Yesterday I was off to see my surgeon to schedule my surgery, and I'm due to go in on the 5th January, which means I should have a fairly healthy few weeks over Christmas and New Year.
I've decided to go for an implant based reconstruction, which means that I should only be in hospital overnight and be mostly recovered within a month. In the initial op a temporary saline implant will go in, and be replaced later with silicone. The reason for this is that radiotherapy can distort the skin and damage an implant, so a better cosmetic result is achieved by going back after all the treatment is complete, but means that most of the skin is preserved. During the gap, I can change my mind and go for a flesh based reconstruction.
When I spoke to the surgeon (who is based in Essex rather than Berkshire) he was very surprised that the plan was to give more chemo after surgery. He rang his oncologist colleague who gave the opinion that it wouldn't be necessary, especially if I'd had a good response to the previous treatment. I don't need to take a decision on further chemo for a while yet, and I suppose it will be informed by the result of the tumour analysis, but it's very confusing to have 2 such contradictory opinions. Hopefully once the 2 sets of doctors have spoken after these results they will come to a mutual opinion.
I drove myself over to Essex yesterday and have stayed today. Glad I decided to have a rest day before heading home as for some reason I'm especially tired today. I may have been over doing it again!
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