Sunday, April 1, 2012

The First of Many Appointments

March 8, 2012:

Yesterday was the big day that we had been waiting for. I had my first appointment with my plastic surgeon, Dr. Thao. He was very understanding and sympathetic since his sister had breast cancer at a young age as well.
It started out with him taking pictures (a tad bit awkward!) and doing a lot of measurements of both breasts. Then we talked more in detail about the surgery.
The first 1 1/2 - 2 hours of surgery time will be with my breast surgeon, Dr. Schmidt. She will perform a sentinel node biopsy first to see if there has been any spread into the lymph nodes. If there has been then she will need to remove several more nodes. Once she has finished her part of the surgery then Dr. Thao will come in to begin the reconstruction process. His portion of the surgery will take approximately 3 hours.
I will not actually be coming out of surgery with breast implants. I will have what are called tissue expanders placed on each side. The tissue expanders will be filled with approximately 100cc of saline initially. I will then go back every 1-2 weeks after surgery to have more saline inserted (about 50cc at a time). I have heard that this process can be very uncomfortable, but this will allow for the stretching and expansion of my skin. Once I am comfortable with the size of the tissues expanders I will have to leave them in place for a few more months and let the skin "settle" in that position. After I finish chemo I will then go back in for another surgery to have the actual silicone implants placed.
Dr. Thao's surgery schedule is booked out for the next 6 weeks, but fortunately he was very willing to rearrange some things, so I am on the schedule for Wednesday March 14 at 2pm. They expect me to stay in the hospital for 2-3 days.
Mentally, I am very glad to have the surgery scheduled so soon, as I want nothing more than to get rid of the cancerous tumor inside me. With that being said, having the surgery scheduled now makes everything more "real" (although this entire experience still seems very surreal to me). Stress has been starting to take its toll on my body, as I am noticing more fatigue, decreased appetite and problems sleeping. My anxiety levels have been on the rise but I have only needed to take medication twice. For the most part I just keep focusing on each next step I need to take and organizing my life to make things easier after surgery.
I really do appreciate all of your thoughts and comments. It means the world to me knowing that there are so many people out there who care. I am trying to be very open and honest about the entire process. If you have any medical questions or want to know more about any of my procedures please feel free to ask. Luckily I am in the position to comprehend all of this information a little better than most!

No comments:

Post a Comment