my name is Angi. I'm 36 now and I'm a TWO time Breast Cancer Survivor. I was first dx in 2005 at only 31, then last March(08) my plastic surgeon found a spot in my chest wall that came back positive for Breast Cancer. When I was originally diagnosed I was found to have Stage IIa, Grade 3 IDC, as well as DCIS. I was the first in my family to have cancer. At that time I had a lumpectomy then mastectomy, went through chemo and started on my 5 year course of Femara. I attempted breast reconstruction that same year, but the attempt failed. Since that time I have moved from Nevada (both Northern & Southern) to New Orleans, and started over with a whole new set of doctors, one being my wonderful plastic surgeon who literally saved my when he found my recurrence last year. In July 2007 I chose to undergo another mastectomy for the sake of my sanity (cause I had fibrocystic breast tissue) - at which time I also had immediate reconstruction. Shortly thereafter one breast failed due to dying tissue, just like the previous time only on a different breast. After finally getting that whole area cleared of dead tissue, my surgeon put in another tissue expander and I had no problems other than what was used was going to end up being too small for what I wanted, as I had no foundation to build my new breast upon. In Feb. 2008 my surgeon swapped out my existing expanders for larger ones and discovered that I had suspicious looking scar tissue near where my original tumor had been found. He removed it and sent the biopsy in to pathology. It came back positive, but it did not have clear margins. They labeled me as having Recurrent Breast Cancer. So I was no longer a "survivor" - I was a 2peater. After learning the cancer returned in March I had an additional surgery to remove more of my chest wall to achieved clear margins. As of Aug 5th 2008, I completed 31 grueling sessions of daily radiation. I spent the remainder of the year trying to figure out if chemo was needed or. After speaking with a couple different oncologist and having some diagnostic test done - like a PET scan, I was found to be cancer free and was able to skip chemo this time around. Now that my treatment is finished, and I'm once again a "survivor" as of my 12/30/08 PET scan, I have been rx'd some new meds as Femara failed me the first time around. I'm currently on the hormone therapy medication Tamoxifen. I'm also moving forward with the completion of my breast reconstruction, which meant 7 weeks of saline injections that hurt real bad cause the radiation damaged my skin and chest muscle. On April 6th, 2009 I will be having surgery to replace these current tissue expanders with implants. It's taken me about 4 years to get here, and I'm so glad it's (nearly) all over and done with! On a personal note, I'm a SAHM of over 4 years, who loves scrapbooking, photography and blogging (which I do professionally and personbally.) Prior to quitting my job and being diagnosed with cancer, I had been an Accountant, but now I enjoy sleeping in, and "missing" all that rush hour traffic! I started keeping a journal sometime in January 2005 shortly after I discovered a lump in my breast on my 31st birthday. As I was going through chemo I decided that I would start blogging about my experience in hopes of helping other women. In the 4 years since my original diagnosis I have had over 7 breast surgeries performed, in addition to the chemo and radiation. I am pleased to share my experience and knowledge with everyone. It's been my passion to help others understand breast cancer. I hope that I am able to bring awareness about the disease to the younger generation. Breast cancer isn't just for women over 40....I'm living proof of that. My personal blog started off with my journey through breast cancer, but along the way it ended up being about life in general and a whole lot more.....containing tons of pictures, some scrapbook pages, but mostly just every day rants and ramblings of life. If you want to know more about me and my journey, feel free to check out my main blog below : http://scrapaddictnv2.blogspot.com or see my pix on Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/scrapaddict/ Thanks for stopping by and getting to know me! Angi