Soup and surgeons

Today an absolutely delicious vegetarian soup arrived with an interesting looking lentil, tomato and veg pasta sauce which I'm keen to try out.  Such a sweet lady arrived with it all neatly labelled and tucked in a neat thermos bag so the food was still warm, even though she'd taken the trouble to come on public transport.  Together with a still hot wholewheat, cereal baguette, lunch was very filling and delicious.  She also gave me a kind gift of organic real green tea leaves with jasmine, which I'll be pleased (I feel a review coming on) and a bonus of real strong cheddar cheese, which I miss a lot!  Waaay, thank you so much.

Meeting with the surgeon this afternoon.  I had a dilemna that Z advised me on.  I never feel I have the time to ask questions because I go in the treatment room, take off my kit and lie on the bed then the surgeon comes, instructs the nurse, gets a bit of work done on me himself and goes to the adjoining room so I feel a) vulnerable lying down and half naked and b) like I don't want to bother him with questions once he has a scalpel on my nipple, I'd rather he concentrated frankly.

So Z and I concocted a tactic which included hanging on to my t shirt and trying to stand up or at least sit up.  In the end it wasn't necessary.  I was the last of the patients to be treated (I waited about 10 mins, not long mind) and I had the dr all to myself in the treatment room.

He told me that the Commission had sat on Tuesday night and had approved his and the oncologist's reccommendations that I follow a course of radiation.  However, the surgeon had asked that it start in one month's time because of the problems with my healing and my nipples.  That's a bit of a bummer because the radiation will be 25 treatments and could last from 6 - 8 weeks and that will take me over the Christmas period so we won't be able to come home for Christmas and it just makes everything a lot longer.  Remember that I can only have my breast augmentation one year after the radiation stops, so this makes it all that much longer to wait for.

Still, it's radiation that I'm waiting for not chemo.  Gotta appreciate that.  Apparently it will be over the whole surface of the breast and the breast may become red and hard at first.  Can't bloody wait.

The previous surgeon that was initially going to operate had apparently been asking for news of me, which I was touched by.

The treatment today involved the nurse on one side looking after the left graft, tugging and pulling and cutting out the stitches around the nipple. Simultaneously the surgeon was doing his usual  dig into my right nipple taking out the dead skin.  He managed to hit living skin (he knows that because I have a tendancy to say 'owwww' quite loudly when that happens) and he worked on other skin that had no feeling and was dead.  I bled a lot and had to take pain killers afterwards.  The nipple now has exposed glands and looks yellow and bloody.  The good news is that I don't have to return for more torture for two weeks.  (Although the nurse will continue the good work but they are considerably more gentle).

I asked my questions before I had to get undressed so that was excellent.  In 15 days I can take this horrible surgical bra off and wear what I want on my breasts.  That will be another thing........bra buying.

The surgeon and the nurse were absolutely lovely today.  The nurse stayed longer and asked me how I was.  I said I was having difficulties coping with the situation, she thought I'd been hiding it well as I was always cheerful and talkative.  I said it wasn't worth crying the whole time was it?  We had a long talk about the effects of the surgery and the possible augmentation in a year's time.  It was a satisfying rdv.