Leah B.
Humble Servant of All
I am an older woman [won't put my age because this site erases numbers, but I will say I am two decades past menopause] who has [or had] breast reduction surgery scheduled in a little over a week. My problem is I was always large on top but not unreasonably so. Then when I went through the change, I started to grow again without even gaining weight! You know how when you put a frog in a pot of lukewarm water then gradually turn up the heat, the frog doesn't know it's starting to boil? Well, that's what happened to me in terms of this change in breast size. The end result is a nightmare of back and neck pain, leaning forward when I walk, always having heavy, dead weight across my chest and inability to wear any kind of supportive bra whatsoever. When I sit, the band digs into my ribs, crushes my ribs and acts like a tourniquet, taking my breath away. I have numerous other health conditions including COPD, and my pulmonologist thinks a reduction would help me to breathe better. My one major fear was/is that I will be made too small and that I will have a disproportionate figure and not look right. I was just reassured on the phone today that this will not be the case by the PA in my plastic surgeon's office. This being said, I still request that you pray in Jesus's name that I will get the high end of the volume/sizing this PA talked about, that they will stick close to the minimum tissue removal required by the insurance company that they wrote in the office note, and that I will be happy with the result both in terms of physical relief and also with how I look post reduction. Anyway, now, all this being said, yet ANOTHER big problem: The plastic surgery practice forgot to order me a mammogram! Even more egregious when I ASKED about mammogram at the second consultation, this PA told me to put off my mammogram until spring. Okay. And then what? Today this PA called me and told me that they would have to postpone my surgery because they don't have a recent mammogram! I am highly upset. I spent the afternoon calling my radiology place and also my insurance company. To the best of my understanding-- which may be wrong because I was misinformed-- due to the fact it's been not quite a year since my last mammogram, insurance will not yet pay for another one -- and given I couldn't afford to pay for a mammogram myself, I made the snap decision to just go along with scheduling the mammogram for a few weeks from now when insurance would pay and then postponing the surgery until after New Years. [One major reason for the longer postponement is we are planning to have a milestone birthday for my very elderly father at the end of December, and my whole family will be angry and disappointed if I don't attend. The problem with that? The health insurance company that approved my surgery will no longer be my health insurance company after New Years. They left my state so I had to get new coverage. That means if I wait until next year, I will have to get re-approved for the surgery and, well, maybe the new insurance would deny coverage for this procedure or make me jump through hoops for a year! Anyway, I called my plastic surgeon's office and told them all this. I also told them if I had known about the mammogram requirement, I could easily have gotten the VA to pay for the mammogram. The upshot? A few hours after this conversation, I got a call from a hospital where I am scheduled to have a chest CT in a couple days. They said they got an order to book a mammogram for right after the chest CT. I looked on my on-line chart, and my estimated payment for this mammogram is zero dollars. Anyway, I NEVER get mammograms from this hospital. I think the plastic surgeon's office must have read my chart and called them, just like they called my pulmonologist, my lab and my PMD to set up appointments for preoperative clearances. I have no way of knowing for sure because the plastic surgeon's office was closed when I called them to find out. Please in Jesus's name, pray I'm right. Pray my current insurance is picking up the tab for that mammogram. Please pray in Jesus's name that mammogram is normal and that my breast reduction surgery takes place on the surgical date next week that's been already planned. Please pray the CT scan of my lungs shows at least no growth of my 6.4-mm left upper lobe lung nodule or, better still, that it has shrunk or disappeared. I have been dealing with this nodule for nine months. VA recommended a biopsy because it lit up on a PET scan. I noticed it was the same size on the initial CT scan where it was discovered three months earlier so instead of getting a biopsy, I got a second opinion from my outside-VA pulmonologist. He said the nodule barely lit up on PET scan and was not convincing for cancer, but he sent me to a sub-specialist who does GPS-guided biopsies, which are less likely to collapse your lung than needle biopsy. Since seeing the sub-specialist, it just goes back and forth where I get a choice of CT surveillance or biopsy, and I keep picking the CT. [Also of note: the first radiologist who looked at my last CT, which was three months ago, noted scarring of my left lung. That's what I always thought this "nodule" was to begin with, scarring.] All this being noted, my problem now is that as long as the nodule just stays the same size, the sub-specialist will at least subtly push for biopsy. My fear about biopsy is that even though lung collapse is way less likely with GPS-guided biopsy, I still don't want to risk it. Frankly, I'm sorry I ever even agreed to the cancer screening. I haven't smoked in 18 years. I am praying in Jesus's name that the nodule shrinks or disappears, not so much because I'm afraid it's cancer, but because that tiny, nagging doubt will now always be there and because I ultimately may end up with a needless, risky procedure. [And since it's very likely a scar, I'm actually praying for a miracle because scars don't shrink or disappear.] All this being said, I'm exhausted, depressed and tired. I've shelled out a ton of money for medical grade compression bras, a special pillow, ice packs, high quality protein bars, clothes and pajamas that button in front. Got an expensive perm. I've also been on my hands and knees scrubbing floors and doing an intensive cleaning marathon of my apartment to prepare for being incapacitated. I missed a family dinner because a few people were sick, and I didn't want to risk catching a virus before my surgical date. I've been going non-stop to doctors for the last two weeks to get surgical clearance. Please pray this mess gets straightened out. Thank you for praying.
