Mastectomy

A Carroll jury has rejected the claims of a Westminster woman who said two local surgeons caused her to develop multiple personalities after they performed a mastectomy on her in 1989.After deliberating for less than two hours late Monday, the panel of five women and one man found in favor of Dr. Donald D. Coker and Dr. John E. Steers, who had been sued for $1.5 million by Linda Burt, 47, of Westminster."This suit was devastating to them," Susan Boyce, the doctors' lawyer, said yesterday.

On Thursday, April 23, I checked my calendar to find tw notations: Andy's birthday present (my son) and teeth cleaned: 2 p.m. I crossed off both of them and penciled in, "Modified-radical mastectomy: 12:30 p.m."I was home by 10 a.m. April 25 -- cancer-free, with a 95 percent chance of staying that way.Talking about my cancer is not something I want to make a career out of. You would never be reading this column were it not for the fact that I attended a cancer benefit luncheon (before my surgery)

Outpatient surgery not best for mastectomy patientsNo one knows how mastectomy patients feel after this surgery. . . . This is the worst pain imaginable. You have tubes runing into the surgical site for drainage. You are unable to lift your arm, and you are taped and bound together.I cannot believe the comments from Dr. Lauren Schnaper, who runs the breast center at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She says, "My philosophy is that breast cancer surgery is more of a psychological trauma than it is a physical trauma."

DIANE CHRISS of Calabasas, Calif., lost a breast to cancer last year and chose to reconstruct it with a silicone-filled implant, just months before she opted to augment her remaining breast with another implant."

WHEN Mary Simmons of Ellicott City learned in March that she had breast cancer, the news of her illness triggered an outpouring of support among her family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. At a stage when a person can feel most isolated, Simmons has gained strength from the empathy of those around her. "I feel like I'm being carried," Simmons said. "I never feel alone." This is a new role for Simmons, whose optimism, understanding and humor have made her a person to whom others turn in times of difficulty.

Breast cancer catapults women into an unpredictable world, a place that often seems landscaped with prickly reminders of mortality and images of healthy breasts. It's also a place, many survivors say, in which each day can suddenly seem richer than ever.And life after breast cancer is increasingly familiar to women in America: One out of eight will get the disease. Roughly 180,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society. More than 150,000 will have one -- or both -- breasts removed.

Mammograms, outpatient care for mastectomy discussedAs a breast cancer patient, I recently chose outpatient surgery at the Johns Hopkins Breast Center, returning home the same day following a modified radical mastectomy. I am grateful that my experience differed greatly from those decribed in Michael Dresser's article (Jan. 31, "Longer hospital stays sought").Prior to the operation, my surgeon carefully explained the circumstances under which I could be an outpatient.If I chose to have reconstructive surgery, that option would not be available to me, as this required a hospital stay of several days.

Chris Ely recalls the evening, a few weeks after his wife's mastectomy, when Priscilla decided it was time for both of them to face the physical price of her breast cancer.It was a long, emotional moment. He saw his best friend, the mother of their two girls, a beautiful, intelligent, courageous 40-year-old woman struggle with self-doubt, fearful of how he would react to her new appearance."Well, do you want to see this thing?" she asked him."And I said, 'It's O.K.'"Then she just sort of opened her shirt.

It's rare that Susan Laugen gets depressed.She remained positive when diagnosed with breast cancer and treated in 1992, and made her friends laugh from her hospital bed when the cancer recurred in 1994 and again last summer. She kept active by joining a band, and she began making jewelry in hopes of earning a living from her craft.Then her studio was burglarized."It just hasn't been a good year," Laugen said. "I thought 1997 would get a little better since I just went through surgery in the summer but the robbery was like a slap in the face."

Judy Blume, the chronicler of youth angst in such books as " Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" and "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," is writing now about a much more personal battle against breast cancer. In a blog post titled !@#$% Happens, Blume writes of a summer that began with plans for a trip to Italy and soon moved on to surgery. As you might expect, she blends plenty of  self-deprecating humor into her tale. She's healing now, a month after surgery, and looking forward to writing again.