My story is a long one. last year on April 2 I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. I had no idea what to expect. I was so scared and I started googling everything I could find about this type of cancer. Let me give you some advice, DON'T google anything, just listen to your Dr.
After I was diagnosed, I immediately set up surgery to have a partial mastectomy. I can't begin to tell you the pain of having to amputate your breast. During that surgery Dr. Thomas Horn placed a tissue expander behind my pectoral muscle. Well that didn't work for me because of the severe pain I had. So, he goes back in and removes the expander and puts it on top of the muscle. I was doing great but then I developed a leak with the tissue expander and so I had to go back in surgery and he took that one out and placed a new one in. I want you to know that the tissue expander I had is the absolute best there is but sometimes things happen and the unfortunate situation is that I ended up with the one in 20,000 that would have a leak. As time went by, I was on one hell of a roller coaster ride. I had lost my only Aunt, 2 months later I lost my mother, 2 months later I'm diagnosed with cancer, 2 months later my family and I had to have our beautiful 13 year old Labrador,Maverick to sleep. He and I both had cancer. I felt like I was living a nightmare.
I came from a small family. I was the only child, grandchild and great grandchild in my family. I would have given anything to have a sibling at the time.
I started chemotherapy and needless to say it was horrible because I'm allergic to steroids and with all chemotherapy steroids are a absolute must!! So I had to go through with it if I wanted a chance to live longer. The reactions to all the chemotherapy drugs I was trying just about killed me and my wonderful oncologist said he had never seen anything like this before. At the end I was able to get two rounds of Doxirubicin in my body but it took a lot of other medications to go along with it because it was the most important drug I needed to kill off these cancer cells. The after effects were terrible but I had to continue seeing my plastic surgeon so he could fill my tissue expander with a saline solution that made the skin stretch so I would be able to have a implant put in. A few months later I was back in the operating room to finally have my breast reconstruction. it turned out wonderful but after several months and all the swelling went down I noticed I wasn't even on both sides and I had scar tissue build up that became very painful. So on August 21 just a couple of days ago, I found myself back in the hands of Dr. Thomas Horn. He done what I thought was impossible but my God he did it and I look absolutely amazing!!
through out this process from the the beginning he and his staff treated me with so much dignity, love and they truly understood how much I had lost in just one year. The compassion and hugs I got from the staff really showed me how much they cared . I put my life and the trust I had in his hands and he has done everything so perfectly!! if I had been lucky enough to have a big brother, I would hope he would have been just like Dr. Thomas Horn.
He is funny, caring, understanding and one of the most humble people I've ever gotten to know.
I am still in his care for post-op and I'm beyond grateful for what he has done for me. My confidence is back and he is the reason for that.
For anyone that has to have breast surgery after a mastectomy , please I implore you to go to him. He and his staff are some of the best human beings I've ever gotten to know. I love each of them for all the love, care and kindness they have freely given to me. I will remember each of them for the rest of my life.
Gina Morgan read more