Reconstruction

Before I got sick, "reconstruction" was something that happened to the South after the Civil War. 

Now it meant decisions, ones I started making as soon as the diagnosis was in. My decision was pretty easy. Yes, please

Ah, but it wasn't as simple as that. Apparently, insurance will, and has to, cover it, but only for the breast that was removed. Thus, you can end up with one perky girl and one...well, not so perky. I decided to go for perky and deal with matching up somewhere down the road

Which bring me to the "oh, great, NOW I find out" fact the I was unusually symmetrical. My plastic surgeon had to make a bunch of measurements, and now that I was losing Right, I learn that she ws the perfect twin of Left. That would have been good to know when I could actually enjoy the knowledge! Anyway, we arranged for reconstruction to start during the initial surgery, which made me feel like even losing a boob was the start of moving forward.

Then I found out you also have nipple decisions to make. Who knew? A friend told me they give you a chart and you pick what color you want. Then they tattoo it on. I was leaning toward blue, or maybe flamingo pink, and was looking forward to seeing that chart.

We never got that far. I was shivering at home a few days after surgery and naturally called my friend in Hawaii instead of anyone who could actually help me. Thankfully he was wise enough to say "call your doctor". By the time I got to the ER my temp was 105. The next day I was back in surgery, out came the tissue expander, and that was that for reconstruction.

But that wasn't the end of figuring out the symmetry thing. I wasn't ready for "mastectomy fashions" so I made do. I tried one of Katie's Egg Baby stuffed toys in my bra, which filled me out perfectly, but had a loud squeaker. Since I was trying to appear whole and healthy, especially when I worked, that wasn't good. Eventually a rolled up sock took over until I got tired of it shifting around.

Never having been one to focus on my cleavage, it was a very odd thing to have to think about it so much. Now I rarely think of it at all. And once again, I just think of reconstruction as something the South did after the Civil War