Another opinion.....

Today I had an appt with another plastic surgeon. He was very nice and really took a great deal of time to give me his opinion. Unfortunately, his opinion on how to improve these foobs is very different than the other two surgeons. It’s pretty complicated and I don’t have the energy to bore you with all the specifics. Bottom line is I like all 3 surgeons…they have 3 very different opinions on how to do the revision so the ball is in my court. I will see my original plastic surgeon next week so I am anxious to hear her opinion when I ask her about my revision options.

I hate to jinx myself but I think some of my symptoms are starting to get a little better. I have not had any cramping at all and the spotting is now very light. Not sleeping was about to drive me completely insane….I have to have my sleep and when I don’t I know I am not much fun to be around. I think I went over a week with just a couple hours of sleep each night and I was waking up several times which is something I have never done. This past Friday night I went to sleep around 12:30 and was shocked when I woke up and it was after 9:00!!! I am still having a very hard time getting to sleep but at least I am getting 4 hours which is no where near the 9 that I require and love but I am at least functioning again. The only thing that is getting worse is the pain in my left wrist. It’s very sore first thing in the morning and I catch myself trying not to use it more and more during the day. I am still saying as long as it doesn’t get any worse I can tolerate it….only 4 more years of this medication…..piece of cake, right?!

Other than that we are all fine. Tyler is down in Florida with a friend for the week….this is the first time he has gone on a trip with a friend and their family. He is having a great time but I miss him..We had a good weekend even though the weather was so crummy. We went to two different cook-outs and Bret took Jillian and her friend Kayleigh to King’s Island Saturday morning. We didn’t get to have our regular Sunday night pool party and I was just lost….I love our Sunday nights at the pool so hopefully more people will be in town this coming weekend and the weather will cooperate!

Please say a prayer for JD and his family. He had a horrible day yesterday when he went to do another round of chemo. They decided to admit him into the hospital again because he was having so much pain in his head. They were meeting with more doctors today to try to figure out what is going on but last I heard he is still not feeling good. I just pray that they can find some answers and get him back to feeling ok. This is so very hard on all of them and the only thing I can do to help them from here is ask for prayers…….

I would also ask for prayers for my friend Carl. He was my mentor when I first started at LSI. He had to have the lower half of his leg amputated last week due to an infection. His recovery is going fine but this will be such a huge adjustment for him physically and emotionally.

Without him, I am nothing,
But with Him I can do all things through
Christ that strengthens me."
(Phil 4:13)

A new plastic surgeon???????????

I met with Dr. Butterfield today...she is quick and gets right to the point. I was nervous about going to a new doc but I do think plastic surgeons are a special breed...they are artists in a way so when you go from one to another and ask them to "fix" something they are going to always have opinions. My main issue that I wanted to discuss was the dent in the center. She felt like that could be "improved" by opening everything up again and re-creating the pockets that hold the implants...while doing this she would be lifting them and trying to pull them closer together. As for the rippling and pucker (dog ear) on the left breast she was not absolutely sure she could do anything about that....my breast surgeon (not plastic surgeon) was very aggressive in taking out all the breast tissue so I am left with VERY thin skin over an implant. She said we could use some Alloderm (cadaver tissue) to improve the pocket....she said that would be something she would make a decision on once she began the surgery. One thing I was not expecting was when she told me that the way my scarring has healed I may not be able to have tattoos done if I just wanted to stay with what I had. Because of this she said that if I did want a revision she would actually open the breast mounds with a scar thru the middle instead of using the old scars under the breast. She said she would be able to remove some of the heavy scarring across the middle of the breast and then we would see how that heals before deciding about tattoos....

She was very professional in delivering the information and was in no way trying to push me into surgery...she knew that I was in no rush and in the end just said call me if you decide to do it.

I was nervous going today but now I want to get a third opinion. This is what I should have done in the beginning when I was first diagnosed. Everything was just so overwhelming after meeting with the breast surgeon and then 3 oncologists I just wanted to get things moving. I know what I have today is ok but if I think that someone can do something to improve the dent I will do it.....I have given it some time and it still REALLY bothers me...the other issues she and I discussed today are things that are not that important to me because when I have clothes on no one sees these things. I do know that I want to complete the process so I definitely need to get another opinion on the tattoo issue. I am in no rush so now I can take the time to get the info and decide what is right for me.

I guess while I was there I should have asked about getting some work done on my face. When I picked up Jillian from daycare today one of the other kids looked at me when I walked in and said "who's Grandma is that?" Stopped me in my tracks...wanted to spank her cute little behind but instead I just laughed and walked away....don't you just love kids and their "no filter" comments??!!

The Gyn nurse called today to say that there were no signs of infection with my urine samples so still no firm answer on what is causing those issues....

Stay tuned .... more to come!

Good news!

The surgeon called on Friday and let me know that there were no cancerous cells with my biopsy...for right now we are just going to wait and see what happens...they are not sure if my issues are caused by menopause or the arimidex.

Tomorrow I have an appt with a new plastic surgeon...just curious to get a new opinion on what my options are for revision surgery.

Too tired to write any more tonight...all is well, thanks for the prayers on the biopsy...I have dodged yet another bullet....

So now I can't stop peeing.....

I went in for my biopsy today...that went fine...just like I remembered..OUCH! Since we were also doing my annual exam I had to answer a million questions and talk about any other issues. I told them that I have gone from a person that could "hold it" for hours to someone who has to pee "NOW"...anyway, when the doc saw that she was a little concerned that this could be caused by a bladder infection. I go back tomorrow for another test. As for the uterine biopsy she did say she was pretty confident that we won't find any cancer cells and then we will have to decide if these problems are caused by menopause or the Arimidex...

Never a boring day with me and medical issues...I will update when I get any results! Thanks for checking in.

Recovering from the long holiday weekend...

Not much new to report…just trying to recover from a busy and fun holiday weekend. We spent the weekend at Mohican State Park with family and friends. Bret and I rented a boat on Friday to take the kids tubing and fishing on Pleasant Hill Lake…they really enjoyed it…our Jillian is absolutely fearless! On Saturday Jillian and I took Grandma and Papa Deel over into Amish country…it is so beautiful there and the food is so yummy! While Jillian and I were in Amish Country, Bret took Tyler and Ryan (Tyler’s friend) to go canoeing, ride go carts and play miniature golf. We all went to see the wonderful fireworks in Loudonville on Saturday night. It really was a fun weekend.

I will have my biopsy on Wednesday…no idea on how long it will take to get the results back…I am guessing it will be sometime next week. Please say a little prayer for me that they do not find any cancerous cells…

Other than that I would just ask for you to continue to pray for JD and his entire family…after stopping the seizures he has now been in the hospital since last week and last I read he should be going home tonight. His sodium levels are too low and they are having trouble stabilizing them. He will do another round of chemo tomorrow. This is a rough time for all of them…I am hoping they can resolve this sodium issue soon. They all mean so much to me and it just breaks my heart to see them struggle like this.

Thanks for checking in!