After a few weeks of getting Insurance approval and appointment referrals set up, I had a consultation appointment with the Oncology Surgeon. John insisted on going along, his right I guess.
The surgeon is a great guy, very friendly, personable and an awesome sense of humor.
I let him know up front that I'm not the blah, blah, blah type, just tell me like it is and I'll deal with it.
When the doc started talking about the different possible procedures, I told him "Let's just cut them off and we'll call it a day".
The rest of the conversation went something like this:
Doc: Okay, let's talk about reconstructive surgery.
Me: Reconstruction is not necessary. I've been wearing a bra for over 50 years and I'm so totally done with it.
Doc: Reconstruction is more for your self-esteem.
Me: I have no self esteem. Besides, I don't really see myself wanting to go to a place where I'm required to have boobs.
That pretty much told the doctor everything he needed to know and then he outlined the procedure and referred me to an Oncologist out of Grossmont Cancer Center in La Mesa. I have a consultation appointment with him on January 6.
The surgeon wanted to schedule the surgery for 2 days later. I told him that would be impossible, I'm dog sitting Little Eddie, Osa, Ringo and the Lovely Cassidy for Christmas. It isn't the Holidays around here without a house full of mutts!
I also had already made appointments with the Pulmonologist and Cardiologist.
After checking my schedule, we set up the Bi-lateral Mastectomy for January 21 at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. I have to check in at the hospital at 6am, it's going to be a long day.
Pre-surgery stuff was pretty intense.
I went back to Hillcrest for a Covid test, went for a blood screening, some sort of lymph node test and the worst part was the PET Scan. This is pretty much where they inject radiation in my veins and look for anything else suspicious besides the 2cm and 5cm cancerous tumors they already found and plan to remove.
So far the pre-surgery stuff is exhausting, painful and never ending. Each time I've had to drive to Hillcrest and La Mesa for the testing.
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