Visit with the Plastic Surgeon

This is not my first visit with the plastic surgeon, but my second. I did visit with her before my mastectomy because I was planning on immediate reconstruction. But less than 24 hours before the surgery, I decided I wanted to wait on the reconstruction, so a few things have changed.

And I've had more time to research the procedures.

So I did pretty good on my research, and after visiting with Dr. Bennett again, reminded that this is my journey, but I am not the one in the lead. God is.

Going in today, I thought I really wanted to go with the DIEP (pronounced deep). This is where they take the stomach fat and maybe a little muscle, and move it up and around to make the new breast. So in essence, you not only get new boobs, but a tummy tuck in the process. And knowing that from our last visit that the implants may not be the size I want, well I have LOTS of stomach fat to make new boobs.

But she also told me about the SIEA flap (pronounced S. I. E. A.,  all of these flap names come from the muscles they use to build the breast. I learned that today too.). In this surgery, only the stomach fat is used. So going into an SIEA flap you could come out having had a DIEP flap if they had to use any muscle.

Dr. Bennett was very confident that I would do very well with the SIEA flap, and that I probably wouldn't even be required to loose any weight before the procedure (that is based on BMI). The only problem is the DIEP and SIEA flap procedures are not offered in Abilene. They require two surgical teams and we don't have the right teams here to offer it. However, Dr. Bennett is very familiar with the surgeons at the nearest place and she highly recommended them if that is what I decided to do.

But here are the cons -

• The hospital, Scott & White in Temple, is three hours away from Abilene.
• It would require at least one overnight stay in the hospital, with possibly more depending on how well I did.
• The surgery itself is about 12 hours long.
• I would have at least four drain tubes, and we all know how found I was of  those dang balls from my mastectomy.

I haven't talked to Frank, but I think I am going to go on with what I had originally planned. I will have the expanders put in and just go with the implants. I've talked to several friends that have had different procedures and I just really feel this is the one for me.

She said he left me really good skin flaps and their is probably some fatty tissue in there that she could use along with the implants, she just won't know for sure until she gets in there.

However, there is one more downer. I probably can't start the procedure until July. The earliest she could get me in is not soon enough for me to have enough recovery time before our trip to Florida. But I would probably be finished before the end of the year and that is very important to me too.

And she also said that the DIEP and SIEA flaps can be done later if I don't like the implants. So even though I don't think I want that now, it can be done later.

So now it's just a waiting game until I make up my mind. Frank and I have talked about it a lot lately, of course, because that is the next step. I hope tomorrow I can call her and set up the surgery date.

I am so blessed to be where I am and able to have the reconstruction done. And even though it's not what I expected, I feel it is just another reminder that It may be my journey, but I am not in control. I have to listen to Him and stay positive and remind myself that

Everything is going to be OK.

Until next time,
God bless!