Too Skinny

I met with my surgeon today, and it turns out that I'm too skinny... which is ironic since I was actually planning on losing more weight.

Okay, I'm not too skinny when it comes to average height/weight/fat ratio recommendations. However, I am too skinny if I actually want to naturally replace my two existing breasts with two C-cup breasts. For those of you who may be keeping track, that's actually a reduction from my current size. Yes, I've decided that when I have my breasts replaced, I want them to be slightly smaller and perkier.

Unfortunately, I only have enough fat left on my tummy to create two small B-cups. Which is totally not acceptable! Actually, there's another problem that being too skinny creates... which is far more critical than cup size.

The other problem is that when I have my mastectomy, they will remove a great deal of skin along with the breast tissue. My current tummy size puts the ability to replace the lost breast skin with enough skin (even a small B-cup) at risk. My understanding from my plastic surgeon (with whom I met today) is that the amount of skin they'll remove from the left breast will be greater than that removed from the right breast because the cancer is currently only in the left breast. However, there will still be skin removed from the right breast. Unfortunately, the amount of skin on my tummy might not be enough to cover both breasts.

My plastic surgeon suggested an alternative for me that not only gets me two C-cups, but also ensures that I have enough skin to replace what will be lost on my left breast. He is suggesting that we only do natural reconstruction to the left breast. This is somewhat necessary anyway, because after mastectomy, I will need to replace the skin on my left breast with the skin over my abdomen. They'll use the fat from that area as well, to create a full C-cup left breast. In the right breast, he is suggesting an implant. Not silicone... some other material that I have already forgotten. (I forgot to take the video camera today.)

Another aspect of this is whether I will have the reconstruction done at the same time as the mastectomy. Part of this depends on whether I have radiation after mastectomy, and how soon my doctor will want to begin radiation. My plastic surgeon is not really concerned that the reconstructive surgery itself will interfere with the radiation, but he is concerned that my recovery could delay starting the radiation.

Join me here next week as I answer these questions and more:

• Will I be receiving post-surgery radiation?
• How soon will we need to begin?
• How much radiation can I expect and for how long?
• Will I really be able to get reconstruction done at the same time as the mastectomy?
• What exactly will they remove from my left breast vs. my right breast in the mastectomy?
• How do they know they got it all?
• Will they remove any lymph nodes?