Breast Reconstruction

I had all but given up on having 2 breasts again and resolved that I was going to my grave as a Uniboober.

During my appointment with my surgical oncologist a few weeks ago, the handsome Dr. Ewan, I asked him if he knew of a plastic surgeon that might help with my 3 breasts … ok, let me clarify … after surgery, I was left with a mini-tit, a medium-tit and my natural maxi-tit … and I really hated the 2 I wasn’t born with. I was hoping a plastic surgeon would be able to get rid of all these flaps of skin I seem to have.

Dr. Ewan referred me to a plastic surgeon who I saw a few days ago and I’m thrilled to say that I may have 2 breasts again without resorting to those horrible tram-flap or diep-flap reconstruction surgeries that would leave me with little muscle control over my abdomen or shoulder.

He did tell me about a fourth option that I wasn’t aware of: Latissimus Dorsi Flap. This surgery apparently does leave a very large scar from the upper back to the front that connects to the new breast.

I play tennis and the thought of losing any muscle in my abdomen, shoulder or upper back is not something I am particularly interested in.

Ok, ok, the good news … he said that I am a candidate for an implant!

It’s only 2 day surgeries (1 to insert the expander and 2nd for the implant) and I’ll be uncomfortable for a week to 10 days … so I am thrilled of this possibility!

It’s what I wanted initially until I saw that other plastic surgeon 1.5 years ago that said she wouldn’t give me an implant because of my propensity for infections.

I did let the new surgeon know that I get infections easily and he said he hasn’t had a patient with an infection in 10 years and unless I have constant infections with the implant over a long period of time, the implant can be removed which will solve the problem.

Dr. Ewan also said that I may have to have a breast reduction on my other breast if I wanted an implant … and I’m happy to say that the new surgeon will give me a lift on my natural breast and I can go as big as I want.

The new surgeon blushed when I said I wanted to be the size of  a stripper! Of course I really don’t want to be THAT big, but to have 2 nice sized boobs again will be fabulous!

I asked him if the new breast would look like a transgendered male, as I had heard that before, and he assured me it wouldn’t. He only said that there will be a roundness to it that isn’t on my natural breast.

And just as wonderful news is that the flaps of skin I absolutely hate is actually good to have … he can use the extra skin to help with the expander. How terrific is that!

I’m still in a bit of shock that I can indeed have an implant so I’ll wait for a week or 2 until the information sinks in and decide when would be a good time to do this … I’m thinking either just before the December holidays or just after new year when business is also a bit quiet.

It just goes to show how a 2nd opinion is valuable.

If you want more information on breast reconstruction in Canada, visit this web site.

A few weeks ago I had an appointment with a well-respected plastic surgeon in Toronto — I’ll call her Dr. T — same personality as Mr. T., but with less gold.

I had been thinking about the various options for a few months now: do I want implants? I was about 80% sure I would get implants because they are less invasive and I presumed I could be back to work within a few days.

Unfortunately since I had gangrene and likely prone to infections, Dr. T. tells me I’m absolutely 100% not a candidate for implants.

That leaves a TRAM Flap — okay, not so bad to get a tummy tuck and new boobs at 50, I thought.

Let me backtrack a moment …

I get to this very posh office with Google map in hand and the 2 assistants seem quite bored. One of them, who appears to have had a lot of work done on her face, gives me the usual questionnaire to fill out. I always fill these out and usually ask for an extra piece of paper so I can be as verbose as possible.

The other receptionist, approximately my age, perhaps in her mid-50s, tells me that I need to see pictures — I tell her I don’t need to see pictures of tits, because I know what they look like, and can have a pretty good idea of what post-surgery might look like. She tells me I have no choice.

Once in this large room with a computer and this woman hovering over my shoulder, she clicks away at all the post-op women. Other than some women are prone to keloids, there’s nothing unusual — she says that they never know who will get keloids and that they are easily fixed with laser surgery.

At the end of this tit-viewing session, she points to this stack of paper and tells me it’s a waiver I need to sign and she leaves me alone in this room with this legal document.

After reading it, I decide not to sign it — it basically tells me that I have no “moral and legal rights to the photographs” that they’ll be taking of me.

Since she’s left the room, I can’t ask any questions, so I don’t sign it.

Back to Dr. T.

She has the questionnaire I signed and is asking me the same questions that’s on the questionnaire.

When we get to the “infection” portion of the questionnaire, she stops me, and says she’s confused … “what?” she protests. So I explained what happened with the necrotic tissue during surgery, and I must have screwed up her script. Yes, it seems like she’s reading a script — she’s not personable at all.

I try to interrupt with questions — after all, we are talking about me.

She tells me to stop talking and wait until she’s finished reading her script.

Of course by the end of her script, I can’t remember a darn thing.

A few other weird things happen in the office, and I won’t bore you with the details.

Dr. T. does tell me even more bad news — I have permanent nerve damage in my arm and chest — she was quite peeved at my surgeon for not telling me that it’s permanent — oh I can’t wait to see Dr. Ewan in September and let him know he might want to rethink his referral database.

To say the least, the paperwork she gave me explaining the breast reconstruction surgery is terrifying — and if someone has a lot of belly fat, she won’t do the surgery — hey another good reason to stay healthy so I guess that means no more french fries for me!

She says she’s booking for September — hell if she’s going to lay a scalpel on me just yet — I’ve barely had a minute to think about cancer and now I have to think about more surgery? Maybe next year I think.

OHIP pays for all these reconstruction surgeries — it’s not a single operation, so keep that in mind — it’s done in stages.

Perhaps that’s why Dr. T. and her assistants weren’t that nice with me — I’m viewed as a government freebie, rather than a cash cow — if that’s not their intention, they should try being a patient in their own office.

So if you are still smoking and are a big fat girl, I’m surprised you’re still alive …

Because cancer is the easy part: now I understand why women opt not to have the reconstruction as it could mean many months of convalescing — and the last time I checked my bank account, I can’t afford to lie in bed and eat bon bons … oh yeah, that will kill me …