Meeting with breast nurse for treatment plan - 29th July 2019

Today we met with Mr Skene's breast nurse, Chrissie. She was lovely. Very knowledgeable, empathetic and warm. We talked through my options, and mainly what will happen. The initial surgery and then if I was to have reconstruction, what was going to be best for me.

I was having a single mastectomy, and as I like to work out regularly my reconstruction options needed to fit in with that. Later down the line I would also be having further surgery to correct symmetry. I chose to have a tissue expander followed by implant exchange to silicone, purely due to my age and wanting both breasts to at least feel the same. At the time of this appointment I was still in shock and the reality of how long all of this would take didn't really occur to me. 18 months down the line and I am almost there. So be patient on what choices you make, as none are instant.

There are many different options available, and this is why you need to speak with your surgeon and nurse to choose the best option for you, depending on if you have radiotherapy etc. I chose to have a tissue expander fitted with implant exchange. You can read some of the options available here.

“Implant surgery means using a silicone gel or salt water filled silicone balloon to recreate a breast shape after removal of a breast. It is the simplest way of making a new breast.”

We sat chatting with Chrissie for a couple of hours. She talked me through the procedure, length of stay and what to expect when going home. Involving a lot of sitting still! Which I am not very good at! We also got onto the subject of private healthcare, which I have through my employer. As I had been dealt with by the NHS I wanted to stay under their care, but we decided to follow up with the private route, purely because it was available to me. Why wouldn't I use it? My own privacy whilst in hospital, visitors when necessary. I would have been treated just as quickly on the NHS, and every step up to now had been seamless. But between us we decided that to help ease the pressure on the NHS wards to use it. So Chrissie then passed me over to Mr Skene at the Nuffield Hospital in Bournemouth.

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