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Consult with the surgeon done, and it went really well. I was worried that I'd have to push for the right boob, but he was incredibly responsive and didn't even make me pull out my list of reasons, saying that it was entirely up to me and that even though most women prefer breast conservation I didn't have to if I didn't want to because I am me and not most women. Paraphrased, but yeah, essentially he assumed I was an adult that had done my research and was perfectly capable of making this decision, and affirmed that it was not an irrational one. Major relief.
So, March 31st is B-day. Bi-lateral mastectomy (modified radical with lymph node dissection on the left, the simpler 'total' mastectomy for prophylactic purposes on the right), no reconstruction (my choice. I may someday decide I simply can't live without boobies, but as of right now I have no plans or desire to replace them). They might be doing the port for my chemo at the same time, it's unclear because the oncologist didn't communicate with him about that (*headdesk*). Not overly worried about that, because the port is a relatively simple thing that doesn't require general anasthesia or anything and can be done in an afternoon.
I still remain a medical mystery in terms of how in the hell I managed to get breast cancer metastasis to the lymph nodes without any detectable tumor by modern imaging. I feel like starting a betting pool on whether or not they will actually find the damn thing in pathology or if I will just remain a special snowflake. A special boobless snowflake.
I'm feeling very optimistic right now. The combination of my favorable test results and a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy pus the chemo and radiation gives me VERY good odds. Perhaps a bit of overkill, but as far as I'm concerned I'd rather hit that motherfucker with everything in the arsenal from the get go than leave the smallest chance of having to do this again. Every single percentage point we shave off my chances of recurrence is a better night's sleep.
So, March 31st is B-day. Bi-lateral mastectomy (modified radical with lymph node dissection on the left, the simpler 'total' mastectomy for prophylactic purposes on the right), no reconstruction (my choice. I may someday decide I simply can't live without boobies, but as of right now I have no plans or desire to replace them). They might be doing the port for my chemo at the same time, it's unclear because the oncologist didn't communicate with him about that (*headdesk*). Not overly worried about that, because the port is a relatively simple thing that doesn't require general anasthesia or anything and can be done in an afternoon.
I still remain a medical mystery in terms of how in the hell I managed to get breast cancer metastasis to the lymph nodes without any detectable tumor by modern imaging. I feel like starting a betting pool on whether or not they will actually find the damn thing in pathology or if I will just remain a special snowflake. A special boobless snowflake.
I'm feeling very optimistic right now. The combination of my favorable test results and a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy pus the chemo and radiation gives me VERY good odds. Perhaps a bit of overkill, but as far as I'm concerned I'd rather hit that motherfucker with everything in the arsenal from the get go than leave the smallest chance of having to do this again. Every single percentage point we shave off my chances of recurrence is a better night's sleep.