December 2011 Surgeries - want to wait together?

I recently found the boards here & joined today. I'm having my 2nd surgery on 12/1 to clear margins on 1 side & to remove more suspicious calcs found on my 11/28 mammo. I wasn't fearful about the 1st surgery on 10/28 nor this one either. I jsut want to get the hell outta the health system ASAP!

Hi CookieMonster,

Yup, another wire guided loc brightn'early, but only 1 wire this time. I found out that the same team that did my 1st wire loc is doing the 2nd, very thankful. I want to shoutout especially to Mona, the mammo tech at the Women's Center @ UCLA/SM hospital. And I get to do my best "Madonna" cone bra imitation as she wheels me across to the main hospital for my surgery.

That's a terrible thing that your work mates  aren't being supportive of you; dealing with this disease is no walk in the park.

Cookie,

Nova Foster 

Just found the "waiting room":

Add me: Dec 15 prophylactic uni mx (left) and bilateral DIEP cleaning up after the Dec 2010 DCIS mx (right)

Hmmm...not being supportive of a coworker that is about to undergo breast cancer treatment - would that qualify as "hostile work environment?"  I'm a federal employee and have a lot of different clients in my agency, so I had to tell atleast 6 key people of my diagnosis.  I feel very blessed at the amount of support I received.  My supervisor said to me...."I don't care if you just go sit at your computer and play games on it for the next 3 days" - he recently lost his father and younger brother to a rare form of melanoma, so he does have some experience with cancer.  I laughed and told him my job was sort of like that at times since I do spatial analysis (GIS) and a lot of times I'm just drawing data from aerial photopraphs...mindless, kind of like virtually driving as in digitizing new roads from a satelitte image.

On the Madonna joke...my PS said my breasts would look like Madonna when I first come out of surgery.  Madonna must be a ubiquitous symbol in the breast world!

Love and hugs to my December sisters that have had their surgeries or facing it soon.  All seems pretty calm outside a few incorrigible coworkers and some fingernail polish.   

CookieMonster and KeepingFaith you're singing my song about work stress being a big weight. First off, I've got this unspoken overtone of "you claimed you had a mastectomy, yet your chest looks the same as before" (um, prosthetics? wanna frisk me like the TSA?) More practically, what has stressed me is the Dean in particular acting like I am doing this for the purpose of getting out of teaching. I've ramped up my other duties and in fact never worked less than full time hours, not even the week of my mastectomy last year, nor the holiday break when I'm *entitled* to be off, nor have I taken ANY vacation in the year since, yet because I wasn't doing specific things, they charged 40% of my salary to my sick days, including over the holiday break when NOBODY was teaching, right up to the day my surgeon finally answered the phone and said "oh yeah, she could go back to work weeks ago". My retired colleagues told me in the past, other colleagues with BC were just sheltered by their peers in an unofficial redistribution of duties. Not so now. The Trains Run On Time. Everyone does the exact same work allocation. My DIEP OR date was supposed to be right in the middle of the Fall term and there wouldn't have been anyone available at the last minute to cover the end, set the exam and mark assignments on material they've never studied let alone taught. If you'd known since summer and didn't plan for that you'd get appeals up the wazoo, I'd expect, so I raised the suggestion that for quality and continuity for the students, perhaps it would be best to have someone else teach their own version all term and I'd do alternate work despite the standardized workload. But no good deed goes unpunished, and both of my surgeons postponed my OR date, twice, after the contracts for the substitutes were signed. As a result, the powers that be are acutely aware that I could have taught the whole term and didn't and they're exasperated that they can't charge my time to sick leave, but I am NOT sick. I've worked 80-hour weeks but that is not valued because it wasn't teaching. With the OR in mid December, I told the Director I'd plan the courses ahead, let the students read the first bit independently and I'd start 7 weeks into the term. He then pressed the Dean for an interim instructor, and it was great having him, at least, in my corner. I don't want to be the "problem" colleague, but I have enough to worry about without this drama. Work to rule goes both ways, so they can stick it and I'm just taking the straight sick time, 8 weeks. End of MY rant. I hope that getting it out will relieve the festering resentment it's been giving me and I can concentrate on facing the looming OR date.

Hope everyone's turn in the OR has gone well so far.

Sending healing thoughts to our surgery sisters for today-fitzdc,53greenrose, and LT2010. We hope to hear good things from you soon!

Thank you blessings2011. Trying so hard to ignore the insensitive ones that will never be happy no matter how far above and beyond I go. I'm determined to take more "me" time.

Goldlining:  Yay for "Me" time.  I have chosen to take a leaf out of your ook anmd will take time off work when I do chemo this time around.  Last year, I worked most days from home and returned to fulltime work as soon as I could. 

Blessings: Thank you for your advice, i really appreciate it.

Mybodymydecision:  Wishing you the best for the Mastectomy.  I chose a Bilateral mastectomy and have no regrets at all.

It's intresting to me how some of our docs are ok with giving us BMX and some are not. I wasn't prepared at all to be told I shouldn't get a BMX right away. Plus I'm not even real sure what my reconstruction is going to be. From what I gather it will be a tissue expander. I meet with the PS tomorrow. I just don't get how they come up with there reasonings and how different docs do things.

Looks like there is a lot of us ladies getting rid of these cancer boobs this month. I wish each of you lots of blessings! I am getting a little spooked but knowing there are so many helps with the fear.

Kite

Why did he tell you you didn't have cancer? What the world? I don't blame you I am struggling to be understanding of his suggestion. I sure hope the PS doesn't give me any crap. My BS said if he did I am young enough I could presude him to do it my way and give me the immideate constrution. Whatever that is supposed to mean....why would my age make a difference?? Maybe cause I can heal better. I am so overloaded with options and info my brain may explode before I ever get in the OR