Right after we met with Dr. Lisa, we immediately met with Dr. U, the Plastic Surgeon who would eventually do my reconstruction surgery.
I hardly remember anything about this appointment.
Thank goodness Chris was there.
Remember, as we met with Dr. U, we had already just spent about 2 hours meeting with Dr. Lisa. I think my brain was overloaded at this point.
Dr. U showed us breast implants. He had us hold them and feel them. It was so bizarre. I felt like I was watching myself from a distance. I was in a fog.
He showed us pictures of before and after of other women and their reconstruction results. I was completely and totally overwhelmed.
We talked about tissue expanders and how he would put them behind my chest muscles to hold them in place. He also talked about using cadaver tissue to also help hold them in place.
Cadaver tissue? Excuse me?
He measured my breasts. He then took multiple pictures of me. I guess they were my before pictures.
Despite my inability to form words at that moment, we liked Dr. U a lot. He explained that he and Dr. Lisa would do the surgery together. She would do the mastectomies and lymph node removal and he would place the tissue expanders to begin the reconstruction.
I made it clear to Dr. U that I didn't want to be any bigger than I was then. I was happy with what God gave me and I had no intention to go bigger. Plus, I am a runner and I don't want my chest getting in my way.
By the way, this news seems shocking to many people. Not to Dr. U, but when I shared this with some other people later, several people seemed surprised as if to say, why would you pass up the opportunity to go bigger?? Well, as I said, I am happy with what God gave me. And I am.
We left there feeling the kind of confidence that you want to feel when making such big decisions. We were really happy with our team. We had a date on the calendar. We were ready to get this behind us.
It wasn't quite so simple though. We knew it would not be wise to skip a 2nd opinion. That is what we worked on next.
I hardly remember anything about this appointment.
Thank goodness Chris was there.
Remember, as we met with Dr. U, we had already just spent about 2 hours meeting with Dr. Lisa. I think my brain was overloaded at this point.
Dr. U showed us breast implants. He had us hold them and feel them. It was so bizarre. I felt like I was watching myself from a distance. I was in a fog.
He showed us pictures of before and after of other women and their reconstruction results. I was completely and totally overwhelmed.
We talked about tissue expanders and how he would put them behind my chest muscles to hold them in place. He also talked about using cadaver tissue to also help hold them in place.
Cadaver tissue? Excuse me?
He measured my breasts. He then took multiple pictures of me. I guess they were my before pictures.
Despite my inability to form words at that moment, we liked Dr. U a lot. He explained that he and Dr. Lisa would do the surgery together. She would do the mastectomies and lymph node removal and he would place the tissue expanders to begin the reconstruction.
I made it clear to Dr. U that I didn't want to be any bigger than I was then. I was happy with what God gave me and I had no intention to go bigger. Plus, I am a runner and I don't want my chest getting in my way.
By the way, this news seems shocking to many people. Not to Dr. U, but when I shared this with some other people later, several people seemed surprised as if to say, why would you pass up the opportunity to go bigger?? Well, as I said, I am happy with what God gave me. And I am.
We left there feeling the kind of confidence that you want to feel when making such big decisions. We were really happy with our team. We had a date on the calendar. We were ready to get this behind us.
It wasn't quite so simple though. We knew it would not be wise to skip a 2nd opinion. That is what we worked on next.
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