June 12, 2022
This week was a busy one. I had my MRI on my lower extremities to make sure I was a good candidate for DIEP. I met with an award winning surgeon Dr. Dahlia Satalof at Penn Medicine to discuss the various diagnosis and treatment plans that both of the major hospitals here felt were best and to receive her expert opinion.
She felt more testing was in order. She sat me down and showed me the Mammogram slides and explained that in the left side, I had a grouping of calcifications that appeared suspect. They were not biopsied by LVHN. The surgeon and my care team at LVHN again refused to order an MRI and biopsy stating if they found anything during surgery they would change my staging and treatment plan then. Which made me nervous and caused me to seek the third opinion.
Dr. Satalof explained that if the scans and biopsy indicated more cancer, that would mean a much stronger chemo therapy plan and radiation should be administered first. I would have surgery after chemo. She also felt I should be tested for a bleeding disorder before I had surgery because I am a carrier for Hemophila C. She personally called around to make sure I got appointments while I waited in the office.
At this point, I feel I am in the best hands I could be in. It will be harder to commute to Philly for treatment and cost more because Charles will want to stay in a hotel close by while I have surgery but now I have access to ground breaking care. I will be having DIEP reconstruction in the most advanced and well trained DIEP hospital in the nation. They have new microsurgical procedures and research studies there I can take part in. I already signed up for one which studies exercise and it’s effects on surgery and prognosis. I keep trying to remind myself if it were my Mom, this is where I would want her to be.
