08/20/2026
Mastectomy during pregnancy
How Kim Quick learned to make room for the body she has now.
A story of DCIS during pregnancy, two mastectomies, breastfeeding, and learning that body acceptance doesn’t have to mean loving every change.
🔹The diagnosis
“I’m so sorry,” the doctor said. “I don’t have good news for you.”
At 38 and pregnant with her second child, Kim learned that she had DCIS in her right breast. Her doctors recommended a mastectomy before the end of her second trimester.
🔹The whiplash
“It was a kind of whiplash: bad news, good news. Urgent surgery, but no chemo or radiation. A cancer diagnosis, while my baby was still healthy and growing.”
🔹The day of surgery
At the hospital, the receptionist asked Kim, “Are you here for a C-section?”
“No,” she said. “I’m here for a mastectomy.”
🔹Healing was not only physical
“In those months, the physical healing proved much easier than the psychological.”
Kim mourned the loss of her breast while watching her belly grow and preparing to welcome her daughter.
🔹A different way to see her body
One morning, Kim caught her reflection in the mirror. The fold of skin on her flat side looked like a closed eye.
“My body, winking at me.”
For the first time since surgery, she felt something close to warmth toward her reflection.
“My body looked different now, marked by surgery, but that didn’t make it broken.”
“I realized I didn’t need to wait until I felt beautiful to move forward.”
🔹What her body could still do
Three months after the mastectomy, Kim gave birth to a healthy daughter. She was able to breastfeed from her remaining breast for six months.
“This was my body now, and it was fully capable of feeding this sweet little child.”
🔹Living in this body now
After a second mastectomy — whose pathology unexpectedly also showed DCIS — and reconstruction, Kim began to feel comfortable in her body again.
“It surprised me how liberating it was to end up loving my body more without [my breasts].”
“My body has changed. But I am still here, still myself, still moving forward, still growing.”
