Recovery from BIA ALCL
My name is Danielle I am the mother of 6 beautiful girls. My girls are 16, 14, 13 , 9, 7, and 2. I gave my body to my children and breastfed them all. In early 2011 after my 5th daughter was about 2 I made the decision to have implants put in after spending almost five years breastfeeding. I was not going for any look just that I wanted to feel normal and not deflated. So on July 4th 2011 I underwent surgery. Everything was good and I finally felt like a woman again. I became pregnant again in 2013 and in January of 2014 we welcomed our beautiful daughter Aria into the world. I continued to breastfed like I did with all my other children. She was so tiny but perfect and everything seemed good until at 5 months old they declared her failure to thrive. So I stopped breastfeeding and for the first time ever used formula. Nothing changed she didn't gain any more weight but she seemed fine meeting milestones. All was good until 2 days before my 5th year of having implants. On July 2 2016 I woke up had a shower and when I looked into the mirror my left breast was over double the size. I was in panic mode. I finally got into see my plastic surgeon who said this was common and should go down on its own. Within days I started to become I'll. I called them back up and said something is not right so they set up an appointment for me to have a ultrasound guided aspiration by a radiologist. They removed just over 400cc of fluid from my breast but said it looked clear so no sign of infection. I went back to my plastic surgeon and he said everything looked good but they were going to order a CT scan to see what was causing this. That's when he brought up that there is a rare type of lymphoma associated with breast implants but not to worry. I left the office and something in me said this was my next Journey. July 28th 2016 I got a call from the surgeon to come in to see him as they had some test results that were pending from the fluid that came back and the doctor needed to speak with me. I told my husband not to worry that I was sure it was nothing major and I would go alone. I got there and they put me into a room and when the doctor came in he was wearing his surgical clothes. I knew it was bad. He said so as you know we got your test results back and I said it's cancer isint it. He said yes I am sorry. I was diagnosed with breast implant associated anaplalastic large cell lymphoma. Everything from there was a blur as I had to drive to tell my husband. From there I have seen doctor after doctor that know nothing of this one doctor wanted to do a radical mastectomy and possibly have to remove my ribs as she knew nothing about this cancer. I have had 2 ct scans one an emergency scan. I have suffered with low temperature between 34.5 and 35 yet i feel like im burning up, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, muscle pain and weakness joint pain, poor sleep, decline in vision and vision disturbances, slow healing for the last year, vertigo, headache, soar and aching joints of shoulders hips backbone and feet, swollen and tender lymphoma nodes in breast area and under arm, chest discomfort shortness of breath, pain and burning sensation around implant and underarms, anxiety and panic attacks. These are just what I go through on a eveyday
I feel sicker as the days go by and weaker and have almost collapsed on several occasions. I am not sure what the future holds as it has been an awful summer for my family. I will be having a complete capsulectomy at best and they are doing further testing to see if it has spread to my lympnodes. I may need chemotherapy or radiation only the future will tell. This is a rare blood cancer and alcl only make up for about 5%of all lymphomas and once into the body it then becomes very aggressive. In my interview with ctv national they leave out so much as this is not a simple take them out and be better. I have spoken to many women with this and years after explantation they are still suffering. I have tried to create awareness as I never heard of it and I will continue to once I hopefully get better. Right now I am unable to work and my husband has taken on a load way more than he can handle. Financially things were starting to get a bit better for us then we were hit with this. I ask if you read my story you share it with anyone you know even if to help inform people. Any amount to help while I try and get through this would be appreciated
Thankyou for your time to read this
http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-headlines/women-with-breast-implants-warned-of-rare-cancer-1.3039588
