I had the pre-op appointment with my plastic surgeon today. Signed a mountain of papers and asked every question I could think of about what would be done during the reconstruction surgery and what to expect afterwards.
Basically, the expander that was put where my right breast was will be replaced with a silicon implant. The implant looks rather large to me, but Leah, the physician’s assistant, says that they just look large outside of my body.
Then, on the left size an incision will be made around the nipple and then down the lower center of the breast. (Ouch!) A small implant will be placed under the muscle and then the skin will be pulled together at the bottom to “lift” the breast to match the other one.
And the table will be rotated up and down several times so that Dr. Lickstein can balance and even them up. I'll be just like a corpse.
The surgery will take 3 ½ hours – but Dr. L says it won’t seem that long to me. Ha ha.
Anyway, I guess I’m ready. I know that it has to be done, and putting it off and worrying about it isn’t going to help. And I trust my doctor – he is careful, and pays attention to detail. He understands the way the body works and heals, and he takes pride in his work. Most of all, there is something "real" about him. I sense that he cares.
There’s nothing left to do but trust him.
