So I met with the surgeon last week. Thankfully, I was given the head breast surgeon in the Red Deer area. He was young, funny, and intent on doing a great job. He told me to lie back on the gurney with my hands behind my head and pretend I was on a beach “A really weird beach,” and proceeded to do his examination.
We talked about the stages that had brought me to his office: mammogram abnormalities, follow-up mammogram abnormalities, biopsy suspect of DCIS, and finally surgery consultation. He answered my questions concisely and took lots of time to make sure I understood his answers.
How do you get to the back of a breast from the top? In my case, from making an incision across the upper edge and then going down.
If the clip they inserted during the biopsy has moved 1.5 centimeter how do they find the original sight of the lesion? He appeared genuinely surprised by this question. The paperwork on his lap said the clip was in the position it was originally placed in. I’d brought my copy of the results saying the clip had moved and he promised to look into it.
Will I experience pain down my arm like I did after the biopsy? Will it go away? Apparently pain down your arm after a biopsy is unusual; however, the nerves fan out from your shoulder and across your chest. He did not expect that I would have any more pain with the lumpectomy than I had with the biopsy. If I did, it should go away as it did for the biopsy.
How long will the incision be and how much will he take out? The incision should be about two inches long and he will take out matter a bit larger than a marble. The space will fill with fluid and scar tissue.
Does he have a steady hand? Is he good at sewing? I couldn’t bring myself to ask. His being young worked in my favour. The stitches are sewn from the inside so he must be halfway decent and they are dissolvable so you don’t have to have them removed. A friend who just went through the same surgery and had several lumps removed remarked the stitches were much like wearing a bristle brush in your bra.
Will I still be able to wear my string bikini? This has become a non-issue as I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find it.
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (I Pet. 5:10 ESV)