Page 90 2024 PAINT THE PAPER PINK Lincoln Daily News Oct/Nov 2024 When she returned to the surgeon, he was pleased she had decided to remove the full breast and joked that it would have been easier to go this route the first time around. Katie looked back warmly on the memory of breaking the ice with her stoic surgeon, now being able to joke together and talk about family. “I didn't find anyone that wasn’t nice in this whole process.” In their appointment, the surgeon mentioned that the plastic surgeon could give her implants or an LD flap reconstruction to take some fat from her back to reform her right breast. She declined the implants as in rare cases people can develop lymphoma, but with the option of reconstruction, she was thrilled! “I’d always wanted these things really reduced! I just wanted to be down to a B or C-cup, which was going to be a big change for me.” Katie was entering her third surgery with a fourth ahead of her, and she would hopefully come out a cancer-free woman. She was dropped off by her son, Eric, and stayed in the hospital to recover for three days. “I remember it being nice to be the one being taken care of; I haven’t had much of a break since before I had my kids.” Once she made it home, her friend Judy (a former nurse) would come over every morning for three weeks to help her drain the fluid from her LD flap and measure the liquids until the drainage was low enough that she could return to the doctor to get the tubes removed. After healing from the mastectomy and breast reconstruction, Katie was referred to St. Johns in Springfield for radiation treatments. However, her radiation was postponed for almost a month due to a cybersecurity attack on St. John’s. Once she was finally able to start, she was given three gas cards to help with her appointments and a few free bras to get her started. “Everyone was super friendly. I couldn't have asked for a better crew. I went Monday through Friday for five weeks and I showed up early every day. We told stories and really became friends. They said they would truly miss me and that I was such a sweet, fun lady.” Katie had perfect results from radiation, Continued --
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzExODA=