My appointment this morning with my plastic surgeon went well lots of with lots information. It turns out that I had a pretty nasty infection leading to last Sundays emergency surgery (I forget the name of the actual infection but she kept saying it was one of the bad ones and that it started at the drainage tube site. Her kind eyes confirmed she did everything she could, but there is no way she could have saved the tissue expander on that right side due to the severity of the infection. Sadly I had felt the pain in the drainage tube for a day or so, but thought it was normal and didn’t make the call. (if ever in this situation don’t make my mistake, MAKE THE CALL) Away, she was thankful I called when I did because I guess it would have gotten much worse and it could have moved further through my body.
Downside is that I’m still at kind of risk for this infection for a while. They cleaned it out good, but it was a bad one so she’s not taking any chances. More and new stronger antibiotics, and no new tissue expander or implant for 6 months, which of course makes me sad. She will plan to do a fatty tissue graft/implant to fill the hole as soon as we can, which will make it look a little better. However, if I have to have radiation then we will be waiting two months before that procedure. Again a bummer.
I see her in 9 days and will have far more information after my appointment with my surgical oncologist tomorrow on Onco type/genetic testing results/treatment course, but from what I’m gathering I will most likely be getting a fancy prosthetic bra for a few months before they can try to restore the damage of the infection caused and I’m guessing the original plan of having me looking more normal in a year has been lengthened as well. But I guess I’m just going to roll with it and trust in her positive attitude and promises to make me not only look but feel like a woman again. As a side note, my plastic surgeon Dr. Ewa Timek (I hope it’s ok that I mention that on here) came highly recommended and after the last three weeks I understand why. Her gentle approach, kind bedside manor and constant dedication to keeping me not only looking but also feeling “beautiful” as a woman, is nothing short of awe-inspiring. I feed off her confidence and fully trust in her abilities. Most of all I am thankful that she is part of my team. With all of that being said, I would greatly recommend her to anyone in my shoes.
On another note after my appointment, I took everyone’s advice and stopped at Sip organic juice bar. From what I’m hearing the woman who opened this juice bar did so because of her husbands cancer diagnosis but there are many benefits to juicing so to speak. I am being told some of these products will really aide in not only fighting this infection and cancer but also internal/external healing. They started me out with an Elixirs shot called Rocket man that helps fight infection among other things, (it’s full of ginger, lemon, honey, and cayenne) wow was that strong) and I then got the “green rich girl” juice which was recommended based on healing, the infection, and the whole cancer thing. I will say that the shot was strong but the juice growing on me and is kind of good. The ingredients include natural greens, apples, lemon, celery, Cucumber, ginger, cinnamon, honey and cayenne).
I also met a wonderful man name Larry while at Sip who is the CEO of Porter Hills retirement community in Forrest hills/GR and is currently dealing with Spectrum Health a lot on a few amazing projects for patient life care. He was amazingly kind, and we may even meet for coffee at some point to see if we can help each other out with a few projects. Looks like the stop to Sip, like so many other things was meant to be. For now I’m sipping the goodness so to speak.