Plastic surgery, here I come...

Yesterday morning - at 7am, no less - I had an appointment with my plastic surgeon, Dr. Gordley. After waiting about 25 minutes or so in the exam room, he came in. He's a young, studly buffpants-type with ginormous arms. (I'm may be married, but I'm not dead for crying out loud...). We found out that he's originally from Ohio (Findlay, to be exact), so he scored extra brownie points.

He asked questions about my medical history and my breast cancer. We discussed my mitral valve prolapse, which really isn't any big deal for me, but the fact that my current chemo can cause heart damage has me concerned in general about the overall health of my heart. He told me that surgery will be quite a workout for me. He will make sure that my ticker is checked out beforehand so that we don't have any surprises during surgery. I was relieved that he heard my concerns.

He showed me what the expander looks like. Everyone knows that a breast implant looks like. It's similar in shape but it's a much harder, less flexible material. It has a large, round area in the center, which is the port. This will be located magnetically and accessed via butterfly needle (much like my port now). From what I've read, they'll add anywhere from 20-100ccs per visit until I'm at the desired size. They won't really look or feel like normal breasts, but they'll keep my skin stretched for my eventual reconstruction.

There are risks with the expanders. There is a chance of infection and the possibility that they could move up within my chest. They can also cause pain and/or discomfort. If I were to opt NOT to go with expanders and wait until final reconstruction, I run the very likely possibility of much worse scarring and issues with my skin.

I will get the tummy tuck out of this, as I've mentioned before. I will likely have enough tissue from my gut for both sides and NOT have to have implants, according to Dr. Gordley. I'm skeptical but totally down with it. They'd still be "real". Pretty damn cool.

It's a lot to absorb and, quite honestly, left me with a lot more questions. I do have time and plan on talking to him soon.

After the informational part of the appointment was done, it was time for the Michelin Man to make an appearance. I put on a real, live robe and waited for him to come back in. Matt and I debated whether I should drop trou or not. I finally decided I should since I expected that he'd examine my flab, too. Sigh...

Once he came back in, he asked me stand and proceeded to take a big handful of Nancy roll. He squeezed and pinched various spots around my stomach. No woman EVER wants anyone doing that. I think I would have preferred a stick in my eye. With wire barbs and acid on it. I was like the Pillsbury-fucking-dough girl. Ugh.

From there, he whipped out a tape measure and measured from nipple to nipple, from nipple to belly button and from nipple to my collarbone. Afterwards, he asked me to take my robe off so that he could take some pictures.

I was wearing nothing but undies (cute ones, at least) and a sarcastic smile. Oh, and eyebrows. Can't forget the eyebrows. He took five pictures of me from various angles. My over-the-shoulder, with a coy smile was my favorite. Okay, I'm making that one up. Two side-views, two 45-degree angles and one from the front. I joked and said, "I guess it doesn't matter if I try to suck it in, eh?" that evoked a few snickers. (Oh, yeah... Four of us were in there. Matt, Dr. Gordley, a nurse and me.)

He handed me back the robe and we continued to chat a bit afterwards. Matt and I both liked him quite a bit. I appreciated his honest and frank candor. He wasn't trying to sell me on anything but wanted me to be informed. The next step is for his office to confirm my surgery date of September 17th. He told me that this first surgery should have a recovery time of 2-3 weeks. I can expect to be in the hospital for 2 nights. The final reconstruction surgery will be from 6-8 hours and I can expect to be in the hospital for about 5 days. Such fun!

I don't know if it's because I got up and moving so early or anxiety or what but by the time I got home, I was starting to feel crummy. While he was measuring me, I felt briefly like I was going to pass out from a wave of nausea. That would have been a sight. My roly poly body splayed out on the floor in my cute undies for all to see. I was really nauseated and ended up taking a Zofran and crashing around 12:30. I felt yucky the rest of the day and took another before I went to bed. I didn't throw up, thankfully, but it was still like bad morning sickness. Yuck.

By the time I woke up this morning, I felt great. No nausea and a little spring in my step. Today is only Day 7! I feel good a day earlier than I have the last two chemo treatments. Woo hoo! The hair on my head continues to grow AND - I actually have a few eyebrow hairs starting to grow! Of course, they're in areas that will be plucked but hey, it's a start.

It's hard to believe but I had that annual exam that started it all just over 5 months ago. Time has really flown by. I'm doing really well. The good juju is working. Keep it up, please!

Xoxo...