Happy 50th birthday to me!  I received my cancer diagnosis one week before that greatly anticipated date.  Not exactly the present I had expected.  After the initial shock wore off, I began to prepare for the inevitable loss of my hair.  Imagine my shock when I was told that my cancer was entirely curable, but only by mastectomy.  I had already suffered a series of personal hardships, but this news was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”   Accepting this diagnosis was one of the most difficult experiences of my life.

Stephanie talks about her breast cancer and reconstruction
Stephanie talks about her breast cancer and reconstruction

Now the good news…the breast surgeon referred me to Dr. Diane Z. Alexander.  From the moment I entered her world, devastated and at the end of my rope, her demeanor never changed.  I cried, I questioned, and I cried some more and she remained upbeat; she had an answer to every one of my million questions and her “bedside manner” was only excelled by her skill and genuine desire for the best result possible.

Dr. Alexander is not only a caring soul, she is an artiste.  Her work not only restored my body, but it gave me back my confidence.  The light at the end of the tunnel was NOT a train coming to run me over, it was the rest of my life with a new and improved body and a restored outlook.  Now that’s a birthday present any 50 year old can appreciate!