I Have a Surgery Date!

August 1, 2012
After having talked to Dr. Yost yesterday, I still had a lot of things I had to talk over with Frank. From the very beginning when I found the lump, I thought I would want to have both breasts removed, but I just had to talk about it out loud and get Frank's thoughts. I still feel the same. Today I called Dr Yost to let them know I wanted to have the bilateral mastectomy and start the reconstruction at the same time. Cene said she would contact the plastic surgeon to see how soon we could get the surgery scheduled to work on both surgeons schedule. Ralph and his family are in town for the Youth Bull Riders World Championships. Frank, Katie and I went to watch E.J. ride and spend some time with the family.

August 2, 2012
After lunch, I realized I had not heard anything about an appointment with the plastic surgeon. I called Dr. Yost's office and she gave me the info I needed and said she would have Dr. Bennett's office call me ASAP. They called me right at 3:00 PM, just as we were getting to leave for Arlington to watch the Rangers. They had me an appointment scheduled for the next day at 9:15 AM! I found out that they usually don't see patients on Fridays, but when Dr. Yost told Dr. Bennett about my situation, she insisted that she would work me in! I knew I was really going to like her.
We had not been to a game all year and were really looking forward to it. It was a great game, but long!! It wasn't over until almost 11:30 PM! We got home around 3AM!!!

August 3, 2012
Mom had left for Wichita Falls again on Thursday, so I called Traci to see if she could go with me to the appointment. She was with me at the hospital the night we were hit by the drunk diver, and I knew she wouldn't miss a thing the doctor was telling me. She is a great second set of ears!!! Again, I went in thinking I knew exactly what I wanted, a TRAM-flap reconstruction. After visiting with Dr. Bennett and going over all the different possibilities for reconstruction and learning I was not a candidate for TRAM-flap, I decided to just go with the regular silicone implants. Dr. Bennett did a lot of explaining and measuring. She is great and I think I am going to be very please that she is the plastic surgeon that will be doing the work.
I did learn today that no matter what type of reconstruction I chose, an immediate reconstruction is a bit misleading. Even though the reconstruction will be started the same day as the mastectomy, it will take at least a year to finish the process. Some things I am learning make me feel like I am not very smart, but then I just remind myself that I have not ever been through this before and it's OK to not understand completely, but to just keep learning!

My surgery has been set for Tuesday August 14. I feel so blessed that I have had the presence of mind to stay on top of this. Since finding the lump on June 29, I am already set for surgery. And I received proof in the mail yesterday that that doesn't always happen. I had my mammogram on July 10, kept calling the doctor's office after a week until they could schedule me with surgeon to do the biopsy, and had the biopsy done on June 26, less than a month after I found the lump. But I received in the mail yesterday a letter from the women's center telling me that the mammogram came back with a reading that needed further evaluation!!! Fifteen days after I had the mammogram! Had I not stayed on top of what was going on, I would be three weeks behind where I am!!! I plan to continue to be very proactive. I just hope I don't drive all physicians crazy!!!

Until next time, God bless.