I am sitting in this small exam room with two Nurse Navigators waiting for Dr. Guenther. Its June 10th, the day has arrived. The nurses are doing the usual, BP, temp, pulse. Recording everything. Normal. But its not normal. Not really. Not for me. Dr. Guenther enters the room. Hes with his assistant who has a cart and a computer. He introduces himself and smiles a confident, caring, Im in charge smile and tells me that his focus is me so he doesnt take notes and thats why his assistant is there. She will document everything. Again, I cant remember anyones names and they were all introduced. I only remember Dr. Guenther. Ive done my research on this man prior to keeping the appointment. Hes well loved and well respected. As my sister-in-law, Missy, a nurse at ST. E for the last 26 or 27 years, put it, Hes the breast man! If I needed breast surgery, hes who I would see. That alone was enough for me. I immediately like Dr. Guenther. Hes a tall man with a winning smile. More importantly, hes a confident SOB. I will tell you Ive always felt that it doesnt matter to me what a doctors bedside manner is, as long as he can do the job. Beside manner is a bonus and Dr. Guenther is a bonus doctor. He starts by recapping what I already know, I have DCIS, in my left breast, etc., etc. Finally he gets to what we can do about the situation. Because of where the DCIS is in my breast and because of how it lies, he recommends a mastectomy rather than a lumpectomy. Let me explain. When they take out a lump or an diseased area of tissue, the surgeon must take what they call a clear margin around the diseased tissue. The clear margin is really a crapshoot because they cannot be 100% sure that the area is clear. Not like you can look at tissue and have the cancer cells stand up and identify themselves. My particular situation is that my area is laid out over 3 to 4 inches and by the time Dr. Guenther would remove the clear margin I would have a really deformed breast left behind. He also points out that with total removal, there will be no more mammograms, no radiation treatments and MOST importantly, peace of mind. Where there is no breast tissue, there is no chance of breast cancer. So. I have a decision to make. In the meantime, he wants me to see a plastic surgeon because any reconstruction would be a tandem surgery with Dr. Guenther. He would remove the breast and the plastic surgeon would step in and start the reconstruction process during the same surgery. He gives me the name of a group (The Plastic Surgery Group) and the two surgeons he works with most, Dr. Williams and Dr. Vashi. He suggests I meet with them before my next appointment. I leave with a huge decision to be made. What to do. What to do.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 16:24:34 +0000
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