My Breast Cancer Story
As a 5-year Stage 3 breast cancer survivor, I know firsthand the toll, both physical and emotional, that such a diagnosis and treatment can take on a woman. While I am, by training, a pelvic floor disorder specialist, my personal experience with cancer has given me a particularly personal perspective on the contribution of gynecologic cancers to the disruption of a woman’s quality of life. I have since found myself particularly passionate about treating the urinary and pelvic floor health issues in women with a history of breast, uterine, ovarian, cervical or rectal cancer.
My experience was, perhaps, like many others. It started with disbelief, a little bit of denial, but luckily then came a quick awareness of the need for an immediate and aggressive treatment plan. Thanks to the wonderful doctors and surgeons at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, after 4 months of chemotherapy, 10 weeks of radiation treatments and 6 surgeries later, I was cancer-free and fully reconstructed. I still find it interesting how only AFTER undergoing so much did I start to really take an active role in my own preventative health and improvement of quality of life issues.
All women, with a history of cancer treatment or not, should feel empowered to seek out information on treatment options for quality of life effecting issues such as: urinary incontinence, pain with intercourse, vaginal dryness, overactive bladder, low libido/sex drive, lack of vaginal tone, vaginal prolapse, chronic bladder infections or vaginal/labial cosmetic concerns.
The MonaLisa Touch laser treatment was actually initially developed for women with a history of breast cancer suffering from vaginal atrophy symptoms, including painful intercourse, dryness and recurrent bladder infections. Since proving to be so effective, this laser has now become a mainstay of treatment for any woman suffering from these symptoms, even without a history of cancer.
I am happy to share more of my personal story with any patient and I am happy to do free in-office or by-phone consultations to discuss our laser technologies with patients to find out if they are candidates for treatment!
My Journey In Pictures
