Phase II...The Demolition

I met with the surgeon today to discuss what I call Phase Two of my treatment, the demolition of my boobies. The bilateral mastectomy. She is the same one who performed the biopsy, placed my port and tested and removed my lymph nodes so I already know her. In fact, she is the one who called to tell me I had cancer. Despite that, I think she is wonderful. She explained the process and recovery to Kevin and I so now we have a better understanding of what to expect. And of course I took my little pad and pen in with all of my questions. Surgery will be scheduled sometime after my last chemo treatment on August 11. As long as my WBC is good we can schedule it as soon after chemo as I want if my oncologists agrees. My WBC has been in the threes since I started Taxol and ended the AC treatments which the surgeon said would be fine but last week it was 1.4 which would not be ok due to risk of infection. Hopefully they will go back up and stay there. I would like to move on to Phase Two as quickly as possible. The quicker I can get that done the quicker I can start radiation, Phase Three.


She is doing what is called a skin sparing mastectomy. She will go in and remove all of the tissue from my breasts but will leave the skin. This won’t look pretty but in the long run it will be better for Phase Four Reconstruction…Operation New Boobies. I choose the same hospital that I delivered Kaia and Caleb in because I know they have a Frullati Cafe in their cafeteria and I love their smoothies! That’s a good reason to choose a hospital right? She said to expect an overnight stay in the hospital. The pain will be so bad that I wouldn’t be able to control it at home so they will keep me to give me morphine. All right, all right, all right. Smoothies and morphine. Then they will send me home with some pain pills and of course those lovely drains. If you recall I had a drain when my lymph nodes were removed. For this surgery I will probably have at least two. I hate the drains. They will stay in from a week to three weeks. Restrictions are no driving or heavy lifting for a week. She said to rest but still go out and do things like shop and have dinner. I swear to you she said shop. My sister thought I made that part up but Kevin was there to hear it all! I have a witness. Then by week two I can start doing more. I just have to be careful if I still have the drains especially with the kids and I still have to take it somewhat easy. Once I recover from surgery I can start radiation, Phase Three. My wonderful mom is coming up to help us out during my surgery and recovery which will be a huge help. All though I’m not looking forward to having no boobies, I am ready to get on with the next phase. I don’t meet with my oncologists this week so I will have to wait until the 11th to talk to her about her thoughts on scheduling. She told me when I first started that I shouldn’t have to wait long after chemo to have the surgery. Come one counts, don’t fail me now.

Love to all.