In Search Of A Surgeon Part Two

 

After my appointment mentioned here, I spoke with more women who had undergone breast reconstruction locally and set up appointments with two other plastic surgeons.

The second plastic surgeon I saw was fantastic. He was really nice, spent a lot of time with me and was authorized to perform surgeries in the hospital where I was scheduled to have the prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. The only thing he didn’t do was use AlloDerm which is donated tissue attached to the pectoral muscle during the reconstruction process. Using AlloDerm (or Strattice) is not an entirely new procedure; he just did reconstruction without it. It’s my understanding that I’m someone that could really benefit from using it.

About an hour later, I went to see the third plastic surgeon and quickly knew he was the one I wanted to do my reconstruction. I’ll refer to him as Doc S. Doc S spent an enormous amount of time with me covering all options and addressed each and every one of my concerns. He also utilizes some techniques that no other surgeon had even mentioned such as using botox in the muscle to aid in the tissue expansion process.

One problem; Doc S was not able to perform surgery in the same hospital I was scheduled to have the prophylactic bilateral mastectomy.

However, Doc S works at the same hospital I had had my last biopsy at that required a surgeon to do a lumpectomy. That surgeon I’ll refer to as Doc W. I adored Doc W and felt completely confident and comfortable with him. So I made an appointment with him to see if he would perform the prophylactic bilateral mastectomy.

He reviewed the mammograms and ultrasound of my latest breast mass mentioned here, and we discussed at length my risk factors including the most recent development of a known BRCA gene mutation in my family on my mother’s side. He agreed wholeheartedly with my team of doctors at the other hospital and was willing to do the surgery.

I was so happy I even clapped my hands! He just smiled. I know most women don’t applaud at getting their breasts removed. For me however, I really look at it as saving me a battle with breast cancer if not even possibly saving my life. I said it before, but I think my Mom’s passing has something to do with me living.

I now have two of the best surgeons around lined up to help me on this journey. My doctors at my new hospital are working really well with the surgeons at the other hospital to get me on my way to doing everything I can to prevent the cancer that took my mother away too soon.