Surgery date is set....

Two prescriptions, two more Dr. appointments and two more agonizing weeks of ice packs stuffed in the over-sized sports bra, before I go into a 10 hour surgery at 6am on May 17th at St. Mary's Hospital. Then, 5-10 days in the hospital and 5-10 weeks of healing. Yesterday morning, I went to see my favorite Dr. Pamela Lewis and her fabulous assistant Idette, whom I brought a box of burnt Carmel poco dolces because she's been so wonderful. Insurance problems, never fear, Idette is on it! Dr. Chow's office screwed up again, and requested an authorization from my insurance company for a radical bi-lateral mastectomy done on an outpatient basis by an out of network surgeon...Wrong, wrong wrong!!!Ugh!!!

But Idette assures us that everything will be straightened out in time for the surgery. In the meantime, I keep stuffing my over sized sports bra with ice packs, and have now surrendered to prescription drugs.

Telling everyone was difficult, making the decision as to what I was going to do was even harder but the waiting now has become agonizing. My breasts are continually swollen and sore, my heart feels like it's going to explode in my chest several times a day (I've been told that sensation is a physical manifestation of anxiety -scary! I never knew what it meant to have an anxiety attack. Now I know.) Most days I'm not hungry at all. And I wake up several times a night now. So, Dr. Beverly Burns (the UCSF Dr. who specializes in integrative medicine for women with cancer) whom I saw on Friday for a 2 hour acupuncture appointment, says I have only two jobs until the surgery: Eat well and sleep well for the next two weeks. She also recommends I continue with the probiotics and enzymes daily. Have you ever tried Kombucha? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kombucha-tea/an01658 It's amongst the nastiest thing I've ever tasted, but the Dr. recommended that I drink one a day, and so I've been following the Dr.'s orders not paying too much attention, except this evening. I noticed the label had a little story. On the side of the bottle it reads: "In 1995, Millennium Products founder GT Dave's life came crashing down when he heard that his mother had just been diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of breast cancer. After a week of emotional turmoil, he was relieved to find out that her breast cancer had not spread and that the pungent tasting cultured tea that she had been drinking was part of the reason why. Thus, he began to bottle and sell his Kombucha." Who knew? Well, apparently my Doctor did! And so, I am sitting quietly, sipping sour Kombucha and swallowing my sleeping pill. Tomorrow morning I go in for the last round of tests, x-rays and blood work before the big surgery. Nighty, night.