Road trip

Mr. Pincushion and I just got back from Houston, where we met with Dr. Barbara Bass. Dr. Bass is a breast cancer surgeon, researcher, and current endowed chair of the Department of Surgery at Methodist Hospital. Mr. Pincushion just happened to meet her a few weeks ago while attending a conference at Rice University, and she graciously invited us in for a consultation. She was very warm and friendly, with a compassionate bedside manner - kind of a rarity among surgeons! After looking over all the reports and documentation we had sent her beforehand and then examining me herself, she agreed with my current treatment plan wholeheartedly. That was nice to hear! She felt that based on how much the tumor has shrunk so far, I could reasonably choose to go with either a lumpectomy or mastectomy after I'm done with chemo. But, if she were to advise me as her patient, she would feel more comfortable with a mastectomy. She gave a couple of reasons for this. First, she would recommend it because of my particular type of cancer. It's triple negative, and what doctors call locally advanced (meaning it hasn't metastasized to other organs but it has spread to my lymph nodes). Particularly with young women, this combination is taken seriously and treated aggressively. Secondly, as a small-breasted woman (as if!!), she felt a lumpectomy would likely leave me with a rather deformed (and even smaller) looking breast that I wouldn't be happy with. Think dried up raisin instead of a lemon.

I'm starting to get used to strangers feeling me up. It seems that every doctor (or resident) I see these days wants to feel my boobies. Thank goodness the hubby doesn't have a jealous streak. In fact, he stayed cool as a cucumber while a young male resident got to second base with me, as Dr. Bass explained to him what he was feeling. 

(stay tuned: part II of our visit to Houston coming up)

Methodist Hospital. It's #1 for Cancer!! (only the best will do)