Kim Witherspoon (00:05):
My name is Kim Witherspoon and I am a breast cancer survivor. It all started Labor Day weekend in 2007 when I was on vacation with my husband in Vancouver. I was eight and a half weeks pregnant with what would have been our second child until I had a miscarriage. And about four weeks later, I found a lump in my right breast. And it wasn’t really as a lump as much as it was a little hard pee. And I didn’t really think that much about it, but because my mother is a breast cancer survivor, I wanted to have it checked out. So I called my OBGYN and went in and she just as a precautionary measure sent me to have a mammogram and an ultrasound. And so a week later, I went in for those tests and I knew something wasn’t just right because they were having to do several mammograms in a row and ultrasounds and your women’s intuition kind of kicks in, thinks this is probably not normal.

(01:07):
And by the time the radiologist came in, he told me that I had calcifications and he couldn’t tell me whether they were malignant or benign and that I was going to need a needle biopsy. And I just remember speaking to the nurse afterwards and asking her, “What does that mean? And could I really have breast cancer?” And from then on, it just started this journey of six months of going to doctors, going to have lab tests run, having tests run here, waiting for the results of the test. I tell people I was like the mouse trapped in the maze of breast cancer.

(01:49):
And I went and scheduled the needle biopsy at the same clinic where my mother had had hers. And once again, it was kind of a similar situation. They had to do like five mammograms and then had to do several more ultrasounds. And I knew something probably wasn’t right again. The doctor came in and said he was going to have to biopsy two areas instead of one. So once again, I’m thinking, “Oh no, this is probably not too good.” But I had the test done and after the test, my mom went and talked to the radiologist and he had said, “Everything is treatable.” And that’s when she said that she knew that I had breast cancer. The next afternoon, it was Friday afternoon, and I actually had my cell phone with me because I was waiting for the call hoping I would get these results before the weekend.

(02:41):
And I’m pulling my son across the intersection, the phone rang and it was a nurse calling me and she asked me if I wanted the results from her or if I needed to schedule an appointment with the doctor. And I of course told her, “I want the results from you. ” And then she asked if I was driving and I knew that this was not good news. And then she told me, “You have breast cancer.” At this point, I just treated the whole situation like a business. I just started looking into doctors, getting first opinions, second amendments, third opinions if I need to, to try to find the right breast surgeon. When I saw two different breast surgeons, they both had recommended mastectomy versus lumpectomy. And at that point, I knew right away that I wanted to have the left breast removed as well. And that was by far the easiest decision that I made the entire time.

(03:49):
I mean, it just made the most sense to me. So once I had my surgeon established, then I wanted to start looking into reconstructive surgeons now that I was going to be having a bilateral mastectomy. It was really important to me to have my own tissue. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of implants. It was just, that’s just my own personal preference. And both of the surgeons that I’d spoken to had recommended Dr. DellaCroce and Sullivan and I had known about them before in the past, had heard some things about them. So I knew that, wow, these guys are great and they’re actually in my own home city, which was such a miracle in and of itself as well. Before I saw Dr. DellaCroce, I went to see another plastic surgeon that had been recommended. And when I went there, I had told him that I was interested in the gap flap because I had already kind of started reading about it.

(04:48):
And this doctor had the nerve to tell me that I was too thin to have the gap flap and that I wouldn’t be a good candidate for it and that I need to just have the implants and move on from there. Well, fortunately I did not listen to that and I went ahead and had my appointment with Dr. DellaCroce. When my husband and I went into Dr. DellaCroce and Sullivan’s office the first time, I mean, we were just totally blown away by the office itself. We were so impressed with the staff and just the environment. It’s much more like a luxury spa than going to a regular doctor’s appointment. You really feel like you’re in a happy place, whereas most doctor’s appointments you go to, you just feel like you get gloom and doom. We went in, we talked to Dr. DellaCroce and he was just immediately confident that he could provide the surgery that I wanted and that I was a great candidate for it.

(05:52):
So that made me very happy. And so we scheduled everything. On December 5th, 2007, I had a double mastectomy followed by the reconstruction. It was about a 10 and a half hour surgery and the recovery was not easy because the gap flap, they take tissue from your rear to make the breast. The gap flap procedure seemed like the best option for me. And the website at the center was so helpful because it showed pictures of women before and after this procedure. So it gave me so much peace to be able to see the actual outcomes in a picture of a person who’s actually been through this, rather than looking at just a drawing of what it’s supposed to look like. What’s so great about having that your reconstructive surgery at the same time as your mastectomy is you never skip a beat. You literally wake up and you have breast.

(06:55):
You never were without breasts. So you don’t have, I think that same loss as some of the women who have their mastectomies done and then have to wait till after all their chemo treatment or radiation or whatever to have their reconstructive surgery. I mean, I would not have changed a thing. I had no complications. I was up and moving right away. I tried to keep my body going as best as I could. And it was just no problem. It was a terrific decision and what was right for me. Unfortunately though, when my sentinel node biopsy came back, they did find one area in my lymph node of poorly differentiated ductal endocarcinoma, which was going to require me to have chemotherapy. So that kind of started the next round of finding an oncologist and finding someone that I was comfortable with and you know, liking their treatment plan and all that involves.

(08:03):
And when I did find that oncologist that I liked, I had four rounds of adremycin, cytoxan, starting in January and I finished in March and I really kind of flew through that too. Not too many complications with regards to any of that. My cancer happened to be stage 2B and it was estrogen receptor positive and progesterone positive. So after I finished the chemo, I was required to take Tamoxifen for five years.

(08:41):
However, I stopped taking the Tamoxifen and switched to Remedex after I had a total hysterectomy. I had some suspicious areas on my ovaries and one cancer scare there and that was it. I said, “Get it all out. ” And I also, in 2008, had the second stage of my reconstructive surgery, which was to kind of fill in my rear a little bit more and they can also create nipples again. And it’s just amazing what they’re able to do. I mean, I have perkier boobs now than I did before. If there was a message that I could give to women who are going through this process, it would be to just look at all of your options and to stay positive. There’s so many different options out there, and if I had listened to that first plastic surgeon that I had gone to, then I might have implants right now, and that’s not what I wanted.

(09:40):
I pay attention to what’s going in my body. I pay attention to making sure that I get the right amount of exercise, and that I maintain a healthy lifestyle. And I love the way I look after having the surgery. My rear might be a little bit smaller, but other than that, it’s great, and I am totally happy with my self image, and my husband is very pleased with my self image as well, and that then gives me confidence in the way I look.

(10:20):
Restorative surgery has come so far in the last few years, and the guys here at the center are the best, and there is a reason why they call it the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery, because I truly feel restored.