I thought I was going to the hospital yesterday to have a CT scan of my lymph nodes cos that’s what my husband said was happening. It turned out it was not that at all it was a routine pre-op meeting to introduce me to a locum surgeon who I think may be doing the mastectomy part of my mastectomy and immediate diep reconstruction happening in tandem. I now know this is going to be at St Thomas’ Hospital as they need to use a microscope to join up the veins and arteries from the tum flap that’s taken out to reposition as a breast.
I found out he’s from Greece and had been at the MDT (multidisciplinary meeting) which discussed my case so he knows what’s going on.
I was then passed on to a nurse who did some tests for MRSA with a long cotton wool stick which had to poke in my throat, my nose and in my groin. That was the more embarrassing one but you do what you’re told. I had blood taken and was weighed and my height checked for the second time. Luckily I haven’t shrunk in height in the last month but my weight is going down hurrah…
It was really awkward getting to the hospital as there was a rail strike yesterday so we drove up in our electric car which has a range of 77 miles. We started at 5 am and got lost parking so we were very stressed out. We also had only 12 miles left. I had researched fast chargers near the hospital so that was good. There is a place that is the electrical equivalent of a petrol station with 7 chargers and 14 connectors. We only needed one and we managed to get one. Bye bye central London hello East Sussex in 2 hours and with 12 miles left at the end. Fast chargers are the way to go! We left the dog behind and she was very good.
The heat and anxiety nearly killed me as I felt very stressed out about the car stopping on the M25 on the way back and we didn’t eat after 9 am so that meant by 7 pm when we had a pub meal I got very dizzy and thought I would fall over. This was enough to convince me I needed a long drink of elderflower and apple with mint cocktail, a light fish meal and an ice cream. That came with blueberry panacotta. I am jolly lucky I have a decent pension and that I am getting excellent treatment under the NHS. I hope my op will help the surgeons get more practice in this relatively new kind of surgery. And I hope it will not be too painful for long.
Reading parts of ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer’ yesterday afternoon gave me some useful information. It takes about six months to fully recover from a reconstruction of this kind, it’s a good idea to do regular daily walks to build up fitness, as I do now anyway, and I need to let the GP surgery know I will probably need some support from a district nurse during the recovery period.
I will phone my surgery on Monday to talk to a GP there about what support I may need. If my blood tests etc turn out ok my operation will be on 8 Sept 2022. I would like to get it over with as soon as possible as I don’t like those two tumours being there. I feel slight pain without a bra and more if discomfort if I do wear a bra. I wonder if the cancer is spreading and every ache and pain makes my imagination go off in the wrong direction. My moods veer from jolly to the depths of despair in minutes. At the moment I feel ok so that’s something. All the best
Seagulls