Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Saw the Surgeon Today

I figured if I was having as much anxiety as I was having, I needed to see my surgeon again before the next chemo. He always settles my mind and I feel better after talking to him.

He was raised in Ghana and knew since he was in elementary school that he wanted to be a surgeon. (Geoff always asks the interesting questions.) He was educated at Harvard and Yale. He still loves surgery after 30 years because he feels he gets to cure people. If he were a family practice doc, he wouldn't like it because people come in with problems and he would try this drug or that drug and sometimes they won't feel better.

My first question to him was a statement that brought me to tears and luckily, he had a box of tissues on his desk. "I read that this surgery is anywhere from 2 - 5 hours long"...sob... He told me that I was having the least complicated surgery because I wasn't getting reconstruction. He thinks that the left side would take 1 3/4 hours and the right side only 3/4 hours. No, I do not need a mammogram first or any other test since I am getting a "bi-lateral" mastectomy. All I need is a blood test (which I get already every Tuesday). I will get a chest x-ray when admitted to the hospital just to make sure my lungs were clear. (I need to ask more about that because it seems like overkill and I've had so much radiation already!). I would only be in the hospital overnight - 2 days. After surgery, I would have one of those patient controlled pain management devices - so I can give myself more pain medication as I need it. My drains would come out by the 2nd or 3rd day after surgery. And yes, he would order a home care nurse to visit me - he thought it was a good idea - especially if our insurance covers it. And while I'm in the hospital, a physical therapist starts me on exercises.

Then he did an exam and yes, I have no tumor at all anymore! The only way he said he could tell I had cancer was that my nipple is still inverted from the scar tissue. So I see him a week or two after my last chemo and then I get surgery either April 16th or the following week depending on how my counts are and what my oncologist says. And this time, we can schedule it early and get the first surgeries of the day - unlike the last minute deal I had to do with my old oncologist for the port insertion.

All my counts today are in the normal levels except for the red blood cells which are slightly low. I'm still feeling like I'm fighting off this cold or maybe this is just the type of cold I get when on these Chinese herbs. I wake up with a slightly stuffy nose and am tired. So I am working on turning my thoughts toward appreciation and gratitude and as many positive things as I can muster, along with relaxation - hoping that will help me get better.

And I can finally now actually do some good relaxation since my mind has been settled (as much as it can be for the moment) by my surgeon.

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