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Freelance business and health writer Kathy Steligo has more than a nodding acquaintance with breast cancer. She's undergone
bilateral reconstruction twice, once with expanders and saline implants, once with GAP natural tissue flap.
Kathy describes her motivation for writing The Breast Reconstruction Guidebook:
"Many cancer patients say their disease is a learning experience. That's certainly been the case with my own breast cancer.
I've heard those four horrible words: "You have breast cancer," three times, had four biopsies, two lumpectomies, eight weeks
of radiation, a sentinel node biopsy, genetic counseling and genetic testing. I've had bilateral reconstruction not once,
but twice.
While I would never have chosen these particular opportunities for learning, each one, in its own way,
has given me more insight into the disease, into myself, and compassion for other women who lose their breasts.
When I went looking for reconstructive options, I hoped to find a book like this. I found plenty of books on breast cancer.
Some provided a cursory chapter or two about reconstruction, but none had the comprehensive information I needed. I wanted
an objective, single source that didn't favor one technique over the other; something that translated the technical terms
and procedures into understandable concepts, and explained the practical aspects of recovery and life after mastectomy. That
single source didn't exist. And that's why I wrote this book--to share what I've learned with you and other women who wonder
what reconstruction is really like.
To my own mountain of research, I added information from clinical studies and medical journals, and perspectives from oncologists,
surgeons, nurses, and other medical professionals. More than 400 women took the time to share their own experiences and offer
information they wished they had before reconstruction; many of their comments are included."
In October 2005, Kathy updated much of the text and information, producing The Breast Reconstruction
Guidebook, 2nd Edition.
Kathy lives in Northern California with her husband Chuck and their tabby cat Grappa.
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