Breast Cancer at Twentynine

CANCER SURVIVOR’S BREAST IMPLANT STARTED COMING OUT AFTER SURGERY
WITH VID AND PIX
By Molly McMahon and Hannah Hodgetts
A woman revealed how, after getting a mastectomy to remove a cancerous mass in her breast, her implant began to come out of her body.
Laina Nielsen, 30, from Wilmington, North Carolina, US, shared that during a beach trip, she noticed an indent on her left breast, something she might not have seen otherwise, which turned out to be a one-inch tumour.
Shortly after her breast reconstruction her right incision had split open, exposing her implant, which then had to be removed.
She said: “When I found out that it had to come out, I was very sad. I cried a lot. It was very emotional.
“I felt like, ‘what else is going to happen to me?’ I didn't want to have a flat breast, and it wasn't necessarily for cosmetic purposes.”
At first it was assumed that it was a fibroid due to her young age, but her gynecologist sent her for a screening, which confirmed it was cancer.
After receiving the devastating news, Laina underwent a double mastectomy, followed by a lymphadenectomy. This involves removing the tissue and tumour from her breasts, leaving her temporarily flat-chested until the reconstruction is done to put in her implants.
`She also had an egg retrieval as the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, before beginning chemotherapy and radiation.
Laina was given a prosthetic breast to wear under her clothes.
However, she chose not to use it and embrace her body as it was - sharing that she didn’t mind looking ‘flat’.
Laina explained: “I had a double mastectomy at the end of August. That was the first thing in my treatment plan with reconstruction.
“While I was healing from the double mastectomy with reconstruction and a lymphadenectomy, because it was also in my lymph node.
“I was able to get my eggs retrieved, which was a blessing in disguise because I actually wasn't sure whether I wanted to have kids.
“I had another two weeks to recover and then I started five months of chemotherapy.
“I did not mind looking flat. Some people stared. Some people asked, actually, which was interesting.”
ENDS