General Surgeon Visit

Dan came with me to visit with Dr. Teresa Reading, general surgeon. My first impression was that she was intelligent, kind and understanding and she listened well. She was highly recommended by the oncological gyn I interviewed about my upcoming hysterectomy/oophrectomy. She does a lot of breast surgeries. Another FORCE friend used Dr. Reading and has all good things to say about her. I feel comfortable about using Dr. Reading as my general surgeon. I still might interview one more general surgeon. I am looking forward to meeting with plastic surgeons so I can feel like I am towards the end of my information gathering.

Dr. Reading talked about my options...
-just the oophrectomy alone can decrease my percentage of cancer and I can do surveillance
-I can do the skin-sparing mastectomy with an incision under the breast, but it would need to be a pretty long incision to be able to reach all the way to the top of my breast area so she can remove as much breast tissue as possible.
-I can have a skin-sparing mastectomy where the areola and nipple would be removed, so it's just a circle incision...and have the plastic surgeon reconstruct the nipple
-I can do a nipple-sparing mastectomy where she cuts an incision horizontal to the armpit side of my areolas. She said this is the procedure she favors since it allows for more blood flow to the nipple and there is a higher percentage that the nipple will survive. She said she doesn't really do the nipple-sparing where they remove the areola and nipple and put it back on.

I asked Dr. Reading why nipple-sparing might have a higher chance of breast cancer vs the total removal of the nipple. I didn't realize that, as she explained, the whole nipple is actually tissue. Overall, the incidence of breast cancer is higher in the nipple tissue, so if someone keeps the nipple, their chance of getting breast cancer is slightly higher than someone who doesn't have their nipple. But, Dr. Reading did point out that I don't have cancer yet and the reason for the mastectomy is to reduce my risk. Having a nipple-sparing mastectomy would drastically reduce my risk for breast cancer...she will not be able to remove ALL tissue anyway. It's a choice I have to make. Do I accept a slightly higher chance of getting breast cancer for more beautiful breasts?

I think I'll wait till I see what the reconstructed nipples and the pictures of nipple-sparing breasts look like when I speak with the plastic surgeons.

Dr. Reading also recommended a few plastic surgeons that she works with.

I loved having my husband with me. It helps that he is right there listening with me. Then we are both on the same page to discuss future options together and he's a part of this process.