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.
Showing posts with label DIEP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIEP. Show all posts
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
The MRI Results Are Back and....
...nothing is on them. Which is a good sign. It means that they don't see anything else. At least at this point in this journey. So, where do I go from here?
I'll be talking to Miss Vickie sometime today to schedule appointments to meet with plastic surgeons. I figured that I would take the road that is more complicated at the beginning, but hopefully means that I won't have to deal with any of this stuff later on. At the beginning of this journey I was presented with the options of a lumpectomy with radiation or the mastectomy.
If I were to do the lumpectomy with radiation, it would mean going in 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Frankly, I don't have the support system here that I can even do this option. With momma not being able to drive, Andy not being able to take that long off, and no second set of hands for momma to deal with the boys, I've chosen to go with the mastectomy, more specifically a double mastectomy.
Now some would probably ask me why I am choosing to undergo such an intensive surgery with hellacious recovery time. As Dr. Jacobs pointed out to me, I have to do what is best for me and what is easiest to do at this point in time. It is true that I don't have a support system with this option either, but it does give me the ability to stay at home and not have to run out every day for radiation. The down side to this is going to be the recovery time. I'm not entirely sure how long that will be since I haven't talked to the plastic surgeons yet, but I know it will be a little while since I am opting to do a DIEP flap. At least that is what I've already settled on unless the plastic surgeon scares me too much.
Pretty much with a DIEP flap, they will go in and remove fat and tissue from my belly to build my new breasts from it. This pretty much means that my breasts will be more like the ones I already have. They'll be more natural as opposed to implants.
I guess I just don't want to be that lady walking around at 70ish years old and having the boobs of a 20 something. The other downside with implants would be that I would have to have them replaced every 10 years. I'm not really into the idea of having to get my chest cut into every 10 years. When I get this done, I want it over and done with.
Now that's not to say that I won't have other surgeries, as I already know ahead of time that I will have to do 2 more. One of them would be to reconstruct the nipple and then the other would be to tattoo on the areola. In talking with my sister Lynda yesterday, she didn't know that they tattooed your boobs to make them more normal. She then made the comment about asking if I could have something pretty tattooed there. I honestly laughed about it. Could you imagine me asking a doctor if I could just have lilies tattooed there? LOL! Right, I know you laughed.
Anyhow, what I understand from what Dr. Jacobs told me, the DIEP flap surgery will be done at the time the mastectomy is done. So the surgery would more or less be about 8-12 hours with a minimum of a 3 day hospital stay. I'm sure that once I talk to the plastic surgeons, there will be more information and better understanding of this. So for now, that is all the information that I know.
I'll be talking to Miss Vickie sometime today to schedule appointments to meet with plastic surgeons. I figured that I would take the road that is more complicated at the beginning, but hopefully means that I won't have to deal with any of this stuff later on. At the beginning of this journey I was presented with the options of a lumpectomy with radiation or the mastectomy.
If I were to do the lumpectomy with radiation, it would mean going in 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Frankly, I don't have the support system here that I can even do this option. With momma not being able to drive, Andy not being able to take that long off, and no second set of hands for momma to deal with the boys, I've chosen to go with the mastectomy, more specifically a double mastectomy.
Now some would probably ask me why I am choosing to undergo such an intensive surgery with hellacious recovery time. As Dr. Jacobs pointed out to me, I have to do what is best for me and what is easiest to do at this point in time. It is true that I don't have a support system with this option either, but it does give me the ability to stay at home and not have to run out every day for radiation. The down side to this is going to be the recovery time. I'm not entirely sure how long that will be since I haven't talked to the plastic surgeons yet, but I know it will be a little while since I am opting to do a DIEP flap. At least that is what I've already settled on unless the plastic surgeon scares me too much.
Pretty much with a DIEP flap, they will go in and remove fat and tissue from my belly to build my new breasts from it. This pretty much means that my breasts will be more like the ones I already have. They'll be more natural as opposed to implants.
I guess I just don't want to be that lady walking around at 70ish years old and having the boobs of a 20 something. The other downside with implants would be that I would have to have them replaced every 10 years. I'm not really into the idea of having to get my chest cut into every 10 years. When I get this done, I want it over and done with.
Now that's not to say that I won't have other surgeries, as I already know ahead of time that I will have to do 2 more. One of them would be to reconstruct the nipple and then the other would be to tattoo on the areola. In talking with my sister Lynda yesterday, she didn't know that they tattooed your boobs to make them more normal. She then made the comment about asking if I could have something pretty tattooed there. I honestly laughed about it. Could you imagine me asking a doctor if I could just have lilies tattooed there? LOL! Right, I know you laughed.
Anyhow, what I understand from what Dr. Jacobs told me, the DIEP flap surgery will be done at the time the mastectomy is done. So the surgery would more or less be about 8-12 hours with a minimum of a 3 day hospital stay. I'm sure that once I talk to the plastic surgeons, there will be more information and better understanding of this. So for now, that is all the information that I know.
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