February was a flurry of workouts, gymnastics meets, work, and enjoying life. I had my pre-op appointment on March 8th, so I was looking forward to that. I asked Jeff to attend with me uncase I forgot something and, let’s be honest, I wanted the support.
Now, let me explain what I thought was going to happen.
Here is a little information from Wikipedia:
“A DIEP flap is a type of breast reconstruction in which blood vessels called deep inferior epigastric perforators
(DIEP), as well as the skin and fat connected to them, are removed from the lower abdomen and transferred to the chest to reconstruct a breast
after mastectomy without the sacrifice of any of the abdominal muscles.”
So, why was
I pushing for this type of surgery? Well,
I had been doing a lot of research on breast implant illness. I was hoping there was enough of me to be
able to nix my current implants and be able to use the all natural chubby belly
I’ve been toting around. Luckily, I have
had friends with DIEP (pronounced deep) Flap and have been very happy with
results. Plus, I knew if I was all
natural, I would not have to ever deal with implant exchanging. Implants have a “life span” of about 10
years. Therefore, every 10 years, I’d
need to flip out the old ones for some new ones. My implants always got cold, especially on cold
weather runs. I would constantly ask
Jeff, “Does this feel cold to you? Or just me?”
Yep, implants get cold, like cold enough I even researched the freezing
point of silicone implants. [Silicone
freezes at like -67 Fahrenheit, so, maybe my concerns were a little over the
top]. But, those guys do in fact get
cold, and it’s noticeable. Nothing like
going, “Wow, my Foobs are freezing!” As if I was gonna ask someone to warm them
for me?! And I digress…. Back to Kim’s Big Plan…
My plan was
easy: remove the implants, remove the nipples! Dr. Chin stated she could fix my
chest, so, chest muscle back to normal…Move my belly up to my chest, and
apparently a “small” implant needed that will never get cold again (since it
will be properly nestled in my belly-fat foob).
Piece of cake in the head of Kim….
Then there
was the reality.
Waiting in
the office for Dr. Chin, I was given two release forms to sign. One release was regarding the DIEP, completely
expected. Then the second, regarding a
tissue expander….. Whaaa?! We didn’t discuss that initially. But, as Dr. Chin so bluntly explained, I don’t
have much “real estate” for my belly.
I.E. I’m short. Mental face palm, I kind of never considered that. So, if she uses what she has, we might need
to make more space for a proper implant later, hence the tissue expander. Nuts. I had been able to skip these devil
devices. But, now it’s a
possibility.
Let’s explain
a tissue expander:
They sew
those little tabs into the chest wall, then little by little fill the expander
(think empty balloon) with silicone until the proper size is achieved. Then the expander is exchanged for an implant
of similar size. The fill then every two
weeks with the silicone, and I hear it’s tolerable, but just not all that comfortable.
Jeff and I left
the office with a good idea of what to expect.
I was very nervous, and she explained, that this is VOLUNTARY. She was right, but as Jeff said, “You’re not
getting any younger.” They both has
points. I was tired of the pain, and I
just want to feel normal-ish. Remember I
AM worth it, so here we go. The tentative plan (my laymen’s understanding):
- 1. Remove the current implants
- 2. Put my chest muscle back to where it belongs
- 3. Remove the nipples
- 4. Somehow “harvest” the Ab Flab for foobs.
- 5. Save some Ab skin to cover the “holes” left by my excised nipples – think pepperoni size, not salami.
- 6. The incision used would be the “lollipop.” Straight up and around the nipple.
- 7. Add tissue expander?
We had 8
days until surgery. In those 8 days,
lots of things happened. Oncologist
appoint (my 6 month check up), a CT scan, MRI, GYN appointment, pre-op blood
work and covid test, and a pre-op appointment with my Primary care. I was seen
by more people in 8 days, than I had seen in a year. I had so much blood drawn and IV contract, my
poor left arm was battered and bruised.
By Monday,
March 14th I was all checked out and approved for surgery. One more sleep and it was off to be a new me!
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