Lifted, By My Girls! — The Archives — Formerly Vented Uplift

Hi, I'm Dr. Kavita Jackson- ER doctor, 2020 breast cancer survivor, and Your Cancer Life Coach. From having spent time on both sides of the curtain, as a medical provider turned breast cancer patient, I have gained useful insight into the practice of patient advocacy. As a provider, I understand what it's like to best understand your patient's concerns and desires. As a patient, I also have experienced the challenges of trying to express myself effectively to my medical team. The ability to advocate for yourself, especially as a cancer patient, can be incredibly powerful in shaping your cancer experience. Often people don't realize that as a patient, you have an active and significant role in your medical care. Yet, we are never taught how to navigate the world of medicine from the patient's seat and, as a result, can feel overwhelmed and develop frustration and confusion regarding our diagnosis and treatments-- which is the last thing you need on top of dealing wit...

  It better be the last FUCKING Chapter! Today is 3 weeks from my exchange surgery. 3 weeks since those horrible hard expanders with metal nipples came out. 3 weeks since the squishy girls went in. It's also 3 weeks of not lifting and learning to be taken care of again. 3 weeks of getting used to the increase in size that I questioned at first. 3 weeks of immense gratitude. 26 weeks from the mammogram that saved my life. 26 weeks from the first time I heard, "Mrs. Canny, I think you have DCIS". 26 weeks from the day I knew I had cancer. Exactly 1/2 a year of my life that has been centered around cancer. Exactly 1/2 a year that my family has worried about me. Exactly 1/2 a year of trying to turn lemons into lemonade!   ...

You’ve made the decision to get rid of the girls, bravo! This is a huge, life-altering decision. Now that you’re on your way to taking back control of your life, it’s time to prepare your body for surgery. Whether you’re an avid athlete or just starting out, I’ll be going over how getting those muscles primed and prepped, will help make recovery from major surgery that much easier. When I met with both my Plastic Surgeon and Surgical Oncologist, my first question to them was “What can I do to prepare physically for surgery?”, but I didn’t like their answer of “nothing”. How can there be nothing I can do to help make this surgery go easier for me? That seems like such a bland, roll over and surrender answer; and I’m not the type of girl to not put up a fight. I mean hello, I just came out of my battle against chemo and won! I took matters into my own hands and started to do some research on physical therapy after a mastectomy and applied it to my fitness routine before surgery. Once you...