Met Plastic Surgeon #1

Sorry I haven't been keeping up on the blog this week.  My family has been in crisis mode with other circumstances that I will not be discussing.  With that being said, here's the newest.

On Monday I had an appointment up at John Hopkins.  This is where I met Dr. Rosson.  He is the plastic surgeon who would do the DIEP flap procedure.  I think this appointment went fairly well.  I heard some things that I like and some things that I wasn't too fond of.

I was told that I am a great candidate for the DIEP flap.  So essentially, what that means is that my body ravaged from child-bearing has made me able to have this surgery done.  What they essentially will do is take all of the fat from my momma pouch and use it to reconstruct my boobs.  After that is removed, they will stretch the skin from my belly area down.  This will give me no more momma pouch and no waistline for awhile.  I will also have a scar that runs from hip to hip, but will be able to be hidden by my underwear.  I'm not really sure how I feel about that at this point.

The downside of this all is that I have to really start working on my core to help me recover faster.  So what does this really mean?  It means lots of planks and yoga and all that kind of stuff that I already don't like to do.  If I did most of the stuff that they want me to do to strengthen my core, then it's possible that I could flatten my stomach, and maybe even the momma pouch, which would then make the DIEP flap not necessary.  Maybe not.  I'm not really sure at this point.

So what I do know about the surgery at this point is that it will take 12 hours to do the surgery.  Pretty much 6 hours per breast.  It is extensive and I will have at least 1 drain tube on each breast and possibly 2 on each side of my waist.  This surgery is also inclusive of a 3 day hospital stay.

I've had a couple of people reach out to help be my caretakers while I am recovering.  That does make me feel a little bit better.  I just don't want to stretch them too thin though.  We'll just have to see how everything pans out.  I guess I am hoping that I won't need to have people take care of me for too long.  Maybe, just maybe I'll bounce back after a couple of weeks and be able to do stuff on my own.  I've never had a major surgery, so honestly, I have no clue.

I've never really been one to ask for help.  Sure, I like to have people to talk to in order to bounce things off of them when I have things rolling through my head, but I've never had to ask anyone to come take care of me.  This part sucks.  I guess this is also where I allow my pride to get in the way thinking that I can do it myself.  The problem with that is that I have taken care of everything myself for so long that I am finding it more difficult to do and find that I am seeing myself as a failure.

I guess I've had this view for so long that if I take care of others, everything will be butterflies, roses, rainbows and unicorns then they will come to my rescue when I need them.  Boy was I wrong!  Glad I am finding this out now instead of when I am actually down from surgery.

Anyhow, that's all that I have for ya'll today.  I have lots of catching up to do with my Biology classes.  Only 1 more week and I am completely done with the sciences.  Only 2 more years and I'll have that beautiful Bachelor's degree.  Hope ya'll have a beautiful and blessed Sunday.

Information Overload

Miss Vickie called me already.  I don't have an appointment set up with Dr. Jacobs as of yet since I will be seeing a plastic surgeon about the DIEP.  She gave me 2 different numbers I needed to call and set up appointments.  Whew....breathe...breathe....

My first call was to the plastic surgeon to set up a consult.  She is one of the doctors that will be working on me in addition to Dr. Jacobs.  So I have an appointment with her on Wednesday the 1st.

The second call was to John Hopkins to set up a consult with them for the plastic surgeon who does the actual DIEP and that one is on Monday at 8:45 in the morning.  Wanna know the best part?  It's in downtown Baltimore.  So I'm sure that leaving the house around 7:15ish is in my future, if not before then.  Oh joy, oh joy.  How did I get myself into this??  Anyone out there wanna tell me how long it would take me to get there during Monday rush hour??  I just have to hope that Andy can go with me, cause I don't drive in big cities with lots of 1 way streets, and this is not the kind of crap that I want to do alone.

Lots of paperwork.  Lots of doctors.  Lots of stress.  Lots of anxiety.  Lots of worry.  A whole lot of everything.  This feels like a horrifying roller-coaster, and frankly, I don't like roller-coasters, not even the kiddie ones.

Someone please wake me up when this is all over.  Really!