After a breast cancer diagnosis, the last thing someone may want to think about is breast reconstruction.
But one Lafayette doctor says making it the next step could be beneficial to your well being.
As overwhelming as a breast cancer diagnosis can be, Dr. Sarosh Zafar, a plastic and reconstruction surgeon with Our Lady of Lourdes, says getting in to see a plastic surgeon should be at the top of the list.
"So you can just get some basic information and understand what your options are. I think, for most women, it's a relief once they talk to somebody so they can see what the reconstruction will be like. Then they can always decide if that's right for them or not," she says.
Dr. Zafar says many women opt to wait until cancer treatment is over. Unfortunately, she says, doing this can put up road blocks when it comes to reconstruction.
"Your options can become limited. Sometimes you can't have reconstruction or the best reconstruction for you," she says.
For others---the decision to have reconstruction comes later down the road; years even.
That too, Zafar says, can be a difficult task.
No matter the decision women make, to have reconstruction or not, Dr. Zarfar says just watching them go through the journey is inspiring.
"Watching women go through the process and their strength is unbelievably inspiring," she says.
While the journey can be a difficult one, met with many challenges, there is also hope of closing that chapter on breast cancer and starting a new one.
Your insurance, as long as it covered your breast cancer treatment, will also cover breast reconstruction, we're told. They also have to cover anything that needs to be done on the non-cancer breast.
