[Mary Jo]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for asking about my consultation and yes, it did go well. Dr. John Hijjawi is very knowledgeable in DIEP reconstruction and actually trained in Belgium under the man who invented the procedure. Total he has done 145 DIEP procedures with only 1 failure and that was to a woman who had lymphoma and heavy doses of radiation as a child which caused some issues with her blood flow etc. I'm not exactly sure of the terms he used etc., but that was the only failure. We saw pictures of is work and talked in length about everything.

Bev, I have been following Lilli's "ask the expert" section at the Johns Hopkins site and read her opinions on who should do your DIEP. She says anyone who has done less than 120 should not be considered. We did talk about Johns Hopkins, NOLA and other places with Dr. Hijjawi and he strongly recommended a second opinion - however, being that Dr. Hijjawi is "right in my backyard" is very qualified, had extensive training and had only 1 failed DIEP I feel that I may decide to have the surgery with him. I don't want to travel to another state - live in a hotel for a few weeks etc. If that were the case, I wouldn't go ahead with the procedure.

So, at this point, it looks like I will follow through. I wouldn't have the surgery until June because I am off in the summer. I'm excited about it and hesitant all at the same time (normal I know) so we'll just pray about it - and see what June brings.

Again, thanks for asking. Love to you.

Mary Jo