Today began with my first visit to the plastic surgeon, Dr. C. I don't really know what I was expecting, but for some reason I was surprised by the amount of "fake" in that office. Everyone in the waiting room seemed to be in the process of a facelift or botox or something, and I felt very awkward and out of place. I kept wanting to go tell people that I was there for a breast reconstruction, so they wouldn't think I'm superficial or something. Not that they would care, I imagine. But that's just my own insecurity with it I guess.
I was so nervous sitting in the waiting room. My hands were shaking when I filled out my forms. I don't know why I was so terrified, but it was very stressful. Plus they made me wait 45 minutes before I was called back, so that didn't help matters.
First I met with the physician's assistant, who was very nice. She showed me a video about breast reconstruction and brought me a book of pictures and some things to play with, like a fluid drain (it gets inserted into each breast during surgery and then removed about a week later), a tissue expander, a saline implant and a silicone implant. She asked me a lot of questions about my history and what I liked and didn't like, and what my expectations were. She also told me that I looked pretty thin (LOVE that girl!) and that I might not be a good candidate for the flap procedure. Then she told me to get changed into yet another jersey knit gown (I am so glad someone finally decided to make these things comfortable!) and that Dr. C would be in shortly.
Dr. C was really nice. He made me feel very comfortable, he's very soft spoken and calm and friendly. I really liked him a lot. He agreed that if I do the flap surgery I will probably only get to be a B, whereas right now I'm a DD. I would like to be just a tiny bit bigger than he thinks he can make me with flap surgery, so we decided that implants would be the way to go. I'm very excited about this, and I like the plan. I looked at a lot of pictures and I think I'll be pretty pleased with the results. The first surgery will be about 5 hours long and I'll have one overnight in the hospital. During that surgery Dr. F will remove my breast tissue and Dr. C will put in the expanders. Then I'll have tissue expanders in for 3 months with weekly or biweekly injections, and then silicone implants will be put in during the exchange surgery (my second procedure, which is outpatient). Nipple sparing is not an option, but they can do nipple reconstruction if I want. Honestly, I think I'm going to pass on that. I think I'll get sunflower tattoos there instead :)
After Dr. C left, his nurse took me to a photo studio so they could take my "before" pictures. It was kind of weird to take topless photos in a photo studio in a doctor's office! She also told me that when I'm ready to go forward, all I have to do is contact Dr. F and they'll coordinate everything for me. It seems like a very easy and streamlined process, which I'm excited about. Less loose ends for me to worry about.
So that's my experience with the plastic surgeon. This afternoon I have my annual mammogram, which is always so much fun!
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