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Introduction
Since the first edition of this book was published in 2003, the breast cancer rate in America has jumped from one-in-eight
to one-in-seven.
Everyone, it seems, knows someone who has or had the disease. We've made great strides in the areas of detection and treatment;
we're now finding and successfully treating more early-stage breast cancers; that means saving more lives. But for many women,
the price of curing their cancer is the loss of one or both breasts.
There's nothing easy about mastectomy. Whether you're considering it to treat your breast cancer or to reduce your hereditary
risk of developing the disease, you're probably feeling fear, anger, confusion, remorse, anxiety: some or all of these emotions.
What will your body and life be like after such a significant part of you is lost? What alternatives are available to restore
and reshape your post-mastectomy body?
You do have many options after mastectomy. In fact, in most cases, you even have choices about how your mastectomy is performed.
Your breasts can be surgically reconstructed with implants, your own tissue, or a combination of both. Procedures can be performed
to accommodate each woman's unique needs.
A few short years ago, breast reconstruction meant giving a woman something more permanent than a "falsie" to fill her bra,
so she had a normal-looking profile when clothed. For many plastic surgeons, the challenge is now more personal: their goal
is to restore the natural look and soft contours of a woman's breast, whether she's clothed or not. In most cases, highly-skilled
surgeons using sophisticated techniques can rebuild breasts that look very much like the ones Mother Nature gave you; they
can also be recreated somewhat smaller or larger.
The Breast Reconstruction Guidebook objectively explains different reconstructive options.
Armed with this information, you'll be in a better position to discuss the benefits and limitations of the various techniques
with physicians and plastic surgeons, and then make your own decision about what's right for you. You may decide to go ahead
with reconstruction. You may not. Either way, you can base your decision on the knowledge of what to expect from the surgery,
the recovery, and life beyond.
It's a new world. We have so many more choices than our mothers and grandmothers did. More of us who are diagnosed survive
breast cancer. Those of us who lose our breasts outlive treatment and move on with our lives, thriving emotionally and physically
with our new breasts intact.
Put yourself in the driver's seat by learning all you can about mastectomy and reconstruction. Be your own best advocate.
Make your own decisions. Enjoy a healthy, confident, and happy future.
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