Day 151: How I Got Mentally Ready For A Double Mastectomy [Kristen Vengler]

Kristen readies herself for the impending double mastectomy and reflects on her original thought process in which the bad old boobs are swapped for good new boobs and that’s the end. While watching Nightbirde, a young, single woman with cancer on America’s Got Talent, she realizes that the absence of people or material things cannot control her happiness.Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://breastcancerstories.substack.com/subscribeWatch Nightbirde on America’s Got Talent (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZJvBfoHDk0)Meet Kristen’s doctors: surgical oncologist Dr. Louis Rivera (https://www.scripps.org/physicians/31924-louis-rivera?tab=overview), hematologist and oncologist Dr. Sonia Ali (https://www.scripps.org/physicians/8669-dr-sonia-ali?tab=overview), plastic surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella (https://www.drpacella.com/), and radiation oncologists Dr. Anuradha Koka (https://www.scripps.org/physicians/4516-anuradha-koka-md?tab=overview) and Dr. Kenneth T. Shimizu. (https://www.scripps.org/physicians/5313-kenneth-shimizu)About Breast Cancer StoriesBreast Cancer Stories follows Kristen Vengler, a 56 year old single empty nester in San Diego, from her diagnosis of hormone positive breast cancer through chemotherapy, mastectomy & breast reconstruction, radiation, and whatever happens after that. In 2020, Kristen moved from Austin to San Diego to be near family and start her life over after a life-shattering workplace trauma. A few months later she had that terrifying moment in the shower we all hope we never have. From her breast cancer diagnosis, through chemotherapy, breast reconstruction, and radiation, we experience each new milestone as it happens.This podcast is about what happens when you have breast cancer, told in real time.Support the show by sharing online, writing a review, or donating at https://www.breastcancerstoriespodcast.com/p/donate/Host and Executive Producer: Eva Sheie Co-Host: Kristen Vengler Editor and Audio Engineer: Daniel CroeserTheme Music: Them Highs and Lows, Bird of Figment Story Editor: Mary Ellen ClarksonAssistant Producer: Hannah BurkhartCover Art Designer: Shawn Hiatt Breast Cancer Stories is a production of The Axis.PROUDLY MADE IN AUSTIN, TEXAS