The Next Steps

Upcoming Surgery:

We are gearing up for Thursday, July 25^th, the date of my exchange procedure and what will hopefully be my final breast surgery.   I am definitely ready for this next step, but not overly excited to recover from yet another surgery.  My surgery will last from 2-3 hours, but I should be home in the early evening hours.  I didn’t have many options for reconstruction.  The implants will sit inside the pectoral muscle that has been stretched by the expanders.  Because I don’t have tissue options to help smooth out the lines, they will probably look pretty defined.  I decided to go with silicone implants as opposed to saline.  Although saline is very safe and are not harmful if they leak, they feel harder and tend to show ripples under the skin in thin women (with the absence of other tissue).  Silicone implants can be harmful if they leak, but cosmetically feel more natural and shouldn’t show ripples under the skin.  After a discussion with my surgeon, I decided silicone is my best option.  I am not sure what size implants I will end up with.  It will all depend on the size of the cavity when they go in.  Most likely, I will be a big A or a small B.  Although I am a little disappointed with the size, implants of any size will be so much better than these rock hard coconuts I have right now.  There are definitely some perks to having small tatas.  The recovery is around 4-6 weeks.  Just like my surgery in October, I won’t be able to lift Charlotte for six weeks, which will be hard.  She is going through a mommy only phase, but we are hoping she can handle my being less active than normal.  

More Baby Yales:

Steve and I have talked on and off about future children and if they are something we want to peruse.  I will be on Tamoxifen until I am 37, and most likely, with the new studies showing 10 years is better than 5, until I am 42.  Put this on top of the highly recommended oophorectomy I should get by the age of 40, there is not a lot of opportunity for more children.  We decided to talk to a specialist and assess our options.  I went in thinking the worst, but it ended up not being as hopeless as we thought.  We actually have a few options.  The first step will be to check and see if my eggs are viable.  I am not sure when that will be just yet, but it could be soon depending on when my plastic surgeon gives her blessing, and we may have some options available.  Charlotte is by far the best thing that has happened to us, and although we are open to hearing our options, we may not end up pursuing them.  If she is an only child, she will be loved and surrounded by lots of caring people.  Although, I do worry about spoiling her a little too much given what we have been through.

This blog:

I started this blog to keep family and friends updated on my treatment plan and how I was doing.  That continues to be the purpose of this blog.  Although, Pushing Pink Elephants, the nonprofit, is gaining momentum and is pretty much what I spend my free time on, this blog will be separate from the great organization Carey and I (alongside other great individuals) have created.  This blog is my personal story and the Pushing Pink Elephants organization will soon have its own blog (not me) helping push awareness, and the mission of the organization.  I am not sure how long my blog will continue, but I feel I should follow it through my path with breast cancer, especially for other women who are following or are starting their own journey with BC.  I will try and keep updates going as I make it through this long journey.  And it has been a long one.  Sunday I signed the hood of the demolition derby breast cancer truck that will run at the Cecil County Fair later this week.  Under my signature I wrote the date 2/10/12, which was 17 months ago.  That seems like such a long time ago, and the journey continues…………