Surgery Coming Soon

I had my pre-op today for surgery - which is officially scheduled now for August 1st. Whoo hoo! Not that I’m excited for the recovery but I am excited to get this show on the road and have the cancer out of my body. My sweet son, Kimball has been asking so many questions and worried because he knows I will be in the hospital for 4-5 days. Apparently he has overheard me talking to people about cancer, so he wanted to know all about it. I try to take pictures for him and explain whatever I can to help him learn and put his mind at ease. I'm gonna miss these cute faces while I'm at the hospital, but they are my inspiration!

I am so grateful to have received my wish to have the mastectomy and reconstruction done in the same surgery. This is a rare gift that doesn’t happen very often, but since I don’t need chemo or radiation, they can do it. It’s going to be a long day for the medical team (glad I get to sleep through it). I get to arrive at the unsightly hour of 6 a.m. and the surgery will be 8-9 hours - and that is with 3 surgeons, wow! I am so grateful to and impressed by the staff at Huntsman. The experience so far is 100% better than my experience at IMC. 

I was reading my blog from 11 years ago to refresh my memory on the healing process. There is definitely some PTSD from what went on but I am feeling much better about things this time around. And the best part is that my husband can stay overnight with me - even though I will be in the ICU. Seriously a miracle in my book. If you want to read about my experience last time - here it is: https://matchmakeramy.blogspot.com/2011/06/on-mend-again.html

 

Most people wonder why in the world I will have issues sitting after a mastectomy. Well, the surgery I am doing is quite unique actually. Most women who do reconstruction using their own tissue are able to use tissue from their stomach - (the DIEP flap surgery). But I am lucky enough to only have butt tissue to use, so mine is very unique - it’s called the SGAP. Here’s a link if you’re curious and want to read about it:  https://www.microsurgeon.org/sgap

Thank you so much for caring enough to read this and for the kind words of encouragement and support. They truly mean the world to me!