All Not-So-Quiet on the Western Front

So the big announcement is that after 15 months of pain, pus, and paranoia, I've decided to get a mastectomy. The insurance approved it today and my surgery is set for Dec 18th (Merry #%^ing Christmas). Here are some answers to faqs that I've received:

Q: Are you doing immediate reconstruction?
A: No, my surgeon has recommended that I wait at least six months, preferably a year to make sure that the disease doesn't come back.

Q: What are the chances that it comes back?
A: Pretty low, about 0.3%. There's always a chance because the surgeon can't remove all the breast tissue. However, the current thought is that since my body is attacking my breast, getting rid of it will calm my immune system back down.

Q: Are you getting implants later?
A: No, I'm getting a reconstruction known as a DIEP flap. Basically, a plastic surgeon takes skin and fat from the lower abdomen along with the blood vessels that feed it, cut it off from the deep interior epigastric artery (the DIE part of DIEP) and form it into breasts and reattach them to the internal thoracic artery. The abdomen is then sewn up like a tummy tuck (yay flat stomach!) There is usually a second surgery to make sure the breasts are even, desired size, and to smooth out any bumps the scars might have caused, ie lipo. The last step is to do a small incision to reconstruct the nipples and tattoo the areolas back on. I'm going to forgo the nipple reconstruction and get a 3D nipple tattoo. Yeah, never thought I'd get a tattoo and also, don't get me started on idiotic "not even once club."

Q: Tummy tuck and new boobs, how exciting!
A: No, really a question, but yeah. I wish the process didn't have to be so horrifying to get there. Also, scarring is pretty terrible (good think I'm not into bikinis.) The reason I choose a DIEP flap, despite a chance of failure and the additional traumatizing surgery, is that if the surgery is a success, I'm done. Implants have short lifespans (usually max of 15 years), high failure rate (maybe as high as 30%), are uncomfortable, and feel extremely fake.

Q: Have you tried .....(blah, blah, blah, blah, blah)?
A: If it's out there, I've pretty much tried it at this point. Steroids, autoimmune drugs, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory diets, no meat diets, high protein diets, no soy, doing nothing, etc. Nothing seems to make a dent and some of them were pretty painful.

Q: Are you freaked out?
A: Extremely. I am looking forward to not having hard lumps in my breast, extreme pain, boob pus, achy joints, and the constant fatigue. Fortunately, our insurance will pay for 6 free therapy sessions for any stress related event a year, which I took advantage of. However my life is one huge stress related event and I'm now seeing the therapist weekly long term. But I feel better about the surgery. Sort of. Ask me later.

So in the mean time, I have a wedding to look forward to (yay!) but it's in Utah (BOO!). Pray for my soul. Or at least that I don't wind up on the six o'clock news.