Three months. Three more months of these damned expanders and the worst of this journey will be behind me. They're an inconvenience, but they're also one of the longer parts of the process.
For those of you who are currently going through a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy or will be in the future, I wanted to share with you all the most important lesson I have learned throughout this whole ordeal:
Attitude is everything
I can’t say this enough. In the past, I was never an overly optimistic person. I always took my hardships in stride and dealt with them, but never really tried to see the silver lining. I decided the weeks before my surgery that if ever there was a time for me to change this mentality, it was now. This change of mindset as well as the attitude of those around me has made all the difference.
If you convince yourself that your recovery will be long and miserable, I assure you it will be. You can't control everything and every person's body will heal differently. But if you make the conscious effort to get up and get moving (within your medical restrictions, of course) you’ll feel back to your old self in no time. Nothing helped my recovery more than going to see my friends and living my life as close to “normal” as I could manage. I’ve taken this experience as an opportunity to change my life around. I colored my hair red, I’m moving to Austin! I feel liberated and free from the worry I once carried with me at all times.
Don’t let your negative situations dictate your life- this goes for everyone, mutant or not. Take these events and let them make you a better person. I promise you’ll come out stronger on the other side.
x
Amanda Hagley
hagleyamanda@gmail.com