September 13, 2024

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Thank you for your concern regarding Nadiya's health.

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On Friday, September 13th Nadiya underwent a long and delicate surgery to naturally repair some of the damage done by the double mastectomies she had last April. She went in at 5:30 am. The surgery started at 7:30 am and ended around 12:30 pm. The surgeon called me right after and said everything went very well and that Nadiya will have to be monitored once an hour for 24 hours, then every two hours then every four hours until she is released on Sept. 16.

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The general procedure of the surgery (diep flap) was to remove tissue, fat and blood vessels from her abdomen to repair the damage done by the mastectomies. Her surgeon is an expert in this technique and had done thousands - almost entirely for breast cancer patients. Although requires far more time and precision than implants, the results are the most natural since the reconstruction will be entirely from her own body. The key is to have a surgeon who understands the complex procedures and is experienced in performing them. Many surgeons will not do this procedure due to the difficulty. Others have been know to take two to three times as long to complete the reconstruction. Her surgeon was even able to replace some nerves in her chest to restore the nerve damage.

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Having to go down to Orlando was not an easy or enjoyable experience, but since we could not find a team of surgeons in Jacksonville/St. Augustine who could perform this surgery or who would take Blue Cross insurance, this was our only choice. Fortunately, it turned out to be a blessing for us. The care Nadiya received and has been receiving is excellent and although the decisions were not easy, she carefully thought things through and made her decision in order to give her the best odds of avoiding a recurrence of cancer in the breast and for restoring some of the severe damage caused by the mastectomies. 

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As to Friday night, she is doing well, but has a longer recovery this time due to the abdominal surgery. She will not be able to stand up straight for a week and will probably be back to normal by December. Her main concern is to get back to singing in a month and will do her best to carefully make this happen.

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Thank you again for all of your prayers and best wishes for Nadiya. We've done our best to navigate these troubled waters and hope to be back on course with our lives as soon as possible.

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NADIYA'S BREAST CANCER SURGERY

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On April 12th, Nadiya underwent a double mastectomy to remove an IDC tumor. The surgery was three hours long. After four hours in recovery, we were sent home. This surgery is treated as an outpatient, for whatever reasons, but we were glad to be home so that she could rest in a comfortable environment.

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Her surgeons and oncologist are at Orlando Health in Orlando, FL. We were unable to find a team of surgeons in St. Augustine/Jacksonville who would all take our insurance or who were comfortable working with one another since the mastectomy and reconstruction surgeries are a team effort. It is a two hour drive to Orlando from St. Augustine, but it was well worth it since we have an excellent team helping her through this.

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On April 18, we got the results from her lymph node biopsies and they were all negative. No cancer spread or metastasized, so she is clear to have the longer and more painful reconstruction surgery later this summer. Thank you for your prayers. Our greatest priority was to be sure that we did all that what we could to lower her chances for any recurrence of cancer. Her choices have put her in the lowest percentages for any further cancer related to this event.

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Her surgeon told her today that they did see some pre-cancerous cells in her other breast tissue, so her difficult and painful decision to opt for the mastectomies rather than a lumpectomy and radiation has already proven to be the better choice. 

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Please keep her in your prayers as she heals and prepares for a longer surgery later this year. This next surgery will require her to stay in the hospital for three days and will take twice the amount of time for recovery.

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I will post more info when she is close to her second surgery, but please feel free to keep in touch with us and say "hello" to her if you have time. She is improving every day, but has time on her hands since she needs to limit her activities to assist with healing.

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Rob

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