Operation New Boob - Part 1

I went to my pre-admission surgical consult armed with a long list of questions and one of my dearest girlfriends for moral support. I had spent the week before my appointment reading voraciously about treatment options and made the decision with my husband to opt for a mastectomy instead of breast conserving surgery.

Having my girlfriend with me proved invaluable. Not only could we chat and laugh while we waited, she wrote everything down during the consult, asked questions that she knew I'd forgotten and gave me a reassuring squeeze every now and again which gave me courage. We both felt immediately comfortable with my surgeon who took his time to explain all my options and happily answered all our questions. I deal with difficult situations best when armed with information and I felt empowered with the facts Dr M had provided.

Ultimately I agreed to his recommendation of a full mastectomy with an immediate reconstruction using a silicone implant and a sentinal node biopsy/auxiliary clearance of the lymph nodes in my armpit. And dependent on pathology chemo/radiotherapy and hormone therapy to follow. I was also offered the option of removing the other healthy breast 6 months down the track. I know that some would consider this avenue of treatment far too frightening and extreme but to me it was a case of let's do this once and do it right. I wasn't afraid of losing my breasts or the horrid side affects of chemo. I was more afraid of taking the conservative route and having the cancer return as a result.

With a decision made I finally felt like I was taking back some control.

My surgery was booked for the 29th of January and I started preparing for Operation New Boob.

One of the first steps that I took in preparation for such a life changing event was to cut my hair short. My hairdresser's response when I told her why I wanted the chop was "Holy Fuck Emily, I can't believe you have cancer!". It was exactly what I needed to hear and made me laugh...hard! I decided to go for an Anne Hathaway look. For practical reasons I wanted something easy to look after because I wouldn't be able to use my right arm for several weeks and for emotional reasons I wanted to prepare myself for chemo by going shorter so that when I did end up losing my hair it wouldn't come as such a shock.

I went from the same old bob I'd sported for the last 4 years

 

To this...

It feels incredibly liberating, takes no time at all to style one handed and I feel fabulous! And you know what, if I didn't have cancer I would never have built up the courage to do something so drastic. I love it!

 

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