[dlaxague]

Hi, just a quick thought for Louise and G. Ann. If you cannot get past the "scared to death" or even the "wishy washy", there's middle ground. Although it stretches the whole thing out even longer, which I'm sure does not appeal to you, plus Louise is not thinking about mastectomy regardless. But I'll throw it out there anyway, for consideration.

You could have just a simple mastectomy and see if the symmetry is mostly what you are after. Live with flat for awhile and then you'll know for sure what it is that you want. Do comfort, symmetry, and decreased risk of a second cancer get you close enough to content that you don't care so much about breasts (and the surgery involved to achieve that)? I'm not saying that you won't wish that you had breasts. I doubt there's anyone who doesn't long for their breasts back. But it's all a trade-off. This for that. My "this" may be trivial to you but vital to me. And vice versa.

Or is it not working at all to be flat (either with or without prosthesis)? After six months to a year, that answer would be clear to you, and you could proceed with surgery then. Done that way, you'll also be more likely to achieve symmetry with two new breasts done at the same time (that for Louise).

I agree that anesthesiologists are important but I'm not sure how one would assess that quality in an interview. Some are in that field because people-skills are not their forte' but they can still be excellent at what they do (keeping us comfortable and alive during surgery). And for something like DIEP, the surgeon's experience and skill is really really a critical component. My guess would be that a surgeon able to do DIEP has achieved that elite status that allows him to pick his anesthesiologist. That might be a good question to ask your surgeon - "do you choose the anesthesiologist?".

I'd better stop here or this won't qualify as "quick" even by my standards. Know that whatever choice you make will be the right choice, for you.

Love,
Debbie Laxague