The "fun" part of treatment

I saw the plastic surgeon again on Monday. The purpose of this visit was to see how my skin was doing after the last expansion, and to report on how I feel about my current size, if I really want that to have been my last expansion.

The skin looks good. And I have felt good about the size. It feels normal, and I don't feel any need to go any bigger. (Although in the musical Michael and I are doing, I am "the sexy maid," so an extra cup size would suit my character! Dedicated as I am to the show, however, I'm not sure I'm dedicated enough to change my breast size for it.)

So all that's left is setting a date for what will, God willing, be my last surgery for a while. We've gone through all the pros and cons, and it looks like the week to do it is the week after Easter. I don't want to deal with it during Lent, because it isn't just the few days of recovery I'm dealing with, but the lingering anesthesia in my system and the weight/lifting and exercise restriction that follows for a few weeks after. Who wants to deal with that as Holy Week approaches? And, we want it done as soon as possible so we can get on with our lives and the possibility of creating more little lives (aka children.... okay, I know that was a weird way to say that). The week after Easter tends to be a down week anyway in the life of a pastor, so I won't be missing too much, which makes me happy because I'm seriously so sick of being gone. It's a week during which I likely would have been wanting to rest anyway, so this gives me a great reason to do so. And for continuity's sake, the week after Easter was when the second occurrence of breast cancer was diagnosed, which led to the mastectomy in the first place, so there's something delightfully full circle about having my last surgery that week, too. All in all, it seems like a really good option.

So... then why haven't I called to schedule it yet? I'm having all those same feelings of fear I was having before, namely, what if I don't like the new ones? Dr. Langstein has assured me that this is the "fun" part of my treatments, the part where he gets to be an artist and start to make these boobies look less "foobie" (fake boobie) and more realsies. (These are obviously my words, not his.) The new implants will feel softer and more natural. They will look more natural and less like water balloons sewn into my chest. He can make the scar look better. He will be able to fine tune and make them as even as possible, though he reminded me again that even God doesn't make two identical breasts, and so to get them exactly the same would look entirely unnatural. He used the word "robotic."

All good things, so pick up the phone already, Johanna!

Oh, one other piece of bad news. I asked the nurse if I could still get away without wearing a bra, and she said, "I never advocate not wearing a bra, even if you feel you don't need to. These are still fairly heavy, and gravity will run its course. So if you want to keep your youthful breasts, you need to wear a bra." Drat! Well at least I can get something new and pretty. My first Valentine's Day as a married woman is coming up, after all. ;)