health linked on evening is sponsored by
the polyclinic welcome back to the show
everyone well this is Breast Cancer
Awareness Month
also known as Pinktober surviving the
disease is no easy journey and one big
decision that people have to make is
what to do after treatment as Michael
shows us one option was perfected right
here in Seattle
shortly after celebrating the birth of
her third child Carrie stark learned she
had breast cancer to get rid of it the
32 year old mom had a double mastectomy
chemo and radiation
then came the decision of how to replace
her missing breasts after the mastectomy
there was definitely a feeling of
disfigurement you would you know walk in
and look at clothing and go yeah I can't
wear that to regain her confidence
Carrie opted not to have implants but
microsurgical breast reconstruction it's
a unique procedure perfected at the poly
clinic by doctors Keith Paige and Kevin
Betty in her probably that other medial
room they're taking the tummy tuck to a
whole new level conceptually that's the
idea take the same tissue essentially
the same tissue that would be discarded
if you were doing a tummy tuck and
instead transplant it and make a breast
taking that extra tissue from the
abdomen that's left over after kids was
a great option for me and the other
thing is that it's when it's done it's
permanent it's good for the rest of
their life that's what we take out
looking at a CT scan of Carrie's body
the doctors pinpoint what belly fat will
substitute for breast tissue and then
they reattach all of it so it's your own
tissue it's live tissue it's got blood
flow it's got nerve endings that's what
makes it an attractive operation it's
surgery where the doctors work side by
side as a team for hours on end to make
new natural breasts because there's two
different operative fields there's an
operative field here an operative field
here but then we work together at
certain crucial portion
there's very few people I think that
really have done it for as long as we
have and consistently doctors page and
best lien performed more than 100 micro
surgical breast reconstructions every
year carries was done last February
today she returns to the polyclinic
happy with the results how are you
feeling good in mind and body I'm back
to doing everything it was running after
the kids and so it's really helped
helped my confidence and helped me feel
normal again
thank you Michael Kari received all of
her cancer treatment at the poly clinic
and there is also a support group there
for other women who are considering the
micro surgery