Good Week and Plastic Surgeon Debrief

Hi All,

I wrote this last Friday, and just realized, signing back in to post again, that I never actually posted it! Amazing... anyway, for a two-post day, here is part 1... written last Friday.

This past week has been really nice, energy levels up and spent most of the week just relaxing and hanging out with friends from time to time. Only crappy thing is it seems that I've come down with a head cold over the last day or so - no fever, which is good (any fever of 101 and I have to go to the ER) but just runny nose, suffy sinuses, etc. I'm really hoping it clears up by Monday, because my LAST chemo is scheduled for Tuesday and I have a feeling that they will not do chemo for me if I have a cold. I want to be done though!!

This morning I had my first meeting with my plastic surgeon - Mom and I went in with a big long list of questions, most of which were answered with "I don't know that yet" or "They will tell you that with your pre-op instructions." He seemed to think I was making good decisions with my decision to take both breasts, and he did say that patients who are doing bilateral (both sides) and are small breasted to start out with usually get the best results... so that's a good thing for me. He also seemed to think it was a good decision to go with the tissue expanders and implants rather than trying to move tissue from the tummy (TRAM flap) surgery for many reasons - mostly that the surgery and recovery is a lot easier with implants, and if anything goes wrong you can take them out and start over. I signed a consent form for a bi-lateral mastectomy with tissue expanders. It felt kind of weird and final to sign that form, but I did feel a sense of relief and happiness that we're moving further in the direction of being done with this!!

If any of you want to learn more about the surgery I'll be doing, there is a really good video on You Tube that shows a woman's journey that is doing the same surgery - warning, you will see her scars and reconstruction and it's a little jarring if you're not ready for it, but I think she does a good job of showing realistically what it's like.

Part One (her showing scars 3 weeks after surgery)
Part Two (3 months post surgery)
Courage is my Strength YouTube Channel (other videos about her surgery)

Thank you guys for all your ongoing support - I cannot wait for this leg of the journey to be over, and hopefully it will be done soon.

Love,
Amy