Although, I have some resentment toward Sloan i.e. the Chemo fiasco & implant crap. When I saw Dr. Disa on the 30th of December, he salvaged my opinion of that place. Dr. Disa was by far one of the nicest and informative doctors at Sloan. I still get panic attacks going there, so I knew in my heart even though Dr. Disa was nice & was giving me multiple options, I could never go under the knife there again without freaking out.
Dr. Disa explained that I have two options, which were the same given by the local doctor, Dr. Iorio. He explained the risks and benefits of both. Dr. Disa also said that my skin was barely damaged from radiation, so I could go either way, I just need to take it easy.
I left the appointment confused and unsure of what I wanted to do. Then I made a decision. I liked Dr. Iorio a lot, his empathy and mannerisms reminded me of my oncologist, Dr. Cairoli, whom I trust my life in his hands.
My surgery with Iorio is Feb 2. I am going to hit the "reset button": remove scar tissue that's causing my implants to feel hard, get my implant pockets reformed and lowered, add aloderm to create a better fold, and place tissue expanders, which should be filled to approximately 400cc or more at surgery. I will have drains again. I will be out of work a week. We plan on slowly expanding over 5-6mo and letting the skin settle before we swap out with implants. The goal is to get Extra High Profile Implants in the 600cc range, so my concave rib cage and sticking out bottom of my ribs are NOT larger than my implants anymore.
If this fails, our back up plan is a Bilateral Lat-Flap, but Iorio told me he has great success with radiated skin. I have faith in this guy.
I see one more doctor for consult on the 17th. If he gives me any new information, then I might hold off and just do the lat flap. For now, surgery is on for Feb 2 at JSUMC.
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