Tag: Breast reconstruction

Never ending medical appointments

So I had the appointment with the gynecologist today…always a thrill!  It is interesting telling my Prophylactic Mastectomy story to people who are not aware.  According to her,  records are often not sent until you are released from care.  Since I am still officially undergoing treatment my GYN had no update since the mammogram of March 2011 that started it all.  She was a very interested audience.  The person I see at the office is one of the nurse practitioners.  I have gone to her for years, much easier to get an appointment that trying to see one of the doctors.  She was the one who was there the day I had my miscarriage and she was the one I saw following the birth of both of my beautiful girls.

She added to the chorus of folks who say how brave I am.  She also added to the list of those who want me to have further tests. She agrees with the colonoscopy and not to be out done by other doctors,  feels I should also go for a pelvis ultrasound. I feel like I am some pawn in a wired medical game, I se you mastectomy and raise you one colonoscopy and a pelvic ultrasound.  So if everything were to go perfect, I have at least 5 more medical appointments minimum before we can close this chapter of my life, and when does life go perfect?

The connection between breast and ovarian cancer is known.  Can I say clearly how F-ing tired I am of tests and doctors?  Of course I will go but think I am going to hold off making an appointment until next week.  I hope to get a date nailed down for the last of the breast procedures before making more appointments. I sure hope it is the last!

More doctor’s appointments

So now that we are able to stream with Netflix, I have been watching the show Madmen.  I had heard good things about the show but had never seen it.  It is so funny to watch, set in the 60’s, everyone smokes, drinks and the women are all in pretty dresses all day long.  I feel like I have a cough by the end of an episode with all of the cigarette smoking!  The amount of alcohol consumed all day long, at work, after work, at diner, after diner and then into the car they go just blows the mind.

We have come a long way!  In New Jersey there is no smoking anywhere in doors.  I remember when I was a smoker feeling that my rights were being infringed upon as the world began to crack down on the nasty habit.  I have not had a cigarette in 8 years and could not imagine smoking.  I dread the cloud that you sometimes have to walk through at doorways of different stores or restaurants.

So, had my follow-up with the Plastic surgeon and indeed we are looking at another procedure.  I am frustrated about the entire situation.  I told him of the lingering ache especially after wearing a bra.  He says don’t wear a bra.  I said well sure if things were symmetrical that would be an option but one newpple points north while the other has a southward slant and is twice the size of the other.  Makes for an interesting braless image.  Now they have to go back to the insurance company to get approval and I wait.  This needs to be done before the end of the year!

On a better than expected note, my cholesterol numbers were not too bad.  They are elevated but not bad enough to be medicated.  Doctors says keep up the exercise, watch what I eat and we will redo blood work after the holidays. Guess that is not too bad.

Gynecologist tomorrow..now that’s something to look forward to!

Welcome to the modern age!

I started this blog when Frank bought me the MacBook that I have fallen in love with and use daily!  I had never been a fan of Apple, that is until I broke down and bought an iPhone.  Even after the phone purchase, I was very resistant to leave my comfort level with Windows  until the frustration level with viruses boiled over.  We had spyware and antivirus programs on every computer yet we killed several in a rather short period of time, the blue screen of death.

So with my love of my laptop and the last of our PC’s crashing last week, the trip to the apple store was inevitable.  The newest addition to the house is the iMac which I set up in the family room so I can keep and eye on what the girls are searching.  We had a Netflix account where we received the DVD as one was sent back.  Now we are streaming…I feel so high tech! My husband and I were like little kids playing with the TV watching you tube videos, the kids looked at us like we old.  It is amazing, I watch my 5-year-old and she can work any gadget you put in front of her.   I did not even touch a computer until a keyboarding class in high school.  In college we all sat in the computer lab fighting over the one crappy dot matrix printer and now we sit streaming personal videos on TV…cool and scary at the same time!

Anyway, busy week of doctors appointments this week.  The long awaited follow-up with the plastic surgeon is first followed by the dreaded yearly at the GYN.  I am still trying to connect with my doc about the blood work I had done last week.  Message was that my cholesterol was high, not unexpected.

Still trying to finish up any and all procedures needed before the end of the year.  The window is closing, Guess time flies when you’re having fun….