Marisa 'eM' Louw

It is my second December as a cancer patient. I am not in remission; I am still on active treatment after being diagnosed with Stage 2 Grade 3 HER2+ and Hormone+ Pleomorphic Lobular Carcinoma (PLC) of the breast in August 2019.  The year that was Christmas and New Year's Eve of 2019 is a blur; I was too weak from chemotherapy to remember much of it. I know that my husband and I travelled from our home in Parys (Free State) to Stilbaai in the Western Cape for a privately commissioned production of the opera 'La Traviata'. Yet, I do not have any memories of the trip and the show; I rely on Facebook to remind me of what happened between Christmas and New Year's Eve last year. I started 2020 with continued chemotherapy, and my only goal was to make it through the current day. The COVID-19 Level 5 lockdown commenced two weeks after my last chemotherapy session in March 2020. My husband and I continued travelling between the Free State and Gauteng for my ongoing Herceptin inj...

On Monday, 30 November 2020, my surgeon admitted me to the hospital for my sixth surgery in just over a year. When a routine mammogram found a suspicious mass in July last year, I underwent a lumpectomy to remove the tumour for testing.  Following a Stage 2 cancer diagnosis - lobular pleomorphic carcinoma of the breast that is positive for HER2 and hormone receptors - I underwent a double mastectomy and direct-to-implant reconstruction in September 2019. A few weeks later, I was back in the hospital for debridement of the wounds on my right breast. I struggled with wound healing, and due to necrosis and infection, my surgeon once again admitted me to the hospital to remove the right implant in November 2019.  Upon completion of my chemotherapy regime, I had to wait two more months before my next surgery: insertion of a tissue expander in May 2020 to gently stretch the skin in preparation for the final reconstruction.  Finally, last month, my surgeon inserted the permanent...