Page 13 - SD Woman Digital Glace Ziperovich Issue

Women of Distinction

2017 I got breast implants and the time, and had to have him meeting knowing this was what tunity to meet many amazing
that’s when everything started come pick her up at the mail- was wrong with me. This makes women who are trying to raise
to go haywire with my health.” box one block away. “... because sense and this is what I have to do.” awareness for this and create
Robyn described it all start- I honestly could not take one Robyn became aware of an changes in how informed con-
ing with small nagging symp- more step. I’ve been in fatigue entire community of women out sent for breast cancer augmen-
toms like headaches, heart pal- before, but this was indescrib- there that were suffering from tation is handled.
pitations, anxiety attacks, and able. It was debilitating.” something called Breast Implant “So I just dove right in. …I
trouble sleeping where she had immersed myself into the role
never had sleeping problems of advocacy and one of the big-
before. She was starting to de- gest projects I worked on and
velop rashes on her chest and I’m the most proud of is I passed
legs, her hair started to fall out an Informed Consent Law here
and she had chronic pain. in Arizona for breast implant
She visited her doctor four surgery. …it basically outlines all
times looking for answers to the the things I wish I had been told
complications and symptoms that my doctors didn’t tell me.”
she was experiencing. She was In addition, Robyn is currently
offered Physical Therapy, Pain Pills working on the same legislation
and Muscle Relaxers, Sleeping in 5 other States.
Pills, and Anti-Seizure Meds even She’s also partnered with the
though she wasn’t having seizures American Society of Plastic Sur-
and the doctor did not explain geons to come up with a con-
why these might be necessary. sensus patient checklist that the
Robyn chose to not take any surgeons will provide to patients
of the pills offered to her, decid- Robyn found she could only Illness. Her newfound friend also so that they have all the infor-
ing instead that something was do one task a day. If she went gro- let her know that there were mation they need to make ed-
wrong. She wanted to get to the cery shopping or even just vacu- some Facebook groups she had ucated and informed decisions
bottom of what was happening, umed one room she was flat out become a part of that helped her about having breast implant
not just mask the symptoms. on the couch for the rest of the on her journey. surgery.
She found herself feeling day. As a normally high-energy, Robyn soon learned that she What’s more, Robyn has
very frustrated and at a loss as to type A person who is on the go was a “ classic textbook case” of partnered with another breast
what to do. She was disappoint- all the time during the day, this this Illness. She then chose to cancer survivor to get the Na-
ed that her surgeon wasn’t able just wasn’t making sense. have her implants removed. “... tional Comprehensive Cancer
to consider other things that If you’ve ever experienced it was night and day. I literally Network (NCCN), a group of elite
may be happening to her. sleep deprivation you know that woke up from that surgery feel- cancer centers, to get the NCCN
Since she wasn’t sleeping, it’s not long before your mental ing like my old self” The hours, Guidelines changed to create
Robyn started going to world- and emotional states are affect- weeks, and months that fol- a standard of care and clinical
wide breast cancer support ed. “I was getting edgy, agitated. lowed I was back to normal. It guidelines that outline how doc-
groups to search for what could It was really grating on me every was the craziest thing.” tors should treat patients.
be causing her symptoms. She day to not be feeling well.” This was eye-opening to “We worked really hard to
found most of the women shar- Unexpectedly a woman, Robyn as she then began to meet with them and to imple-
ing her symptoms were blaming Michel, from one of the breast wonder why she was not told ment some language changes
those same symptoms on che- cancer support groups Robyn any of the potential effects by to their policies and their guide-
motherapy and radiation ther- was involved with reached out her cadre of doctors. She didn’t lines…” These include offering
apy but remember Robyn had and mentioned “Look into your understand why not one of her the surgical option of not having
not had either of those treat- breast implants”. It turned out doctors shared any of this with reconstruction, or “going flat”.
ments so she still wasn’t getting Michel had been sick for 12 years her. She also felt bad for her new- “One of the biggest complaints I
answers. before she discovered the con- found friend who experienced see in the breast cancer commu-
“Finally I was actually con- nection between her symptoms this debilitating illness for more nity is that patients weren’t even
cerned that my cancer returned and her breast implants. than a decade but did not know given that option”.
because there was no other ex- The two women communi- what was wrong with her. She “We can dive into that and
planation. I would try to go out cated and Robyn found herself had been to 41 specialists and wonder why, but these are sur-
for a walk. [Where] for 15 years I checking off her list of symp- had all sorts of tests done (blood geons and plastic surgeons per-
could easily walk 5-7 miles with toms one by one because they work, CAT scans, PET scans, forming these surgeries. So if a
no problem and I got to the were everything both Michel MRI’s, allergy tests) but none of patient chooses to just have her
point where I couldn’t even walk had and she was experiencing. them could figure out what was breast tissue removed and stay
a block to the mailbox.” Finally, something made sense. wrong with her and often would flat you’re usually done. So from
One day Robyn recalls hav- Living in the same town the suggest it was in her mind. a business standpoint that’s not
ing to call her husband, who two women were able to have Robyn became a Patient Ad- very lucrative to have a patient
generally worked from home at lunch together. “I left that lunch vocate and has had the oppor- opt for one surgery.”
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