Barbara Ory (00:05):
My name is Barbara Ory and I’m a breast cancer survivor. It was May of 2006, I noticed a change in my left breast and I had had my normal yearly mammogram the previous August. So I called my gynecologist and made an appointment to have him see me early. And he saw me and sent me immediately over to get a mammogram. And I knew something was wrong because when I came back from the mammogram, my phone was ringing and I saw my gynecologist’s name on the caller ID. And he said, “Your breast, it looks like there’s a lump in it and it looks very suspicious.” So he was going to send me to a surgeon. And this wasn’t a breast surgeon, it was just a surgeon. So I made the appointment with this man the week after. And the day I had the appointment, I noticed in my right eye I was having some problems and I was losing my vision in it.

(01:11):
So I had the appointment for the afternoon and I needed to drive there so I put a patch over my eye and drove to the surgeon appointment. Well, he saw me and he said, “What’s wrong with your eye?” And I told him and he said, “Well, I’ll get you over to a ophthalmologist this afternoon.” I said, “Okay. So meanwhile, let’s talk about your breast.” And he wanted to schedule me the following week to have a mastectomy and he didn’t even mention reconstructive surgery or anything like that. And I was afraid. It all happened so fast and I was really worried. After I had my laser surgery for my detached retina, I had to lay in one position for three days and that gave me a lot of time to think. And I started thinking that this man recommended a mastectomy and he hadn’t even done a biopsy.

(02:11):
And I was concerned because he just had read a mammogram and sometimes those can be wrong. So I just kept thinking about it and I decided, “I’m not going to do this. I’m going to find somebody else.” And that’s when I started looking around for someone else. So I had several friends that were nurses and that, and I called one of them and she said, “If I had something wrong with my breast, I’d go to Dr. Alan Stolier,” which I did. So he sent me to, Dr. Stolier sent me to get a biopsy, a needle biopsy. And when I went back to his office for the results, he said, “Well, the bad news is you do have breast cancer.” He said, “But the good news is, is we have two of the best reconstructive surgeons in the world here in New Orleans.” So that’s when he told me about Dr. DellaCroce and Dr. Sullivan.

(03:12):
So about two weeks later, I was in seeing face to face with Dr. DellaCroce.

(03:21):
When I first came into the breast center, I looked at around … All these details were taken care of. They had flowers, they had artwork, it was wonderful music. The staff is great. And I kept thinking to myself, “If these guys pay attention to these details, they must pay attention to every detail.” And I felt comfortable. I felt like I came to the right place. Once I decided to do the double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, I did not have enough fat on my stomach to make two breasts. So luckily I had a big enough posterior to do that, and so that’s what we did. The surgery went really well. I really didn’t even feel any pain. I didn’t have to take pain medication when I went home. And once I saw my breast, I was really pleased because they looked just like they looked before, except I looked like I was maybe 20 again, which I really liked.

(04:39):
I feel very lucky that I found Dr. Sullivan and DellaCroce because when you’re going through this experience, you are afraid and it’s nice to go through it feeling confident and I feel like I was transformed. I’m more active than I was. I can do anything. I don’t have any … I can wear swimming suits or a strapless gown or any of those things and I feel like I look great and I’m just really happy and grateful that I came here and got my reconstructive surgery. And then when I saw my breasts, I had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery and I looked just like I looked before. And I was only 54 years old and you want to look nice for your husband and yourself. And even though the man says it doesn’t make any difference, it makes a difference to a woman. And when I saw what they had done, I was so happy and pleased and I still am today and it’s been going on four years since I was first diagnosed and I feel great and I’m really pleased with the results.

(06:03):
And I guess the detached retina was a good thing for me because it made me slow down and find some people that really did a good job.