Time Flies When Recovery Goes Well

It's hard to believe that my prophylactic double mastectomy was exactly two months ago. It

seems like yesterday I was preparing for a life changing surgery that would make my life less worrisome. And now I am finally living in peace.

Surgery and recovery were amazing. I know that sounds weird to say, but everything went well. I was blessed to be in great hands on the operating table and in great hands at home.

I couldn't be more grateful that one of my best friends is an amazing nurse practitioner that took the best care of me my first and hardest days home. From setting a million alarms on her phone to give me my pain medicine and to empty my drains to bringing face masks and lotion for some self care and massages, my friend is truly one of a kind.

Once her rotation was over, my lovely boyfriend, who recently graduated with his nursing degree stepped up to the plate to take on probably one of his hardest patients. It was very nice finally seeing Murse Rob in action! He did a great job taking care of me because it is hard to fill my friend's shoes.

Having drains sutured to your sides was probably the hardest part of this whole process, and by the grace of god I only had them for two weeks. At times it seemed like forever, having to empty and measure the liquids twice a day and putting these little grenades in a waitress belt, so they wouldn't be dangling by my side. But probably a week or two after I got them taken out, I completely forgot what life was life with them in. Now, I have four little circle scars (two on each side - that I think are going to heal eventually) that remind of those memories. I kind of just laugh at them when I randomly see them coming out of the shower and think "oh man you guys sucked. but I survived."

Some days were kind of painful, just being uncomfortable or overwhelmed with emotions. I had family and friends in and out of my condo for four weeks straight. It was amazing! The Kids (my brother and sister) were here constantly. I loved it.

The times I was alone though I couldn't help thinking about what life would be like if genetic testing was around fifteen years ago, so my mom would be aware of the BRCA2 gene mutation and could be proactive as well. I am grateful I was able to become a Previvor, but will never be able to stop thinking about those men and women that didn't get this chance.

I was cleaning my closest the other day and found an advertising project I worked on in college. I chose to do the importance of getting a mammogram. About nine years ago when I wrote this ad I felt that women were really afraid of getting mammograms and continued to put it off. My tagline was "Mammograms aren't scary, getting breast cancer is." I found it interesting how strongly I felt about the importance women getting mammograms then and how strongly I feel about getting a Prophylactic Double Mastectomy now.

Having a Prophylatic Double Mastectomy isn't scary, having a drastically higher chance of getting Breast Cancer because you have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation is.

Thank you everyone for your love and support during this time! I couldn't have had a successful recovery and have been so positive without you!

#previvor #bralessnflawless #BRCA2 #breastcancer #recovery

Peace -

J