Getting ready for surgery

After the announcement of breast cancer, my family doctor referred me to the best surgeon in the state.  Dr. Jennifer Tittensor (yeah, I know.)  80% of her practice is helping women with breast cancer.  She really knows her stuff, plus she has a wonderful personality and bedside manner.  I can’t say enough good about this surgeon.  Everywhere I went in the next 2 weeks, people would ask me who my surgeon was.  When I told them Dr. Tittensor, they ALL raved about her skills and way of being, from other doctors to technicians and nurses.  This was wonderfully reassuring.  Some said she is the best breast cancer surgeon in the western states.  I loved the fact that she is a woman.

Our appointment with her went well.  Rick went with me.  She just laid out what was going to happen and was so reassuring and upfront with facts and percentages.  We set the surgery date for July 20.  Given the small size of the tumor, her recommendation was that I have a lumpectomy followed by radiation and chemotherapy.  They would test and see if the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes.  She would put a port-a-cath in my chest while she was doing surgery so that I would be all ready to go with chemo.  Phase one of this process got underway.

She ordered an MRI (not a lot of fun given the ringing I already have in my ears with the Meniere's disease...even with ear plugs, the MRI clicking noises are very loud and the position was very uncomfortable...luckily I'm NOT claustrophobic though), an echo cardiogram of my heart to get a baseline idea of how well it is functioning and some pre-surgery procedures to insert blue dye into my chest to see where the cancer may have spread.  These procedures weren’t all that fun, but necessary in preparation for surgery.