Q #5: What is required to get ready for the surgery? How much time?

A:
A 3-4 week period is required to "prepare" for surgery. This allows my body some time to get important blood counts (WBC, RBC, platelets, etc.) to normalize. I'll also feel stronger, having (in my case) 4 weeks to recover from my 8 chemo treatments.

I've learned from other gals who have been through this already that I'll start noticing changes such as hair growing (although it'll be like baby hair/wispies at first), more earwax developing (?!), and my skin will begin feeling more normal (chemo has made my skin thin and smooth). I also look forward to my fatigue factor diminishing!

While chemo is now over, the next few weeks include a good number of appointments/things to do before surgery:

• Continue following the alkaline diet
• Go to reiki, light touch massage, and acupuncture sessions
• Attend pre-op with general surgeon
• Attend pre-op with plastic surgeon
• Submit my body/fluids for bloodwork and other pre-op tests (probably including an EKG)
• Celebrate my ta-tas (and mourn their loss, too) by having a bye-bye boobies night
• Receive a final Zoladex shot (to suppresses ovarian oestrogen production)
• Get my teeth cleaned - YAY! I am really looking forward to getting my teeth spiffed up. (FYI: Chemo dry mouth isn't good for pearly whites. I've done what I can to be nice to them and treat them well. But it's time for a cleaning as soon as I get cleared for doing so. Surgery + meds will also dish out a harsh atmosphere for my teeth. Before all this, I thought teeth bleaching was a bit strange. Now I'm considering doing it at some point.)

You're right: this picture has nothing to do
with this blog post! However, I saw it on the way
in to one of my ta-ta appointments
and HAD to stop, take a picture, and marvel
at the toughness this truck exuded
solely based on the spikes. 

Besides all the scientific "fun stuff" above, I hope to spend time prior to surgery enjoying the freedom of doing things myself - for that will soon change (for a while) post-surgery. I am looking forward to another getaway with Joshua, to help connect us more deeply and calm us down before surgery. I'm also wanting to get some really good exercise in (swim, jog, walk, yoga); that helps me not only physically, but mentally. I'm less anxious when I get in a good workout. Also, my crafting space feels neglected. It's time to do some projects in there!

Anything above and beyond that is icing on the cake!