Kara’s Fight Like a Girl Story (Breast Cancer)

Hi everyone, my name is Kara. Here is my Fight Like a Girl Story. It all started in 2016, when I found a lump in my left breast. As you all know, you worry, go to the doctor, and they send you off for a mammogram. Well, that is when everything started to hit so fast. I thought, okay, just a mammogram, no big deal. It went from that to lying on a table, getting a biopsy, feeling weird and scared at the same time. The doctor said he was going to send it off, and he would get a hold of me in a couple days. So you sit and worry yourself to death.

A couple days later, I got a call: “You need to come in to the office.” That was the worst day of my life, getting told, at the age of 39, “You have breast cancer.” I went through so many tests, then started my chemotherapy. My chemo was really strong. I had 2 blood transfusions and had to stop chemo early because it was damaging my body.

So after 6 months, I went to have my first surgery, a double mastectomy, but we tried to save the skin. It didn’t work. I then had 2 different emergency surgeries, as I was very ill, and my skin was dying. We got that under control and then went in to the plastic surgeon 6 months later to start a whole new trip. I had expanders put in, only to have more trouble.

I’ve been through 7 surgeries just on the left side because I’ve got really thin skin. I won’t heal, and I keep getting infections. So just 2 weeks ago, I had to have my left expander taken out because my boob split open, not once but 2 times. At my next appointment in January, we will set up my next surgery for skin grafts, so I’m just fighting like a girl and praying that this will help my issues and I can be put back together again.

Thanks for reading my Fight Like a Girl Story.

Kara
Missouri
Submitted 11/02/2017

This story is intended to convey a personal experience and, because every person’s experience is unique, should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.