This September, Carolyn was diagnosed with post-radiation angiosarcoma in her right breast. It is extremely rare and known for being fast-moving and aggressive. She began treatment in October at Duke Cancer Center and has already made it through her complete course of twice daily radiation and weekly chemo. During her treatment, doctors also found a second unrelated cancer in her left breast (ductal carcinoma in situ). It is not as aggressive, but it has spread through most of the tissue on that side. Which brings us to where she is now: the final stage of treatment. Carolyn will have two surgeries, currently scheduled for December 15 and 18. The first will be a double mastectomy, with additional tissue removed on the right side. She will have a tissue expander placed on the left (with plans for a permanent implant down the road) and a wound vac placed on the right. She will stay at Duke while we wait for pathology to confirm clean margins. Assuming everything looks clear, which her team expects, she will move on to the second surgery: a DIEP flap. It’s a procedure where surgeons use tissue from her abdomen to close the wound on the right and begin rebuilding that area. This procedure is expected to last 10 hours. She will likely remain admitted until December 22. I (Jackie - hi!) will be sharing all updates here. If you click “follow page” and enter your email, you will get every update as soon as it is posted. I will share updates after each procedure and as she moves through recovery. Her Amazon wish list and care calendar are also linked on this page, but please know that your support, kind words, prayers, and check-ins have meant so much to her, and are more than enough. Carolyn will be monitoring this page as well, so feel free to leave her a message below! She’s particularly interested in streaming recommendations. She will be stuck in bed for quite a while and would love suggestions for what to watch on Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV, HBO Max, and Disney+. If you prefer to send a card, she would love that! Reach out to me at [email protected] for her address. Read more about angiosarcoma here: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/breast-cancer/angiosarcoma-of-the-breast Learn more about DIEP flap surgery here: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/breast-reconstruction-flap/about/pac-20384937