Another 50 CCs

We went to see Dr. Hodges today, my plastic surgeon. He decided to put in another 50 ccs of saline in the tissue expander. Whoopie! Given that the skin is already tight as a drum, I was really looking forward to more saline today. Here's a picture of a tissue expander with the little magnetic port. He uses a magnet on a string to locate the port, then marks its location with a marker. Next he injects the skin area with some pain killer and next comes the cow syringe full of salt water.

We talked about surgery and he thinks that at the most we'll have 2 more times to insert saline. I called his office back and we set a date for Friday, March 7. They have to work out the details for the surgery with our hospital. He said that he will remove the tissue expander and insert the actual silicone implant, then he'll put in a smaller implant in the left breast so that they are aesthically the same shape and he'll make a nipple on the right breast to match the left one. It is just amazing what they can do today! We're also going to see if he can remove my mediport while he's in there.

I told Dr. Hodges that he really did a good job on my left breast when he did the reduction on it, because it was the cleanest mammogram I have ever had last month. He couldn't help but smile. You could tell he was proud of that.

David warned them about the spurting blood that happens every time he injects saline. They were prepared, but nothing came out---not one drop. Really surprising. His nurse packed some gauze around it just in case. When I got home and took the bandaid off, it was soaked in blood but wasn't too bad. Boy, am I glad we're only doing this no more than 2 more times!!!