Thursday, August 2, 2012

Back to screening...

I had two appointments this week.  One for my tests for ovarian cancer screening, and one with my plastic surgeon, 7 weeks post exchange.

The screening was pretty much like last time.  Except I had a student take my blood, and she did fine.  I'm pretty easy though.  Then on to the transvaginal ultrasound.  I could think of thousands of things i'd rather do with my morning.  Geez. I couldn't stop thinking about how I'm supposed to do this every 6 months, so even if I do get my ovaries out as soon as I turn 35, I still have to do this 8 more times!!    

The technician wouldn't show me pictures of them this time.  I know its not as exciting as seeing a baby in the tummy, but still.... I'd like to see them!  She just said she didn't see anything highly unusual, but she couldn't really tell me anything more than that.

I did find out that the radiologist doesn't just look at the present images, they actually compare the previous ones to look for suspicious changes.

I will have an appointment next week with the gynocologic oncologist to get a pelvic exam and review the tests.  I'm also going to ask her about what I've read  about the possibility of mastectomy affecting hormones.

So with my appointment with the plastic surgeon, we took more pictures, and he talked about the possibility of revision in the future. Like fat grafting. Though apparently what fat I have is not up to pr for grafting.  He pinched me around the belly and hips and said I don't really have much and what I have isn't the right kind... too stringy.  So there is no point in hanging on to this fat I have in hopes of transferring to my breasts.  He said I'd have to wait atleast 6 months to a year, to look at making any changes, unless something goes  wrong, and in fact , I don't need o see him again for 6 months!

I guess this is a good time for an update on how I am doing.. pretty good!  I will post more pictures soon.  there are areas I am not pleased with. But in general they're pretty good considering what they've beenn through.  I only have occasional twinges of pain, and the muscles do very odd things when I move certain ways.  One odd thing too is when Im in the shower and the water hits my right breast directly, the muscle like retracts and I get this weird dent, and it hurts!  I told the surgeon this, and he blamed my funky nerves.   He'd never heard anything like that but was sure it wasn't something to be concerned about.

So thats that.   Just back on the surveillance bus.  Feeling pretty good, hopefully I can just live a normal healthy life for awhile.