Plastic Surgeon Visit

Yesterday I met my plastic surgeon, Dr. P, for the first time.  I was very grateful for the fact that I felt comfortable with him right away and he was able to put me at ease and just talk to me as a person before diving in.  Thankfully, one of my friends came with me and she took excellent notes!  I didn't learn too much new information at that visit, but I mainly had to make some more choices. 

First set of choices:
1: Do implants (as explained in the previous post)
2: Use excess tissue from my belly to create new breasts (called "the flap method")

Well, that one was easy.  First, if I do the implants, then the surgery on his part is 1 - 1.5 hours per breast.  If I do the flap, it's a 12 hour surgery on his part.  Also, he said I didn't have enough belly fat to create the size of breasts I even have now, and I'd have a huge scar across my belly.  Option 1 with implants it is!!

The nice thing is that I don't have to choose what size I want now.  Basically, they'll gradually fill that temporary implant and they'll just keep filling it over time until I get to a point that I'm happy with.  I said, "So basically it's like you're filling my glass with water until I say stop."  His response was, "Exactly."

The left is the temporary implant.  That black circle felt like a hockey puck.  The right is the permanent implant. 

Second set of choices:
1. Keep my nipple and do a nipple-sparing mastectomy
2. Get rid of my nipple and do a skin-sparing mastectomy and let them reconstruct a nipple

(If you're getting squirmy, I'll remind you that this is in fact a blog about me and my breasts.)

I decided to go with option 2.  He said that he was on the fence as to whether or not aesthetically they would look good with a nipple-sparing, plus my opinion comes in third after Dr. G's and the pathologists as to whether or not there's any abnormal cells on it, and they would inspect it during surgery to see if it was even possible to be used.  Also, since I'd be keeping more of my skin, my chance of reoccurrence would go from 1% to 2-3%.  Not much more, but hey, I'll do what I can to keep my odds as low as possible.  So out they go. 

He then took pre-op photos and I was able to ask any other questions I had.  That was pretty much it!  Pretty easy and straightforward.  Now I just have to wait for them to give me a surgery date.  I've been waiting on that for a day and a half now.  I really want it tomorrow otherwise I'll go crazy because I feel like I need to go into planning mode for my hiatus from...well life.  Both work and home.  But that's another story for another time.