Boobs in a Box
When it was obvious I was going to have a mastectomy, it wasn’t a difficult decision for me to also have reconstructive surgery. I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 40 years old. After the lump was removed, I found out that cancer was in the margins of the remaining tissue, thus making a mastectomy a must.
When I was in high school my dad always made jokes about how flat chested I was. I remember actually saying while in high school, “if I ever got breast cancer, I’m so flat they’d have to cut out my heart,” Ouch!! So when I was 24 years old, making more money than I could spend, I treated myself to breast augmentations. I was small chested even with my implants, a perfect B and that was enough for me.
When I was faced with breast cancer, and knew my best option for survival was a mastectomy, reconstruction was a no brainer. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that implants have a shelf life. One day I looked down and I found my left breast smaller than it had been for the last 10 years. Luckily I had saline in the breast implant, because I had sprung a leak. For the next several days I tried to decide how this could have happened. I hadn’t hurt myself, or bumped it or anything.
Within a weeks time my slow leak had pretty much flattened my left side. Since I had opted for immediate reconstruction when I had been diagnosed with breast cancer, I hadn’t had the experience of being fit for prosthesis. Since I was lopsided I was very self conscious and uncomfortable. Since my plastic surgeon retired several years ago I tried to decide who to go to for their opinion of my situation. I talked to a friend and made an appt with a lady plastic surgeon, but unfortunately it wasn’t for 3 months.
I decided to go to a store that sold mastectomy supplies and had a fabulous experience dealing with my awkward situation. Luckily Fern, one of the owners of the store, has a great outlook on life. She is also a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed in the early 90’s like me. Fern made me laugh as I tried on different bras with different sizes of “boobs in a box”. We were trying to match my flatter left side with the perkier, still reconstructed right side. After talking about my options we also touched on the some other doctors that could do my repair work. I called and made an appointment.
I walked around feeling a bit odd for the next week till my doctor’s appointment but a week was a lot better than 3 months. I discussed the options in my future with my doctor, one of which was to deflate the other side so at least till I decided to get my surgery I wouldn’t feel so weird. I said, “go for it” and I walked out a few minutes later more lopsided than I was when I went in. So off to see Fern again so I had a matching set of “Boobs in a Box”. I’m actually very happy with my new bustline, it’s actually a little bigger than my smaller reconstructed breasts. I’m even considering not having surgery again to reconstruct.
Sharon Henifin
Breast Cancer Survivor Diagnosed 1993
