I am actually very excited about this party and think it will be a great way to remember this momentous occasion in my life, for the rest of my life. I feel so blessed to have such an awesome support group behind me for this surgery.
As I previously mentioned, my PBM surgery is set for July 17th, 2014. I have my pre-op appointment on July 3rd and have since been trying to prepare, both mentally and physically for this surgery. I have been seeing a therapist since October, I started going to yoga again, 3-5 times per week, and have been trying to eat as healthy as possible as well. My best friend and I read about having a party to celebrate the surgery/occasion and we decided to have a Bye Bye Boobies party. She created an evite and invited all of my closest friends and family. I have been working very hard to tell all of my close friends about my surgery, either in person or via the phone if I can’t see them. I have had nothing but absolute and complete support from each and everyone of them and that has been so comforting. The BBB party will be on July 5th and we have planned some awesome things: Ta-Ta Tinis to drink, a cake with a lacy bra design, a “Pick your Cup Size” drink station, boobie themed snacks and an encouragement book for my friends and family to write down some encouraging words that I can read pre and post surgery.
I am actually very excited about this party and think it will be a great way to remember this momentous occasion in my life, for the rest of my life. I feel so blessed to have such an awesome support group behind me for this surgery.
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In my previous post, I mentioned going for my first appointment on March 18th to visit who I thought would be my general surgeon. The appointment went fine but I felt like we just didn’t click. I felt very uncomfortable asking her the questions I wanted to and decided we were NOT a good fit. I kind of left it alone but mentioned it to my mom. She asked around as she works for a group of doctors, and got an awesome recommendation for a plastic surgeon which just so happen to be a doctor that assisted on her reconstruction almost 20 years ago. I called and made an appointment with him, Dr. David Mosier and asked for a recommendation for a general surgeon ( you need both). They recommended Dr. Patricia Morrison which I then called and made an appointment to see her first. We met and I knew it was the perfect fit. The only problem was that my previous surgeon said I could do a nipple sparing bilateral mastectomy which means they can make the incision under the breast and you get to keep your nipple/areola but they will scrape out all of the tissue. Dr. Morrison does not believe in nipple sparing b/c of 2 reasons; 1. Even when scraping out the breast tissue, they still leave up to 10% breast tissue which could be infected by cancer in the future and 2. Sometimes when scraping behind the nipple, they can damage the nerves and cut off the blood flow which would cause the nipple to turn black and FALL OFF! I was in no way prepared to lose my nipple and areola especially since my 1st surgeon didn’t even hint at that. I left that appointment and was absolutely distraught. Here I had found the perfect surgeon but she wanted me to give up my nipple/areola. I hate to admit it, but I am a somewhat vain person. I have always cared about my appearance and all these thoughts flooded my mind. What will a fake nipple look like? Will my future husband/boyfriend like the way I look? Will it look natural? Will I like what I see when I look in the mirror?
I decided to go ahead and see Dr. Mosier 2 weeks later, the plastic surgeon, just to see what he had to say and maybe look at some before and after pictures. He was just great! He made me feel so comfortable and secure. He explained everything in great detail and showed me pictures of his nipple reconstruction and honestly, my mom nor I could tell which was real and which was fake. I could tell he took a lot of pride in his work which made me feel much better. He gave me a timeline of what to expect and we took our “before” pictures and they sent off a letter to the insurance company to make sure this procedure would be covered which it should be minus the areola tattooing. While at this appointment I learned even more about my moms 2nd battle with cancer. She was telling him her background and maybe I knew this before but forgot, but she had stage 4 metastatic (growing) duct cell invasive cancer. The milk ducts are what runs straight through to your nipple so at that point I realized nipple sparing would be a complete waste of time and energy. I knew right then and there that I would have to not only give up my natural breasts but also my nipples/areolas. That honestly made that decision that much easier for me. A few weeks later they called me back and said insurance did not require a pre-approval/determination for this surgery and we set the surgery date for July 17, 2014. |
About This Blog:This is my journey to beat breast cancer before it beats me, by undergoing a non-nipple sparing, prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. Archives
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