My Boob Job Turned to Breast Cancer 🎀

Like how do I even begin to tell this story.

I hid this from everyone because I thought I would pop back on social in hoodies like nothing happened and just have the boobs I always wanted one day.

but this story is so much more than that.

It’s a story of trusting your gut, finding your team and relentless advocacy against a system that is not always set up for us.

here we go.

In Sept of 2025 I went for a cosmetic consult with a plastic surgeon who had helped me in 2023 when my son needed stitches. I joked in 2023 I’d be back one day for boobs after kids.

when I walked in though my priority was a rhinoplasty. Something I’ve always wanted. We joked in that appt about the boobs I always wanted. Talked pricing but I was not sure I wanted both.

in December, I emailed and told them to book me for both. I consider myself an impulsive person but also someone who when I want something i can’t stop thinking about it I knew this would be something that I would not stop thinking about anytime soon. Plus, if I was going to put my body through surgery, why not do it all at once.

On January 23, I brought my husband with me for my preop consultation and the surgeon looked at me and my husband and said what are we doing lol! I looked at my husband for his vibe in that moment, and then looked at the surgeon, Dr Fares Samra (aka the man who saved my life) And said let’s do it all. In that moment, he said this is amazing. We talked about size shape type, etc. and then he said but oh wait you don’t have a pre-or baseline mammogram. In that moment, I said back to him I am 38 and I have no family history so we are all good. And in that moment he said back to me that’s great, but I will not perform the surgery without this mammogram. I started to panic, thinking I wasn’t going to be able to schedule one on time, but had not a shred of doubt in my mind that anything would come from it.

I was able to get in that day to get a baseline mammogram done. It was about noon on a Friday and I didn’t think about it again throughout the entire weekend.

On Monday morning, I got a phone call that said “hey we see some calcifications on your mammogram. I need you to come back for extra imaging and a potential ultrasound.”

I internally panicked, but after speaking to some friends came to the conclusion that this must be because I had recently breast-fed. I made the appointment for the follow up for that Thursday and again went on with my life. Remember, I have three kids and don’t have a lot of time to think - in fact I was prepping for the help and things I would need post plastic surgery. At the follow up imaging appointment they ended up also doing the ultrasound + the vibe in the room was totally off. I wasn’t thinking the worst, but I also knew in my gut. Something was not OK.

The tech told me the radiologist was suggesting a biopsy and I started to panic, my surgery was supposed to be the following week and there was no way I could get all of this done on time to be cleared again maybe naïve but having cancer was not even a thought in my head in that split second. However when i talked to the nurse all that changed when i saw her face.

I was called into the nurse manager‘s office and she tried to schedule me for that biopsy on February 27Th. I started to panic, and I got very emotional in her office. I accused her of being insensitive and thinking that she was judging me when she said she was sure that I was disappointed, that I wouldn’t be having my planned surgery.

this is where advocacy comes in.

I would like to say I was respectful in this moment, but I definitely wasn’t. I truly lost my mind was hysterically crying and I quote said to her “with all due respect fuck my surgery. I have three little babies at home and you are telling me something is wrong inside my body and now I have to wait an entire month to even find out what it could be.” Mind you this was January 29th. She quickly found an earlier date being February 13Th but I still wasn’t having that.

In this moment, the gratitude that I have for my care team goes beyond words, I spoke with my plastic surgeon in my emotional state, and within a few hours was able to be squeezed in for a biopsy much sooner.

I truly put my foot down and told them in fact I wasn’t leaving the office until they took the biopsy lol, but instead waited in the parking lot until I spoke to the people that I knew cared about me and made things happen on my behalf.

The next day they took out a massive amount of tissue for my biopsies, noting that there were multiple areas of concern.

On February 2, I received that phone call that nobody wants to hear. I had cancer. I did have people tell me it was the good kind the kind that heals the kind you get over the kind they can take out. All of these things I am still and will always be forever grateful for, but having cancer forever changes you whether you heal from it or not.

From there, the MRI I had to get immediately showed way more cancer than we initially thought. In fact it was covering greater than 25% of my breast tissue. And final pathology showed cancer was in 50% of my breast ducts. The same ducts, That fed all three of my babies and kept them safe during sick season because all three of them were born during the height of illness times, And knowing that and hearing that has forever changed to me, I don’t know how else to describe it.

from there, everything else happened really fast. I met my breast surgeon, Dr. R Patel, And although everybody encouraged me to get a second opinion, no matter who I was seeing the first time, I knew in my gut, she was my surgeon from the moment she walked in the room. Not only did Dr Samra highly endorse her, her confidence and professionalism just truly spoke for themselves. And she was my doctor.

Due to my size to begin with and the amount of cancer found my options were limited. Double mastectomy was my plan of action.

After that, it was appointment after appointment. I became a human pin cushion And they took vials and vials of blood. And then I waited. I had massive “my chart” anxiety waiting on all the results.

But at home with my three kids, life just went on. Like this wasn’t happening. Like there wasn’t something disgusting growing inside my body. My mind has gone to the worst of places thinking I did this, thinking, my babies drank cancer milk, thinking as a dietitian, I am so embarrassed that this is happening to me and filled with so much shame. And as people try to help me all day long set up a plan for postop, I just pretended it really wasn’t happening. I think that is how I coped.

when I got that first call, I fell into my husband’s arms and then melted into my parents. And every night from February 2 on, I fell into my husband‘s arms, and cried every night until I didn’t think I had tears left and then would wake up do morning routine, do my work, workout - I was getting so fucking strong - try to prep ahead and try not to be the cancer girl.

It made me laugh though because when I felt close enough to someone even a little bit and they asked me how I was doing or what was new, and I would just blurt out, “Oh, I was diagnosed with breast cancer” and then start crying. It really was a mood Killer 😂

In these early days, I also learned up so many other women who have walked this path, and I am baffled by it.

What I take away the most is the fact that both the plastic surgeon and the breast surgeon said if I wasn’t going for a breast aug at 38 I would not have found this for years and who knows what it was going to look like in 2 to 3 years. It was not the slow growing kind and there’s no way to know if I even would’ve felt it, but it would’ve been a very different conversation about treatment options if I waited.

Cue “someone’s watching over me” by Hilary duff.

I need to say this for all who read to hear, my team - you are my hero’s the most skilled but also compassionate and caring doctors I’ve ever met in my life. Thank you will never be enough. You are angels 😇 on this earth and where as I know my journey is far from over I am so grateful for how I feel in this moment thanks to you.

So maybe this is part one, Or maybe this is all I will have the balls to write, But when I say a boob job saved in my life, I really mean it.

Women, advocate for yourselves. Stay on top of your screenings in addition to your facials and everything you do to make you feel good because true health is doing what we can to prevent or catch what we are able to.

Love you 🩷🦋