Avsnitt
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This episode was recorded two weeks after surgery. The surgery was a nipple-sparing, skin-sparing left mastectomy. My reconstruction (placement of an implant) was done at the same time as the mastectomy. The treatment I had on the day of this recording was hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This therapy was needed to make sure there was good blood flow over the implant (in the skin and nipple area). I share what physical symptoms I have 2 weeks after the mastectomy and I touch briefly on emotions and the thought of going back to work.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
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It was a mostly smooth process planning for my breast surgery. In this episode, I discuss the process of going between the breast surgeon and plastic surgeon in the time leading up to my mastectomy and right after.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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I am talking about how I shopped around for the best price on Tamoxifen in this episode. The drug is generic and should not cost much, if anything. The pharmacy prices, including the mail-delivery pharmacy from my insurance company, were all over the place.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
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I have been exercising regularly for many months. For several months, I have been aware of how much I crave a good sweat and an opportunity to get my heart rate up into the high 120s and a little beyond. I would not say I am strong but I do see evidence that I am becoming stronger. I keep showing up and telling myself this is my best medicine.
Recently, while searching for some information about exercise, I stumbled upon a website for a “We Can Row DC” and a special learn-to-row event in May.
I signed up for a special event for breast cancer survivors. It is a learn-to-row experience on a weekend in May. The group sponsoring the event is a rowing club specifically made up of breast cancer survivors.
We Can Row DC - https://www.wecanrowdc.com/
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
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In this episode, I share resources and strategies I implemented to get information as soon as possible. This meant using a few tools and advocating for myself at a time when the full extent of the cancer was not yet known.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
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It was my first screening mammogram since being diagnosed with breast cancer. This mammogram was being done on the breast that did not have cancer in it at the time of my initial diagnosis. After reading the report from this mammogram, I wandered off into the world of searching for more information online. It turned out to be counterproductive and I developed a strategy to direct all of my thoughts into a place where they can stay until I need them. I share the whole story in this episode.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET’S CONNECT
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I have turned a corner in my life as a survivor. Perhaps this could be called “acceptance” of the life I am living now. Coincidentally, I am at the point in time where it has been a year since the journey of screening and diagnosing this cancer began.
In this episode, I discuss my experience using the website “Predict Breast Cancer” to obtain survival statistics for my specific cancer diagnosis. The website provides statistics based on treatment with surgery alone and also provides predicted survival statistics when factoring in other treatments (such as hormonal therapy). Survival statistics are generated for 5, 10 and 15 years from surgery, based on what options I selected.
Note: This is data I am sharing about my own online research, as a patient. This is my personal experience and not healthcare advice.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET’S CONNECT
REFERENCE MENTIONED
(n.d.). Predict Breast Cancer. Predict Breast Cancer. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from https://breast.predict.nhs.uk/about/overview/overview
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Being diagnosed with breast cancer has elevated my awareness of how much I must advocate to receive the highest standard of health care. I am a unique patient and one individual healthcare consumer. The “one size fits all” state of healthcare is not tailored to meet all the needs of individuals. As I continue on this Breast Cancer Life journey, I am reminded of the need to share experiences, in hopes that others will benefit as they navigate the system.
This episode includes my stories of navigating the health-care system and asking different providers about the best approaches to screening my remaining breast. I took things into my own hands and located a healthcare system that performs contrast-enhanced mammograms for this year’s screening.
I reference this podcast in my episode:
https://www.survivingbreastcancer.org/podcast/episode/774eb5a7/200-understanding-breast-cancer-screening-modalities-with-experts-dr-dibble-and-dr-rauch
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
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I am sharing my experience at the medical oncologist (breast oncologist) that took place the other day. I talk about why I get emotional at each of these visits and how surreal it is to be the breast cancer patient. It is my hope that this information will highlight the importance of this visit as an opportunity to communicate what you are feeling and ask questions. This visit is the face-to-face time in the relationship with your doctor and captures just a small portion of what your doctor can do to support you.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
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Now that I have had a few appointments with my medical oncologist, I have figured out the routine of how the appointment generally goes. I have developed a few helpful strategies I use to prepare for each visit. I share these with you in this episode because I want to provide information you can use to get the most out of these doctor visits.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
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Since being diagnosed, having surgery, and learning to thrive in survivorship, I have come to realize that the healthcare team does not really know what it is like to be the patient. In this episode, I share 3 realities of how my providers view me, the patient. These observations are contrasted with my past work as a nurse and the experience I had as a chemotherapy infusion nurse. This experience with breast cancer has shed light on how different the patient perspective is, compared to being an empathetic caregiver sitting in front of a patient, doing a job.
Listen to the end to catch my “bonus love note” at the end of the episode: Advocate for yourself!
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
Email Host Natalie D'Itri
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The first few weeks after surgery went rather quickly. This episode was recorded 16 days after surgery. I share the full story of what happened at the plastic surgeon’s office. I also talk about how I feel and what is happening at this point in my recovery. This is my story of recovery from a nipple-sparing mastectomy and immediate reconstruction (which was the placement of an implant at the same time as the mastectomy surgery).
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns.
LET'S CONNECT
Email Host Natalie D'Itri
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In this episode, I share my realization of what I was afraid of now that I had a breast cancer diagnosis. It was 4 weeks from the time of the biopsy results until I went to surgery. At that time, there still were a lot of unknowns that made coping essential. In this episode, I reveal my experience of figuring out what I was afraid of.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns.
Follow, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. Share this podcast with others!
Email Host Natalie
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Yesterday marked six months since my breast cancer surgery, which included a mastectomy and immediate reconstruction. In the initial two months post-surgery, I had frequent follow-ups to monitor the healing progress of the skin on my left breast and the implant. During the surgery, I opted for a nerve grafting procedure, an additional cost not covered by my insurance.
Despite anticipating the insurance denial for the nerve grafting, I proceeded with the surgery. Fast forward to my six-month follow-up, and the doctor gently poked my left breast, asking if I felt anything. Unfortunately, I felt nothing in the breast area, confirming a likely permanent numbness.
I knew that it was only a possibility that the sensation would come back to the skin over the breast and to the nipple, but I still had hope that over time (meaning after many months of recovery), some sensation would return. I can still have hope but the reality seems to be what I have become used to already. I know I will be okay - it is just another time to process information. It takes time.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns.
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Email Host Natalie D'Itri
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This point in time is a major milestone for me. It has been 6 months since I had a left mastectomy. A year ago I never knew this was how I would tell my life’s story now. I recently went through a lengthy process of multiple screenings and biopsies before getting the cancer diagnosis and finally, having surgery to remove the cancer - the mastectomy.
Throughout this entire journey, there have been times when I needed to look beyond my health care providers to find information regarding treatment and future care options. This episode features my stories of advocating for myself.
Follow, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. Share this podcast with others!
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns.
CONNECT
Email Host Natalie D'Itri
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This episode features my day in the life after a mastectomy, recorded on post-op day 12. This is a time in the immediate recovery period when I had a lot of health care appointments, including the wound care to heal the skin on the side where I had a mastectomy. This was also a time when my treatment planning was still in process, as some test results were still pending.
Follow, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. Share this podcast with others!
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience (screening, diagnosis, and what happens next). This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person close to someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. That's why I'm sharing my experience. I hope this podcast gives you a glimpse of what this life is like.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
LET’S CONNECT
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Facing uncertainty is a certainty in life. Sometimes this is anticipated uncertainty, but often it is not and it may happen without any warning. Breast cancer life is filled with a great deal of uncertainty. Uncertainty during the screening and diagnosis journey is only part of the experience. There is more uncertainty that comes with survivorship. In this episode, I share my thoughts on uncertainty as a survivor. I also share how the diagnosis has affected my outlook on facing future uncertainty.
Follow, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. Share this podcast with others!
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience (screening, diagnosis, and what happens next). This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person close to someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. That's why I'm sharing my experience. I hope this podcast gives you a glimpse of what this life is like.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
CONNECT [email protected]
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It has been 5 months since I had a mastectomy. The physical recovery from surgery is now pretty much complete. The emotional recovery is still in progress. I am navigating the gray zone of breast cancer survivorship. I share what I encountered in the past few months that was mostly not anticipated.
Follow, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. Share this podcast with others!
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience (screening, diagnosis, and what happens next). This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person close to someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. That's why I'm sharing my experience. I hope this podcast gives you a glimpse of what this life is like.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
CONNECT [email protected]
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Week 1 Post Mastectomy - Pathology Results and Healing Activities
There was a lot to share in the first week following surgery. I recorded short pieces of content to share what I was feeling and what activities were part of my immediate recovery period.
This episode is made up of 2 short episodes, from post-op day 2 (not even 48 hours after getting out of surgery) and post-op day 7, the day I received my pathology results in my online portal.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast where I share my breast cancer experience in the hope that you can use this information to help you, as the patient or friend or family member of someone living breast cancer life. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience - not a friend with cancer or a nurse or doctor. That's why I'm sharing my experience with you. I am Natalie, your host. Join me as I share my journey.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
LET’S CONNECT
breastcancerlife.org
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It was just over 12 hours after leaving the OR when I recorded this episode. I had a mastectomy the day before. I had a very short night of sleep and I was still wobbly when I got up in the morning. I had a pretty good memory of getting ready to be wheeled to the OR, being in recovery, and being awakened by the plastic surgeon before 7am on post op day 1. It was a completely novel experience, as is the journey ahead, as I navigate breast cancer life.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast where I share my breast cancer experience in the hope that you can use this information to help you, as the patient or friend or family member of someone living breast cancer life. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience - not a friend with cancer or a nurse or doctor. That's why I'm sharing my experience with you. I am Natalie, your host. Join me as I share my journey.
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
CONNECT
breastcancerlife.org
- Visa fler
