Breast Cancer- Your initial Diagnosis…
- Make sure you have a support group to help you cope.
- Always maintain a positive attitude. Having a positive attitude is important in your recovery. Your are strong, beautiful and a fighter.
- Always have someone attend Dr.’s appointments with. It is a good idea to assign this family member as the physician point of contact to communicate with other family members.
- Schedule a consult with the General Surgeon to discuss your options. You will need to make a decision on whether or not you want to do unilateral or bilateral.
- Schedule an appointment with your oncologist and get a plan of treatment.
- Once your plan of treatment has been determined, you will then need to call and schedule a consult with the plastic surgeon. The plastic surgeon with give you your reconstruction options and coordinate surgery with the general surgeon.
- A pre-op will be scheduled to go over your consents, medications and post op care. Make sure you fill your prescriptions prior to your surgery.
After you breast reconstruction:
- Make sure you have your support group is in place.
- Plan on being in the hospital for 2-3 days.
- You will be discharged with multiple drains. You will have the drains between 2 and 4 weeks.
- You will need to have someone at home for at least a week assisting you.
- You will be coming in on a weekly basis for expansions. The expansion is done to stretch your skin and make room for the permanent implant.
- Once you are happy with the size. We will schedule your removal of tissue expander and replacement with a permanent implant.
- Patience is very important throughout this process. It can take up to a year for completion of your breast reconstruction.
