My 12-year-old surgeon!

OMG, Dr. Wu looks like she'd be Allison's best friend, no joke. At first I was a bit freaked by a surgeon who looks like a teenager, but she spoke plainly and included lots of statistics, which I love. She said things like, "With this option, there is a risk of hernia. In my hands, that risk is less than 1%."

I'll skip my vent about the closed South Street Bridge and the fact that I now get lost any time I get within the vicinity of Penn's campus. Some guy tried to cut me off and then honked at me, and I shook my head because I was NOT letting him in after he honked, but karma got the best of me when I ended up making an illegal u-turn at the veterinary hospital's emergency room(!) about 6 blocks from "my" parking lot. And even more now that I returned home to find Rudy limping (he has an appointment tonight for what I think is an infected paw pad).

Anyway, Dr. Wu said I have just enough belly fat (she graciously thanked my three kids for it) to fill my breasts. So I don't need implants, I get a free tummy tuck instead. Not bad :) She told me I cannot lose any weight. I think I can handle that. The risks with this are much lower than with implants, too. Also, the surgery will definitely be done at the same time as the mastectomy. That part is good, but I don't know what will occupy my family during the 8-10 hours I spend in the OR. Maybe I should post everyone's cell numbers on here!

I have a tentative/probable surgery date of Wednesday, January 21. That would've been my grandmom's 94th birthday, so that would be a good sign, right? I guess I'll stop working on the 19th, and spend the 20th cleaning and getting ready. I'll be in the hospital for 4 days, and then it will be a full six-week, do-nothing recovery. Dr. Wu called it "hard work." I'll start chemo two weeks after the surgery, but I don't have a schedule for that yet.

All in all, it sure could've been a worse appointment. Of course, I got lost LEAVING Penn, too. *&%# bridge.