So, what are you getting for Valentine's Day?

Some women get flowers.

I've certainly been given flowers for Valentine's Day.


Some women get candy.

Yup. I've been given candy, although at my current post-recovery weight, I think I prefer flowers.


Some women get jewelry.

I wear a diamond encrusted heart around my neck that was once a Valentine's Day gift.


And, of course, we can't forget cards.

Cards are very important in this household. :)


This year, however, will see something new and different for Valentine's Day in our home. This year, I'll be getting my new body. On Feb 13, I'll be going back into the hospital for what's called an exchange surgery. These rather large bricks (aka tissue expanders) that I've been carrying around on my chest for the last few months will be replaced by lovely, pliable, softer and SMALLER silicone implants. Hurray!

The Details.

It's a same day surgery this time. I'm scheduled for the afternoon, so I should be home later that evening. As the second place record holder in my plastic surgeon's practice for requiring drains, I have been told that I will, without question, come home with drains again. That stinks. But seromas (a post op complication) are worse. Normally, the drains would be in for 3-5 days. With me, there are no predictions. LOL. Personally, I'm aiming for no more than a week and fervently hoping for that 3-5 day bit!

Drains are supposed to mean no driving (yeah, yeah.. I started driving with one drain left last time despite that because I was already a month out!!!!). I will attempt to abide by that rule this time as long as we don't hit the one month range again. This means I'll be lining up drivers for Rachel for the days after surgery. Fortunately, we are near President's Day weekend as well, so there are fewer school days and even fewer dance class days.

I'll also be getting liposuction during this surgery. Who would have ever thought? LOL. It's not as exciting as it sounds. I have a lot of tissue on both sides of my chest that needs to be removed. This will add to the discomfort of the procedure. If I were just having the exchange, I suspect I would not feel much afterwards at all. My incisions are perfectly numb. My sides are rather numb too, but not as much. I may feel bruised and beat up. Or maybe not.

I'll be out of work about again 4-5 weeks. I was told no delivering babies for a month, so definitely 4 weeks. No more lifting either during that time. Not like I've been doing much lifting anyway, but I am back up to 5 lb weights on each side when I work out and I've still been working on strengthening my arms with the Therabands (stretchy bands of plastic). This, and the no driving part are what I am dreading. If there's anything I learned in September, it's that I cannot handle losing my independence for a prolonged period of time. Just not a WonderWoman thing to do, you know!

As far as my body, the surgeon is not sure what cup size I'll end up being. It is hard to tell these things because everyone's body is different. I know women who have 400cc implants and are B or even C cups. I had 400 cc in my expanders when I woke up from the mastectomies and I was not even an A cup! It might have been, but with the size of the expanders, those 400 cc were pretty spread out and looked like nothing. I was told yesterday that I actually have 850 cc in each expander now (not quite a liter). Pretty impressive. Even more so when I know that this is smaller than I was before surgery. LOL. I did try old bras on recently and I don't fill a DD and a D is a little big too. So, I'm guessing that I'll end up a C with the 650 cc silicone implants (Mentor, round, high profile... for my cancer gal friends). This is important for several reasons. The obvious is that it is my new body. :) My clothes already do not fit the way they once did. I need to send probably 80% of my closet to Goodwill at this point. The next reason is a very strange one. At least, it's VERY strange for me. As a D to DD girl, depending on the bra, I've ALWAYS worn a bra. Probably should have slept with one on and I did do that during pregnancy and a good part of nursing afterwards. Since the powerhouse surgery event in September, I stopped wearing a bra as soon as I was able to dump the surgical bra. Yes. You read that right. No bras at all. Probably not shocking for some people, but in my family, for me, it's the most bizarre thing on the planet. Even more bizarre than being diagnosed with breast cancer. I've been told that I will need to start wearing a bra on a very regular basis while the implants settle into their proper place. Oh well. All I can say is that I had better be able to find some cute and pretty ones. The kind that don't come in a DD. And colors. I want color. Not white and blush (aka nude). Pink, blue, lime green. COLOR!!



So, that's the big update. I have 2 weeks to get ready. Not much time at all. I need to get myself back into the getting ready for surgery mode. Need to get the house back into some semblance of order (that's a recuring theme around here). Need to make sure Rachel is taken care of. Need to get some dinners lined up (ok, so Howie will take care of that). Need to finish organizing Rachel's bday party. Need to figure out what else I have to get done! LOL