Surgery - December 16th

Well, I had my appointment with Dr Agarwal this last Tuesday. We talked for a long time and decided the DIEP Flap is the one that I will have. This is also known as the Free TRAM Flap. We discussed the fact that there is a 1% - 3% chance that the surgery won't work. This is because there are blood vessels that need to be attached and if it's not done correctly then the tissue from the stomach that is used to make the breast will die. That's why the surgeon who does this has to be well qualified in micro-surgery. The surgery will take 6-8 hours and I'll be in the hospital for 4 or 5 days, mainly to make sure the surgery was a success and the circulation in the new breast is working properly. So if everything goes well, I should be home by December 21st, in time to celebrate Christmas. Last year, I had my mastectomy on December 23rd and was home to celebrate Christmas and the fact that the beast (cancer) was out of my body. Believe it or not that was a great celebration, and now after spending seven months in Chemotherapy and Radiation and all their lovely side effects, I'll be able to celebrate a new breast and a new life. To find out more about the DIEP Flap, google it or go to the American Cancer Society websight.

Why am I waiting till December 16th to have the surgery? When I was talking to Dr. Agarwal, he asked me when I'd like the surgery. I said, "Well, not this week, but as soon as possible. If I could have it before the end of the month, that would be great." He kind of smiled at me and said, "Let me check my schedule." I had three options before the end of the year. They were December 2nd, 9th or 16th. (Dr. Agarwal's a busy man) I thought about it for a few minutes and decided on December 16th so I could have everything ready for Christmas, then have the surgery, come home and let everyone else handle the big day itself. I'll just sit back and relax. They'll have to let me do just that. Then I'll have January to recuperate. Nothing major will be going on, and it's not a month to be outside alot anyway, unless you ski which I gave up many years ago.

Now that I know when I'll be having the surgery, I can actually make some plans, so tomorrow, I'm heading to California to help my friend, Jan Burgess, celebrate her birthday. It'll be nice to get some California sunshine for a couple of days, if it doesn't rain. We've had some cold weather here lately, and I'm not quite ready for the big change. I did get out in the backyard yesterday, and cut back all my perennials along our back fence. It took about three hours and by the time I was finished, I thought my back was going to break. Sombra and Ibuprophen barely touched it. I'll wait till I'm back from California to do anymore.

A friend of mine that has also had breast cancer, sent me some thoughts from Erma Bombeck when she found out she was dieing of cancer. I thought they were so important that in my next blog I'm going to add them. For now, my thought for the day is: 'Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby.'