Boobs On Ice™ : We Have A Surgery Plan

So the flap surgery I was so sure was right for me yesterday - um - maybe not so much after meeting with surgeon #2 on the tag team that will be doing my surgery this Friday.

These guys have me on the fast track, have booked an OR at Sibley Hospital in Washington DC Friday December 21st. I am pleased to have it underway & will be even more happy to come home Sunday the 23rd if all goes well.

And yes I like the reconstructive guy and find him qualified, thorough and patient about decisions. Oh - and he thinks that they are patient decisions not his decisions.

Enter Doctor Raymond Chang, George Washington University Medical faculty and reconstructive educator of not just students but patients. Another personable surgeon. I hit the jackpot.

After much discussion, and having come in the door totally against what I've decided to do, I'm skipping the flap procedures.

Because I'm not 30 - or even 40 - healing from the flap surgery would be more difficult. There is a chance that the skin would die and that the donor site would not heal well as it would in a younger patient. It's not a pretty picture.

I'll have enough skin left from the surgery to easily create the smaller breast size I had for half my life and which I'd prefer now if truth be told.

It will take two surgeries to achieve what will start immediately after the cancerous breast tissue is removed and will be completed gradually over a couple of months and then with a second surgery next spring. Best of all, I can start chemotherapy if I need to while this is in process.

We won't know if there's a need for chemotherapy until we have biopsy results from lymph nodes removed during surgery. So stay tuned on that.

So we're making a mound. Yup you heard me - a mound. We're stretching muscle, and if you want to know the details feel free to read all about it at and other reconstive surgeries at the American Cancer Society' or see what the American Society for Plastic Surgeons has to say on the same topic.

Back on the home front:

Tomorrow: Daughter #3 in charge of shepherding me through getting Lab work & buying special zip-front sports bra that goes into surgery with me (assignment from Dr Chang)
Wednesday: Daughter #2 and family coming over to put up our Christmas tree (my spouse, aka Mr. broken rib is out of commission on this one)
Later Wednesday: Son got emergency leave and is flying in late Wed to stay through the middle of next week. (Thanks to the boss at the Air base, you know who you are.)
Thursday: Pre-admission physical and EKG with personal physician: Dr Zapp
Friday: show up at Sibley hospital in sane state

Saturday & next week

Daughter #2 and my husband both on vacation the week after surgery.
Daughter #3 is free four days in mid week and weekend evenings.
In other words everyone gets to have their crack at bringing frozen pea ice-packs to make moms' chest feel better

From the look of the twitter folks I'll be having a lot of support as I go through this. Even if they are not all here with me they live in my computer and in my heart.

About My Cancer

Invasive Lobular Carcinoma
My form of breast cancer is less common than others. In fact only about 6 to 8% of cases of breast cancer are the invasive form that is based in the lobules, not in the milk ducts.
Invasive, sometimes called Infiltrating, is a scary word. In most cases this form of breast cancer has been present for 8–10 years when detected by a mammogram or physical exam.
In my case there was clearly an area that felt thickened or dense on December 6, 2007. A mammogram the next afternoon was not able to detect it but it clearly appeared on ultrasound and was confirmed by multiple biopsies the same day.
During those 8 to 10 years the cancer took to become apparent to me, there has been plenty of opportunity for those invasive cells to get out of the breast and spread to the rest of the body.
It is after all, by definition, an invasive form of cancer.
Each year about 190 thousand women are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the US and about 40 thousand women will die of the disease. The larger the mass is when discovered the more risk. Mine had tentacled almost 5cm into the surrounding tissue and two other areas in the breast were discovered as well.
My chances of living another 10 years without cancer in another area are about 40%. The likelihood of one of my other underlying health conditions doing the job before that is 20%. it took a few months to get used to that idea.
Now though my attitude is that at least I know what I'm facing. It's just not what I expected. Life changes in an instant.

Comments

You know we've got your back.

....and your front too!

:o)

Posted by: AnnOhio | Dec 18, 2007 at 01:37 PM

Susan,

I ran across your story on Scobalizer and wanted to pass on a resource: www.icare.org.

Their full name is the International Cancer Alliance for Research and Education at Johns Hopkins. They seek to unite the cancer patient, doctor, and research to create the best results.

I sent Robert an email asking him to mention ICARE in his blog. They have limited funds, and a company has approached W. David Hankins, Chairman of ICARE with an expensive proposal to drive their name to the top of search engines when people search for "breast cancer." I believe one listing in Robert's blog will yield better results.

You have a sense of humor like my mother used to have and I've enjoyed reading your blog.

Posted by: Bruce Curley | Dec 18, 2007 at 01:56 PM

Here is a link to the ICARE Cancer Therapy Review (CTR) Program. They will send you a personal CTR with a dexription of the disease, staging procedures, explanations of current traqtments and dignostic tests, and a list of ongoing clinical traials, second opinion centers and more. You have already covered much of this, but some of the last section may still be of use.

Here are some scientfic video websites that have excellent animation videos about cancer that you may find useful to understand what is going on:

http://www.scivee.tv/
http://www.labaction.com/
http://www.dnatube.com/

I am a poet and make my living as a senior technical writer in the biotech field. I find such animations very useful for figuring out complex biological realities.

Posted by: Bruce Curley | Dec 18, 2007 at 02:10 PM

All wishes for a quick operation and recovery, and no hassles afterwards.

Some of Second Life has your back too!

Posted by: teddlesruss | Dec 19, 2007 at 04:00 AM