Her fight against breast cancer continues. Shannen Doherty shared a video from her reconstructive surgeon’s office on Thursday, November 17, as well as a photo from her first radiation appointment on Friday, November 18.
“This is Dr. Jay Orringer, who is my reconstructive surgeon and my friend,” the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum explained in a video posted to Instagram. “What he’s doing is, I have an expander in and because I’m starting radiation soon, he has to overexpand me and make this sort of placeholder larger, if you will, because radiation shrinks it.”
An expander, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, is an “inflatable breast implant designed to stretch the skin and muscle to make room for a future, more permanent implant.”
On Friday, Doherty shared an emotional recap of after a radiation appointment.
“Ct scan to do mapping for radiation plan. This scared me so much,” she captioned a black-and-white photo of herself sitting on the CT scan bed. “Not sure why. Was supposed to get it with contrast but the minute they started looking at which vein to use I started crying. Full panic attack. Sometimes, you just get sick of being poked. And that's OK. I cried. I felt sorry for myself for a minute. Then stopped and reminded myself of how lucky I am. Thank God my new radiation oncologist decided to try without contrast so I would calm down. So…. one panic attack down and mapping done!! Now to actually start radiation… #cancerslayer #warrior #fightlikeagirl #blessed.”
The actress, who is battling breast cancer, has been documenting her cancer battle on social media since being diagnosed in March 2015. She had a single mastectomy this past May.
Last month, she shared a #FBF photo of herself from the day after she got chemotherapy. “Day after #chemoday isn't always so great … To my cancer family and everyone suffering…. stay courageous. Stay strong. Stay positive. #wegotthis. #fightlikeagirl,” she captioned the pic, in which she could be seen curled up in a hospital bed.
