Hair and Breast 4.9.08

These are pics taken on Day 22, Treatment #4, the last of the chemotherapy, and the day before I went for the Radiation Planning Session. It looks like there is new hair growth on my head, but, interestingly, the eyebrows shed just 3 days before. I don't get how you can lose the hair on your head and have new growth, and lose eyebrows without losing any more hair anywhere else. You can see that the inner ends of the eyebrows are patchy and thin. I didn't lose the eyelashes. The longer hairs on my head are what's left of my original hair--I chose to not shave my head. Notice that there is no hair under my arm, either.









Under my arm, I developed this cord, which was very sore, a
burning sensation when it was touched. The sensation went from
about an inch above the incision, which was numb, through the pit, extending almost down to my elbow. I went to see the surgeon, Dr. Sanchez, who said it may be a nerve or a lymphatic channel that was full. She massaged it, and it went down, but it made my eyes leak when she did. We went home with instructions to continue massage several times a day to soften it. My concern was that there was something going on that radiation might harm more. She didn't think so, but we'll find out, I guess.

This is what my breast looks like now, the end of chemotherapy, and before radiation. The axillary incision (armpit) is still reddened, and almost lies flat with my arm up, but with my arm down, I have a crease there. The incision on the breast is still slightly reddened, and still has some puckering. The areola is stained from the dye that was injected during the first surgery, November 23, 2007. The dye is injected in the lymph nodes in the areola, along with radioactive stuff, and when they check for the sentinal lymph node, it will be the most radioactive, and also have the dye in it. That area of the nipple is still ouchy sore/tender when pressure is on it--like when you lean on something, or bump up against something. Sometimes I have to reposition myself if I'm lying on my side or abdomen. The drain site is the lighter red dot on the left-side picture. It has healed pretty good.









And this is what I'm left with, at this point. Definitely a little uneven, the incisions are puckered, and the nipple kind of folds in on itself. Dr. Sanchez was saying that with breast conservation, a change in appearance is the sacrifice we have to keep our breasts, as opposed to having a mastectomy, where the breast is completely gone, with the scars remaining.