Our First Withdrawal from the Karma Bank

My mom's surgery goes remarkably well. There are no complications and from what the doctors could tell at the time of surgery, there was no cancer. Phew. I go to see her in the recovery room. She looks amazing. Her face is full of color and she's pretty alert considering she's just undergone a 5 hour operation. The narcotics haven't worn off yet and she repeatedly tells me that she can't stop talking and that I look beautiful. If she's going to repeat herself, I'm glad it's going to be complimenting me. Her plastic surgeon, Susan Downey, used an anesthesia pack not used at Cedars and my mom swears it's a miracle. She tells me over and over again that she has no pain in her stomach and only a tiny bit in her breast (in addition to a mastectomy and reconstruction she had the muscle and mesh in her stomach that weakened from her TRAM flap 10 years ago tightened). She also tells me over and over that I need to use the pack for my C-section and mastectomies.

Hours later when I'm leaving the hospital, I decide to see if my buzz cut and big belly can still get me free (or almost free) parking. I've parked in the South Tower lot of Cedars clearly marked for Admissions. I go to the front desk and ask the clerk to validate my parking ticket. He asks me what I'm here for. I tell him that I dropped my mother off for surgery. "When?" he asks. "Early this morning," I tell him (it's currently 1000pm). "Have you been here all day?" he wants to know. "I haven't," I respond. He validates me anyway. The validation means I only have to pay $4 instead of $15. Whoo hoo! When I show my ticket to the clerk at the parking lot exit, he smiles and waives me through. Maybe he thought I was sick or possibly returning from my tour in Iraq, but regardless, I leave without paying a dime, which makes me smile.

I don't know if it's the pack that's a miracle or my mom, but she gets the okay to go home 24 hours later. She had been told to expect 3-5 days in the hospital. She's thrilled and we are, too. The other thrilling news for me is that her doctors think it's a great sign for me that she's been cancer free for so long while having the BRCA1 gene. Even though my numbers suck, they tell her that those numbers are culled from a large genetic pool. She and I share the same mutation and similar genes, so most likely that's good news for me. Another phew. But 4 days later, Dr. Funk calls my mom to tell her that she definitely made the right decision by choosing to undergo the prophylactic mastectomy because the final pathology report revealed precancerous cells. Those cells would have become cancer in the next few years. So I guess that's 1 good thing about my cancer. It (and I) spared my mom from having to suffer through cancer again. I'm nervous that maybe her pathology report means something bad for me, but Boris reminds me that those cells were not a recurrence of her original cancer 25 years ago. They were the beginning of a new, primary cancer, which isn't that surprising given the BRCA1 gene and its statistics. He reminds me (and Dr. Funk confirms) that by removing both breasts, I'm reducing my chance of a new, primary cancer to almost nothing. Rude that it isn't nothing, but it's the best I can do. It still doesn't help my crappy numbers in terms of recurrence and death, but that's where my mom's genes come in (I hope I hope I hope).

So finally...some good news. My mom is doing great, isn't getting cancer again, and hopefully I will follow in her footsteps.

The other bit of news (I think it's good) is that I've changed my mind about plastic surgeons....again. My mom had such a great experience with Dr. Downey and Dr. Funk was very impressed with her work so I'm going to use her. When I met with her and explained my hatred of implants, she showed me several pictures of women who had some slope in the shape of their breasts which is what I'm hoping for (as opposed to the coconut shells on the hula girl shape). I know that Dr. Slate's work is amazing and reliable, but I'm hoping that maybe I can get a more natural look. So now I really have made all of my decisions (although I certainly reserve my right to change my mind for the 89736349th time). I have a new surgeon and plastic surgeon ready to go in June.

Now I just have to get through the next 6 months with a newborn and chemo and crazy surgery and radiation. I feel a second withdrawal coming on soon.