Hi I was diagnosed with grade 1 breast cancer in July and had a sentinel lymph node removal 3 weeks ago pending a mastectomy. I was sent to see a plastic surgeon yesterday to discuss a DIEP flap reconstruction but we decided jointly that I wasn't a great candidate due to my reluctance to have 2 surgical sites (and other reasons), so I am asking for an implant now instead. One thing he remarked upon was that I should have seen him 2 months ago and he also didn't know which breast was cancerous or the results of the sentinel lymph node operation (which is apparently usually done at the same time as the mastectomy). When I mentioned that I probably would be having radiotherapy he told me that they wouldn't know about this until after my operation as it depended upon what they find. Fair enough. All this information was given to me at the breast cancer clinic in July and what I've relied upon but the surgeon either didn't know or said things were happening out of order
I had been told that the plastic surgeon would have the results of my lymph node op and I would be told the date of the reconstruction, neither of which happened as he won't be operating on me now. I contacted my named nurse but she seemed surprised that I had seen this particular surgeon and asked me "Why did you see him?". Well, someone must have referred me as I had a call from his secretary and then the letter with the appointment date. I didn't just rock up to his clinic at random! My original doctor is now on leave until the last week of September. I will ring tomorrow to see if I can book an appointment for when he returns. I feel like I'm going from pillar to post and back again. I'm worried that I'll fall between the cracks of ongoing patients and new referrals. I don't know if I have too high expectations or if I should just go with the flow a bit more. Is this sort of thing normal?
Hi, I have contacted my breast care nurse again, and I will ask for an apt with my doctor to go through my options - he is on leave until the end of September though! Currently I am hoping for a mastectomy ctomy and an implant placed in immediately. I had opted for a mastectomy/ immediate DIEP flap but changed my mind for various reasons including having 2 surgical sites. The plastic surgeon I met aeed that as I seemed slightly uncertain about the DIEP, this was probably best as a DIEP could be considered in the future if something went wrong with the implant. Hopefully not! He did also offer the opportunity to have the mastectomy to remove the cancer and then wait for the DIEP. However, that then wouldn't be treated as urgent so I could have a long wait for the construction. I don't want to be flat on one side so I'd rather not do that. Then I wonder if I'm being unreasonable 
