Preventive Mastectomy: 6 Weeks

Posted June 15, 2016 by Prairie Wife - 6 comments

Note: I decided to include real pictures of my body in this post because I know that it will help to prepare other women as they begin this journey, as well as help educate family members and friends. I hope that you my readers, will be respectful of that choice, and if you are offended at the thought it’s best for you to stop reading here.

This week things have been almost 100% back to normal around here on the Prairie.

The Cowboy has been working away and Mary Poppins and I have been holding down the homestead.

It’s the last week of school and all of us are looking forward to not having to drive into town twice a day. Because I didn’t know how I would be doing after my Preventive Mastectomy, we left the Summer wide open. I can’t lie, I’m looking forward to taking it easy and not rushing to swim lessons, and week-long Summer camps.

Luckily, I’ve been healing quickly and I’m now cleared for all activity, including picking up the 25lb LittleMissH! I’ve been running and doing Yoga again and while I’ve been taking it slow, it feels really good to get back into my regular routine. I can finally open child-proof medicine bottles and while I still can’t close windows, I CAN open them! The first week of cleaning and scrubbing toilets was exciting but being cleared for household chores quickly lost its appeal…

On Monday I had an appointment for fill with my Plastic Surgeon in Denver. Rather than have The Cowboy take me down I planned a bit of a girls’ weekend with Mary Poppins and TallGirlJ. We loaded up and headed down the the “big city” of Denver. We enjoyed some of the Summer weather and basked for a few hours by the pool. Then it was time to head downtown for dinner and drinks. The food was great and the company was even better! After much laughter and giggling, we made our way back to the hotel and safely into bed by 10:20 (yeah we’re party animals I know).

My first appointment was with my breast surgeon who assured me that all looked well. After she removed a stitch that was poking out of my scar, she sent us on our way. One of our good friends SouthernBelle had recently moved to Denver and we met her at my favorite breakfast place (Snooze) for a leisurely meal before my next appointment. It was wonderful to catch up with her, and it ended up being one of those times where you end up missing the person even more than you did before, once you’re sitting there chatting…does that even make sense LOL?

As we talked about what was happening at my next appointment of the day, SouthernBelle seemed really fascinated by the whole process. I invited her to come along and see what was happening. After all, TallGirlJ and Mary Poppins were both coming along to watch. I didn’t mind being their own live episode of the show Botched. My friends have all been feeling me up lately…my play dough boobs have been way more popular than my real pair ever were!

We filed into the waiting room and then the examination room and giggled and chatted away. My blood pressure was going up by the minute because of my last painful fill experience, and it helped to have my girls they’re chatting away. At my request, the lovely nurses even brought in a few implants so the girls could see what they looked and felt like. I wish I had been filming all the reactions lol!

Eventually, my amazing Plastic Surgeon (PS) came in. I warned him I was a bit nervous after the last time, and as he opened up my gown and saw the sweat and felt the heat radiating off my body, he realized I wasn’t exaggerating. We decided to start on my “bad side” the one that was excruciatingly painful last time, and fills it as much as we could. Then he’d fill the other side to make them even.

As he began, I felt the normal amount of uncomfortable pressure but it wasn’t nearly as bad as last time. We were able to put in another 80cc and bring the grand total up to 360cc. My doctor had to stop not because I was in pain (though I was sore afterward and was forced to take it easy the next few days) but because my skin was stretched to capacity. There was even a worrisome white spot (which means blood isn’t getting to the skin) that my PS had me promise I would keep checking. If it continued to stay the same, he told me I would need to come back and get some fluid taken out so the pressure would be relieved. We filled up the other side so they were even and my beloved PS said the words I was longing to hear.

“We’re going to have to stop with fills, let’s set the date for your next surgery.”

I swore angels started to sing!

We set the date for August 12th and I can’t wait. This surgery is where we will replace my rock-hard expanders with normal implants. My doctor plans to use teardrop implants but, will have rounds ready at surgery in case the teardrop implants don’t work out how he would like.

I’ve heard that this exchange surgery is not nearly as bad as the mastectomy (no drains for starters) and I can’t help but look forward to being more comfortable…sleeping is still hard and snuggling and hugging my Cowkids is uncomfortable for all of us…Who’d have thought I’d be excited for a three-hour surgery and weeks of recovery?

But I am.

It means one more surgery done and only one left to go (hopefully).

I’m excited because it means one more step towards the end of my journey, one more step towards settling into my new normal!

This is the last of my weekly posts until the next operation but, stop back by for posts about how to camouflage wonky boobs and a concise list of what to have for the first weeks post-op.

If there is anything else you’d like to hear about let me know in the comments 🙂

Thanks again for all your support and prayers, it has truly made all the difference!

Click this link to read about my exchange surgery!

Categories: Mastectomy Surgery, Preventive Mastectomy

Tags: , breast cancer, healing, mastecotmy, preventive mastectomy, strength, support, week 6