The Home Edit's Clea Shearer undergoes traumatic emergency surgery
'This is a difficult post to write because this is not the outcome I envisioned for myself,' Shearer, 43, explained in the caption of her April 15 Instagram post.
'I'm currently recovering at the hospital after an emergency surgery that I prayed I wouldn't need,' she continued, alongside a photo of herself laying in a hospital bed.
Shearer was diagnosed with stage 2 invasive mammary carcinoma breast cancer in March 2022, according to Women's Health Magazine. A month later, the author and business owner, underwent a double mastectomy.
On the three-year anniversary of that surgery, Shearer underwent an emergency surgery to remedy the issues and complications she's battled since her initial mastectomy.
'From the lack of skin I retained following necrosis, to the severe damage radiation caused to my breast and surrounding areas (both inside and out), I have fought and fought and fought to salvage what I could over the course of 8 surgeries. And today I lost the war,' she explained.
Shearer shared that she 'had no choice but to completely remove my right implant which means I'm right back to a post mastectomy state.'
The professional organizer last went through surgery in an attempt to save her implant in January.
'I am flat on one side and will need a prosthetic,' she continued. 'After a 3 year journey, I can't quite put into words how traumatizing this is for me.'
Trouble began for Shearer a couple of days before the emergency surgery. She wrote that her incision on her right breast began to leak 'heavily' while she was on vacation.
'My doctor instructed me to continue bandaging it, and I would have to have surgery as soon as I got back to Nashville. And then he said what I was dreading to hear, 'We're not going to be able to save this implant.''
Now, Shearer will need 'several months to heal' before she moves on to the next step of undergoing a 'latissimus flap surgery where they take skin and muscle from my back for a full reconstruction.'
Noting that she is currently in 'a lot of pain,' Shearer said she was 'warned that this will be significantly worse than my previous surgeries, and I can already tell that's true.'
And in a continued moment of honesty, Shearer said she's 'devastated and feel(s) a sense of anger,' something she didn't experience after her last eight surgeries.
'I've fought so hard over the years and now I'm right back at square one. I'm sure those feelings will fade, and I'll get through it like I always do. But today I'm allowing myself to just be upset.'
'Tomorrow is a new day,' she continued, 'and we'll see what it brings, but I know for sure my journey has shifted. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming along with me.'
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