Thursday preview, Part 2: Another lumpectomy

Unlike many doctors, my surgeon, Dr. C, isn’t condescending at all. Au contraire, she speaks to me as if I have a medical degree or a doctorate in biology, spieling scientific lingo while I breathlessly scribble words I can’t spell, let alone define, like a hapless cub reporter.

So when she used cozy terms like “itty bitty” to describe the amount of cancerous cells left behind by the last surgery, I was instantly comforted, at least by my ability to grasp what she was saying.

“We’ll just re-excise to get out that teeny-weeny bit of breast tissue that’s near the skin,” she said. “We can do it at the same time as the sentinel lymph node biopsy.”

It was only several days later that I realized we were talking about a second lumpectomy.

The first one wasn’t bad. I never even needed pain pills; ice was good enough for the fairly minimal pain. Sure, the side of my breast now has a three-inch long shallow trough, the same size as if I’d pressed the length of my index finger against a sand castle. But I have ample breast tissue – you might call it a chubby-wubby amount. So surely I could spare an itty-bitty bit more.

But being near the skin isn’t the same as being on top of the skin. The plan is for a second incision with the attendant risk for infection, a new wound to heal, etc.
It’s not the worst thing in the world by far. I’ve already met several women who had to have a mastectomy instead of a second lumpectomy because they just didn’t have enough breast tissue to keep digging it out.

But it means that Thursday’s excursion to the Alta Bates OR will include at least two surgical procedures – three if they find cancer in the sentinel lymph nodes and have to take out the axillary lymph nodes.