{"id":26472,"date":"2020-10-21T17:25:20","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T17:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cmshub.wpengine.com\/?p=324945"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:16:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:16:16","slug":"new-treatment-helps-survivors-regain-sensation-after-breast-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/new-treatment-helps-survivors-regain-sensation-after-breast-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"New Treatment Helps Survivors Regain Sensation After Breast Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When NBC\u2019s Kristen Dahlgren<\/a> was diagnosed with breast cancer, she didn\u2019t think much about the lack of sensation that her mastectomy would likely leave her with. She went ahead with her mastectomy, and only later did she realize what tragic side effects would accompany it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had never really thought about or realized that people who have mastectomies generally lose feeling<\/a>,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThink about that. That\u2019s never feeling a hug or my little girl falling asleep on my chest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jane Obediah<\/a> is another woman who sadly lost sensation in her chest due to a double mastectomy. After her cancer diagnosis, she was primarily preoccupied with surviving and wasn\u2019t as concerned about the side effects of surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Adobe Stock\/simona<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI sat with a breast surgeon, and I said to her, \u2018It\u2019s taken me all this time to find the man of my dreams. What do I have to do to grow old and wrinkly with him?\u2019 And she said, \u2018Double mastectomy.\u2019 And that\u2019s what we did right away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jane thought that the loss of sensation was just something that she was going to have to deal with for the rest of her life. But when her newborn baby was laid on her chest for the first time and she couldn\u2019t feel it, she knew she had to see if there was anything she could do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d have to look down to see that she was there. I think that\u2019s when I first sort of really took on how much of a loss that sensation was.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Adobe Stock\/Harnpon<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In her research, Jane came across Dr. Constance Chen<\/a>, a doctor who performs natural tissue reconstruction procedures for breast cancer patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

In natural tissue reconstruction, a surgeon uses the patient\u2019s own fat from other areas of the body to construct realistic breasts without the use of implants.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dr. Chen, however, is one of very few doctors in the world who reconstructs nerves (known as \u201cresensation<\/a>\u201c) as part of this procedure. It\u2019s similar to a nerve grafting method that\u2019s been used successfully since 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Chen says that resensation, which adds about an extra hour and a half to the natural tissue reconstruction surgery, doesn\u2019t work for every patient, but many of her patients say they redevelop nearly complete sensation<\/a> after the procedure. All of her patients have gotten some level of sensation back, although it\u2019s not always much.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Adobe Stock\/jaojormami<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI like to at least try to restore sensation for people, because when it works, it works quite well,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Jane, at least, the natural tissue reconstruction with resensation gave her about 80 percent<\/a> of the feeling in her chest back. She now feels more like her full self than she did before.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really want women to know\u2014and any type of breast cancer patient\u2014that you can want more,\u201d says Jane.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kristen Dahlgren will undergo her natural tissue reconstruction surgery with resensation soon, and she hopes it will help her too.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Elizabeth<\/p>\n

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Elizabeth Nelson is a wordsmith, an alumna of Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, a four-leaf-clover finder, and a grammar connoisseur. She has lived in west Michigan since age four but loves to travel to new (and old) places. In her free time, she. . . wait, what\u2019s free time?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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