What a difference a surgeon makes...

2pm 5th December 2012

From the moment we met it felt right, no not my new husband, my new surgeon!!!

This is it.. he's the one, mum & I are nearly crying with happiness. He's youngish, confident, with a strong handshake. He's precise, matter of fact & to the point. He tells me not to worry, he does hundreds of these ops all day, every day, I will have a great result. Ohhhhhh the relief!!!!!!!

I don't need to have my back cut open or the muscle & skin removed. He tells me that's an old fashioned way of performing the procedure, he practised it a couple of times when he first started out, but since then things have & are progressing rapidly when it comes to breast surgery. He will do a skin sparing mastectomy, using a synthetic mesh which is called a 'Strattice Tissue Matrix' which supports the implant instead of muscle. Over time this mesh becomes part of your body & behaves in the same way as your own tissue.

He then shows me photos of before & after - these boobs look great & perfectly symmetrical! He tells me the op takes approx 2 hrs, I should be in for 3 nights & back driving in 10 days! I shouldn't have much pain if any, & very little scaring. "You're not ill so why would I make you feel ill".. I can keep my left nipple woo hoo! & he will use a bit of it to create the right one, then a couple of months later when I'm healed I can have the rest tattooed on. Whilst I'm under he will remove & test one of my lymph nodes to see if any of the cells have spread, I'm sure the other doctor wanted me in overnight the week before to perform that! I can't believe what I'm hearing, such a completely different result to what I'd been told before. All sounds so very simple & easy, I want to hug this man!!

After spending half an hour with him - laughing for most of it (some misunderstanding regarding calf skin, can't be bothered to explain but was funny at the time).. His nurse then took us into her office & discussed everything in detail. She explained exactly what DCIS is & at what stage it is at, we had a long in depth conversation with diagrams. She then wrote down in detail every part of the surgery, from the time I arrive at the hospital, to the time I will go down & pin pointed every part of the procedure. We talked about recovery & my follow up visits, looked at implants & the bra I will have to wear, she was just amazing.

Armed with informative paperwork to read, a date booked in, & blood test for genetic testing done & posted, we were ready to leave.

My whole mindset had changed after just an hour in this hospital, my trust & faith restored in modern medicine, & for once NO TEARS!!

Husband makes me laugh when he compares the surgeons to cars, previous doctors were equal to Daimlers - old fashioned, slow, comfortable, still get from A to B but take the longest slowest route. New Doctor is like a Ferrari - modern, fast, top of the game, always looking around the next corner, racing ahead with confidence!

WOW!!! What a difference a surgeon makes....

I felt so fine that husband & I went furniture shopping that same afternoon & then out for dinner...