My Successful Surgery Story

Hiiiiiiiii friends!

I’m feeling so blessed for a safe and successful double mastectomy surgery. Truth be told, I wasn’t looking forward to this part of cancer healing. It’s so personal, it’s so permanant. I’ve known about this since August 2023, so the anticipation has definitely built. But, I was also given a lot of time to emotionally process this loss so by the time my surgery date of March 27th came around I felt ready to take on the next part of my journey.

Just a heads up, this is a longer post. But read until the end for the brightest news… EVER!

First, let me bring you through the day of surgery…

After a solid 3 hours of sleep, the day started off with my favorite pre-surgery drink, fresh apple juice! I drank my apple juice, took my AM medication, and then drank the minimal sips of water I could have for the day while I launched the Brave Beautiful Boobies Shop! Yes, on the morning of a very intense surgery I decided to simultaneously launch my shop I have been working on for months. Honestly, it was the best distraction.

Tim and I then got in the car and drove to Rochester for my 8am check-in time. Of course, we parked valet! Everything went very smooth and timely from check-in to pre-op. At Mayo you are brought into two different rooms before you are taken into the operating room.

In the first room you get changed into your gown, get your IV placed, go over all of your medications, get your vitals taken, and go to the restroom one last time. With any leftover time, I listened to worship music and watched HGTV. Then you say goodbye to your loved ones and move on to the next room!

You are taken downstairs in a bed and then brought to a room where you meet with your surgeons and anesthesiologist. At Mayo Clinic - Rochester there are also usually tons of fellows and residents working with your doctors as well, so there are a lot of people coming in, saying hi, and reiterating the plans for the day. Hey, I even got my boobs autographed! (They do this to confirm where they are going to operate)

Here I was also administered Tylenol and a steroid, dexamethasone, for my adrenal insufficiency. When your body goes through extreme trauma, such as a surgery, your body naturally creates more of a hormone called cortisol. Although, mine no longer produces it (thanks to Keytruda - you can read up on that on a previous post, “Get This Girl a Medical Alert Bracelet”) so we need to support my body with steroids anytime I go through surgeries, have dental work, or I’m plain ole sick. For reference - on a typical day I take 20mg of steroids, on surgery day I had over 150mg of steroids, just showing you how much more cortisol your body truly needs.

My big request for this surgery was that I wanted to be loopy when I entered the OR. And boy, I sure am glad I advocated for myself and got some anti-anxiety meds. If you’re going to go through a big traumatic surgery, minds well be loopy, floaty, and silly beforehand. 10/10 recommend. The OR was way less scary and memorable, and that’s how it should be. The only thing I remember was one of the OR nurses touching my hand and I told him he had cold hands. Then I told him my brilliant idea for his bio if he was on dating sites “Cold Hands, Warm Heart.” After that, I took a few deep breaths into a mask and was lights out.

The surgery lasted around 6 hours and I woke up in a post op room. Here is what I vaguely remember from there:

I asked the two guy nurses if they took my nipples during the surgery (I knew that if they found any sign of cancer underneath the nipples they wouldn’t have been able to save them) and they said they had no idea and hadn’t looked.
They asked me what my pain was a few times and I said 7/10 both times. I got two doses of fentanyl to help with the pain. I told them it felt like I severely sunburnt my boobs.
Some guy came in and asked me if I remembered him. I said “Are you a fellow?” He said no, I’m a nurse. I indeed did not remember him, still don’t remember him, and am wondering how memorable of a guy he thinks he is to people who are just waking up after being sedated.
I kept putting my arms above my head and the nurses had to keep moving them down as my restrictions are obviously to keep my arms next to my chest so I don’t tear the incisions.

That’s all I remember from being in and out of that room. Then all of a sudden I woke up in my official recovery room and as I was getting situated when I heard Tim walk through the door! And I was yelling “Tim, I’m in here!” Tim was surprised at how awake and lively I was.

While I recovered in the room, we had a checklist of five things I needed to accomplish before I could be released.

Drink Water
Eat Food
Walk
Go to the Bathroom
Get Training on How to Manage the Drains

As part of the double mastectomy, there were drains placed on both sides of me that help to get rid of excess fluids that build up. These drains need to be emptied three times a day and fluids need to be measured. Once the fluids hit a certain requirement, I can have the drains removed! So, Tim received training on how to care for the drains, measure the fluid, and change the surgical site around the drains evert few days. My Tim has turned into the best caretaker during all of this!

After holding off for so long, when it was almost time to leave I decided to say “yes” to pain medication for the 50 minute drive home. I really just wanted to be comfortable and not in pain as I traveled home and got situated. So, I took one oxy (this would be the only one I took, too!) and we started getting ready to go home. As I started to get dressed to go home, I started getting really giggly and laughed a lot. First, I asked Tim to take a photo to document me leaving the hospital. As he was taking said photo with me in my bra, a nurse walked in. I immediately said “Sorry, we are taking photos for my OnlyFans.” (this is a complete joke - for those that don’t know this is a site people make a lots of money from selling risqué photos). We all laughed and she joked along with us. Second, as I put on the top for my matching set that I thought would be SO CUTE for the hospital, I realized it was not the move. My drains were falling out the bottom and I just laughed so hard as I totally envisioned the outfit wrong. Tim gave me his vest to cover up my poor outfit choices, we got a wheelchair, got our car from valet, and we were out of there!

*My “cute” hospital outfit complete with drains falling out the bottom.*

My first night was pretty decent, I came home to lots of orders from the Brave Beautiful Boobies Shop which I am so so grateful for and helped to put a smile on my face. I had minimal pain and discomfort, although had one oopsies in that I wasn’t reminded to take heartburn medication when I took such a high dose of steroids. So I woke up in the middle of the night with raging heartburn and violently vomited. Note to self - ALWAYS remember heartburn meds when you are on high doses of steroids. I won’t make that mistake again because it made me lose all of my delicious dinner I had from a local Italian spot (the only meal I had that day, too.) I took heartburn meds the next few days and didn’t run into this issue again.

I quickly got used to my temporary normal of sleeping on the recliner downstairs. I have a lovely set up with all my medicine, hygiene items, and things to keep me busy! I’ve been playing my Nintendo Switch on my big projector screen downstairs, building Legos, watching TV, and managing the new merch shop - which has been fun!

Two days after surgery I took my first shower, and it was definitely emotional seeing the state my body was in for the first time. I shed some tears when I looked in the mirror. I told Tim “I feel like a train car abandoned on the side of the road covered in graffiti”. I still had ink and markings from the surgeons all over my chest, bruising, dried blood, lidocaine marks, swelling, tape, and breasts that just don’t feel like mine, because they aren’t. I look back at the breasts I was given from God, the ones I didn’t pay much attention to, thinking how perfect they truly were. They were rare, unique, natural, they were mine. I mourn them. Right now I have a temporary medical device in place called a tissue expander. It will be in for 3-6 months while I heal from my surgery, and it will help to prepare my breasts for my future implants by keeping my skin stretched at the appropriate size. This is your friendly reminder to love your body as it is, right now, flaws and all.

I have been able to get out and about more than I thought due to the tolerable discomfort, I have been easily managing the tightness with Tylenol a few times a day. Even two days after my surgery I was feeling well enough to have friends over for dinner, and the next night we went to Tim’s bosses house for dinner and games, to wrap up the weekend we even met up with my family for an Easter Sunday brunch. Being surrounded by wonderful people has been the best distraction as I heal. My mom visited for 3 nights and helped around the house. She kept me busy with shopping and other little projects. My friend Manda also came for an afternoon visit and we caught up and I taught her a new card game that we have been playing a lot, Five Crowns.

But, As I have learned throughout my cancer journey… healing is hardly ever linear.

Just over a week after my surgery I woke up with nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. The only thing that has changed is my medicine regimen with the addition of antibiotics to prevent infection at the drain sites, and I knew my stomach was pretty weak going into surgery from chemo. I had a acute fever and called in to an after hours surgery line, and they said to go in the next day to primary care and get tested for C. Diff, a bacterial infection in the intestine usually caused by being in the hospital or from being on antibiotics. So, I made an appointment the next day to be seen. When I woke up the next day, I got sick multiple times. I was unable to keep down medicine, and as part of my adrenal action plan, I have to have a steroid injection given to me if I am unable to keep down my meds orally, so I knew I had to go in. So on Friday, April 5th Tim and I went into the ER where I got fluids, got my steroid injection, ran blood tests, and had a stool sample. The fluids made me feel amazing. And luckily all my numbers were good enough that they could send me home while we awaited the results from the stool sample, which I was told could take a few days. Lo and behold we got alerted a few hours later that I tested positive for C. Difficile.

Yay. Who doesn’t love to be healing from 5.5 months of chemo, a rigorous double mastectomy, while also having an intestinal bacteria overgrowth? This is truly the trifecta.

The solution for C. Diff? More meds, of course. I’ve had to change the course of antibiotics I’m on to one that specifically targets this bacteria. And of course I’m focusing on getting all the probiotics I can get right now, but my appetite is very little. The nurse said to avoid foods that are spicy or greasy and of course - stay hydrated! C. Difficile is also highly contagious, so I have claimed the basement bathroom as my own and have been keeping it very clean.

Ah these setbacks happen just when you think you’re on the up and up! This situation is really helping me to remember to channel my saying “brighter days ahead” and remember that things will get better and it won’t always be like this. But it’s triggering to have to be isolated again, to not feel good, to have to deeply rely on Tim again, and to return back to that ER (this is my fourth time to the ER in the last 7 months). It’s truly challenging to not feel like yourself for this long, it feels very dark at times. But, when you start to get glimpses of feeling good several days in a row… it does feel so so sweet and it’s a solid reminder of what is yet to come.

Now, it’s time for brighter news.

When I woke up from my surgery I received the initial pathology from my surgeon.

Right breast… negative

Left breast… negative

Four lymph nodes… negative

and YES… I got to keep both nipples!

This is exactly what we prayed for in the surgery: that it would go smooth, there would be no surprises, and all pathology would be negative. This means that chemotherapy did it’s job and I’ve had a “PCR” or pathological complete response, which is a blessing. God is so good. Here is a picture with me and my amazing surgeon who I am grateful to have gotten to work with, Dr. Degnim.

And as everyone knows, 4 is my lucky number and angel number I’ve seen everywhere during this journey. So how ironic is it that they needed to take 4 lymph nodes and also my surgery took place in room “44”!? I may have been loopy as I headed into surgery, but I did NOT forget how at peace I felt going into room “44”.

Thank you to those that have made purchases on the Brave Beautiful Boobies Shop, sent loving messages in anticipation of surgery, brought over yummy homemade meals, and those that have sent over supplies I need for recovery.

Your love and support continue to make the most crummy days feel like I’m surrounded by love.

In healing light,

Xo, Breanna

P.S. Here are some photos of my lovely supporters enjoying their new Brave Beautiful Boobies merch! Get yours here.