Health Issue Update

I met with Dr. Michael Stumpf yesterday, for the first time.  He is a general surgeon, specializing in breasts.  He has been out of med school six years.  Practiced the first three in Prescott - working with a surgeon who fell off a roof (lucky for Dr. Stumpf and unlucky for the surgeon on the roof) - which dropped him pretty quickly into a full practice.  He practiced for a short time in Florida, and now here.  I don't think he's been here long.  First clue was that he could get me in quickly.  His nurse likes him - that's a good sign.  And he's performed a couple of hundred similar surgeries - so that's good.  He has met Dr. Angelchik, but this will be the first time that they work together - that is neither good nor bad.  But what do I know.

Unless Dr. Angelchik - whom I see on Monday - says otherwise, I've opted NOT for a lumpectomy but for a mastectomy.  There are a couple of reasons for that, and I think they are valid.  For one thing, the biopsy site in 2011 was in the lower part of the breast.  That's what the radiologists have been following.  However, the January 3rd biopsy - which is positive - is in the upper part.  So if the lumpectomy takes care of the diseased tissue in the upper part, we'll still have to watch the lower - and trust me on this, the radiologists won't think they've done their jobs until they find more diseased tissue. 

Another reason has to do with treatment protocol.  A lumpectomy is followed by six or eight weeks of radiation, daily.  And the radiation complicates subsequent reconstruction.  So I'd like to avoid that.

What I would rather happen (well, what I would really rather happen is that I didn't have cancer) is that both surgeons cooperate during the same surgery, with Dr. Stumpf removing all the breast tissue and Dr. Angelchik beginning the reconstruction process.  I assume that means that the existing implant will come out and be replaced with a different type of implant - but I'm just guessing.  Some questions can probably be answered prior to surgery.  But others will remain unanswered until more pathology tests.

I am hoping surgery can be done quickly.  I've paid for the registration for KW's Family Reunion in mid-February and want to be able to attend.  There are people to meet, places to go, houses to sell - so let's get on it.