Reconstruction meeting with the plastic surgeon

I'm pretty sure I suffer from post traumatic stress disorder! The anxiety I felt leading up to this appointment was crazy! Yesterday as I drove to pickup my husband and to my appointment I was feeling physically sick because I was so nervous. Thinking about this next surgery all I can think about is how I handled my last surgery. If you'll remember I spent THREE days in the hospital instead of ONE and was throwing up for THREE days! I have little memory of who came to visit me or what was going on, but I vividly remember being VERY sick and in a lot of pain. I don't want to experience that again. Can you blame me?

I haven't seen the plastic surgeon since my last expansion, which was the beginning of November. It was fun to see his nurse again, she's always very fun to chat with and is good at being friendly and personable. The last time I was there I have peach fuzz hair, so she thought it was fun to see me with more hair. She loves my punk rocker hair, as she called it! The P.A. came in and saw me before the doc. She basically did the same exam and questioning that the doctor would do when he saw me. The joys of going to a 'teaching' hospital. While I have a lot of confidence and trust in Dr., it is the P.A. that I love! She has a fantastic bed side manner, she's great at explaining things in simple terms and she had me feeling completely calm and comfortable. She was pleased with how well me radiated skin is looking and how well my expanders have held up. We addressed the cosmetic issues that needed to be re-visited. She explained the process of reconstruction for both breasts. The reconstruction of the non-cancer side will be pretty straight forward, expander out, implant in. NO JP DRAIN on the right side! Happy! Happy! Happy! The cancer/radiated side will need a little more help as the skin and tissue have been damaged from radiation. The skin is more brittle and doesn't have as good of a blood flow. This side will have an extra procedure done called a lattissima flap surgery. After the expander is removed and the implant is inserted an incision will be made on my back, under my shoulder blade, and the lattissima muscle will be carefully cut away and then channeled under my armpit to my front side and feathered out over my entire breast. This will give my unhealthy skin and muscles something healthy to help with healing and a better outcome. This side will have 3 JP drains, 1 in front for the breast and 2 on my back. Boo! (JP drains are the worst!!)
At this point the doctor came in and we discussed that same cosmetic concerns. The concerns were documented so we can make corrections in final surgery and then we discussed again the surgery process. My biggest concern going in to this meeting was that the doctor would choose my surgery plan without listening to my input. I wanted to know HOW he came up with the surgery plan he had, and he was great at explaining why this surgery was the best for ME! I mentioned that I had researched a couple different options and asked if they were options we could consider, he patiently listened to me and then explained those surgeries and why they were not good options for me. I was so pleased with the time he spent with me and the

confidence he had in my procedure. He made sure I was happy with everything and that all my questions and concerns were addressed.
At this point we decided to find the first available surgery date after March 31st. His first opening was April 8th, but we have a wedding on the 11th so we asked for the next open surgery date. Turns out he didn't have any openings until JUNE! But because June is pretty far out the scheduler asked the doctor if he had any other times he would make available for me. He had a surgery date of April 29th, which is a surgery date reserved for simpler surgeries, but for me he made an exception. Surgery was scheduled for April 29th. I will stop taking tomoxifen 3 weeks before surgery and will not take it for 1 week following surgery. I go in for my surgery consolation on April 17th.
In the meantime, I need to keep moisturizing with coconut oil and melaleuca oil, need to keep massaging the pectoral muscle and surrounding area to keep things softened. I need to keep up on my physical therapy stretches to keep things loose. For 3 weeks post surgery I am not to use my arms or lift anything so they want my muscles in the best possible shape before then.
I was given a picture book that goes through the breast reconstruction process. It was nice to go through last night with my husband. Hopefully having a better understanding of the process will help me be less nervous. I can hope.
Following surgery I will have a similar recovery as I did the first time around, no driving, no lifting the milk out of the fridge, lifting nothing heavier than 5lbs. I'm sure I'll need help showering and taking care of my JP drains. When the time comes I'll make sure I ask for help, cause I'm gonna need it!
This year we have new insurance which allows us more options for plastic surgeons, so I’m going to get a 2nd opinion just to be on the safe side. And then I'll never have to wondered if I should have later.

If you made it to the end of this very long update pat yourself on the back. You'll never get those 5 minutes back that it took you to read this, sorry! haha!

Thank you for your continued love and prayers!