Marisa 'eM' Louw

  After six emotionally draining weeks, the day that I will step into the ring and start my fight against breast cancer is around the corner. On Friday, 30 August I will be undergoing a bilateral skin-saving mastectomy and direct to implant breast reconstruction. What does this mean? An oncological surgical team will remove both my breast organs after which a reconstructive team will immediately begin to reconstruct my breasts. The surgical procedure will last between two and three hours. After the procedure, I will be in a high-care unit and should be discharged after three nights. The surgical sites will be drained for about 10 days and I will be shown how to monitor and care for the drains, after which I will be admitted again to have the drains removed. 14 days of rest is recommended for recovery, but when you work for yourself time is money. Lucky for me I work from home and my computer has voice recognition which means I don't have to sit and type, I can talk to my computer a...

  I have been diagnosed with grade 3 invasive lobular breast cancer and I want to share my story on how I went from healthy to cancer patient in the wink of an eye. My mother had a heart attack when she was about my age. In June I decided that it may be time to go for an electrocardiogram (ECG) so that our family doctor can check whether my ticker is in any risk of stopping like my mom's.  Other than the ECG I also wanted to ask my doctor why it could be that I am getting worse menstrual cramps than before. Am I going into menopause, perhaps? I am 45 years old, so it is not an impossible thing to think. So, on 26 June I walk into the doctor's office at 9 am, a little nervous about the ECG because I haven't had one done since I was in primary school. My mom had problems with her heart ever since I can remember and I recall both my sister and me have had ECGs when we were kids. Running on that treadmill with cables attached all over my chest was scary! Sister Margy, who has b...