Just the Facts:  Surgery to revise my breast reconstruction happens on Monday, December 27.    I will be in the hospital overnight for antibiotics.  I have had my pre-op appointment with my plastic surgeon and the hospital pre-op appointment, to speak with an anesthesiologist. Everything is ready to go.  The surgery will fix cosmetic problems, so by nature, it is much less serious than what I have gone through in the past.  However, I have been very unhappy with the outcome of the reconstruction, and am excited that the problems will soon be corrected.

Details:  All I want for Christmas is not my two front teeth, but two reconstructed breasts that face the front!  Back in late August, my plastic surgeon (who I still believe is top-notch) performed the second phase of my breast reconstruction:  exchange surgery.  The hard and uncomfortable tissue expanders were traded for soft silicone-filled breast implants. He also did some repair work at that time, since my left side was troublesome-looking and had been ever since the mastectomy.  The doctor re-sected and restitched the left “breast” to make it move more towards the right, creating a little cleavage.  However, over the next few weeks, those internal sutures gave way, and the left implant began shifting back to what seems to be its desired destination: my left armpit. It is not evident with clothes on, but the reality is that the left side is messed up.  One messed up side is one too many.

My doctor has other techniques to use to remedy the situation.  This time, he will add Alloderm to give the left side more structure, and will move the “pocket” for the implant permanently towards the right by re-secting and suturing extensively in several different places. Alloderm will also be used over both “breasts” to correct fairly severe rippling, which often happens when someone “thin” gets implants.  (If you are thin, your skin is thin and cannot camouflage the implant under it very well.)  Excess skin will be removed from both sides, which should also help with rippling. Both of my scars will have to be re-opened for this surgery.  I will receive two new implants, and I will need IV antibiotics for 24 hours. I’ll be in the hospital overnight and will have a surgical drain on each side.  The drains will need to stay in place until there is minimal output, likely several days.

When I look, I see “DEFORMED” right now, and am so glad to be doing something about this.  No one else (other than Tracy and the doctor) have seen the problem because it can be covered up in clothing.  But in bathing suit season, it would be no secret.  If there is a way to fix this, I want it done, and ASAP.  Thankfully, we have excellent insurance which is paying for this re-reconstruction.  Were it not for that, I would probably live with having a breast under my arm.  I am truly grateful that I don’t have to do that.

Me:  Looking forward to getting this over with! Excited about what the doctor described as my potential outcome. I will forever be changed from breast cancer and my mastectomy surgery, but hopefully I will not always be uncomfortable with the way I look. I am grateful too. This is cosmetic stuff, after all.

Prayer requests: That nothing, including a pretty severe cold (or is it the flu) that I have right now, will stand in the way of a smooth, uneventful surgery. Despite my earnest desire to have this surgery, anxiety over the process in general has crept in before my other surgeries in the past.  Please pray for peace for me. Pray that my children and husband would stay healthy and that they would also be free of stress from this.