Feeling a little ‘famous’ today…
Oddly enough, I ran into one of my plastic surgeons today at Georgetown. I do frequent Georgetown often for work so I shouldn’t find it surprising to run in to one of them but it was quite amusing when I saw Dr. Steven Rottman and one of the new residents (who I then had to explain how I knew Dr. Rottman) in the hall on my way to floor 7. I think I may have mentioned Dr. Rottman in a post or two before but her is Dr. Spear’s lead fellow and was VERY involved in my surgery. He is also very knowledgeable on BRCA in general and I would like to think that I have something to do with that but due to the clientle that he sees at Georgetown, it probably has a lot less to do with me a lot more to do with that but…you never know. Each doctor probably learns a little more from each patient. I have been very impressed with Dr. Rottman, as have my friends who have worked with him and with his overall bedside manner and ya’ll know how I feel about Spear.
Now, to my surprise, Dr. Rottman mentioned my blog! I have NEVER mentioned my blog to him or to Dr. Spear but I guess a patient of his had mentioned it to him…or two, which I find to be so humbling and just so amazing. I can’t say this enough: I LOVE that people actually enjoy reading what I have to say and want me to write more! I always wonder if I write too much and that’s probably why I haven’t updated lately. So…I will try and write a little more and hopefully you all will CONTINUE to find it useful.
The title of this blog is A Walk in My Shoes: Previvorship and Laughing in the Meantime. So this section of this post will focus on the laughing part. Now, look to the right ———>>>>>>> Yes, I now own these and if you have a nipple-sparing PBM…I suggest you buy a couple pairs yourself. (Not sure if its this brand or not, but, I sure as hell own them to avoid as many peek-a-boo shows as possible). However, imagine wearing a shirt and instead of showing off your nipples, or maybe a bra line, you now see a flower showing through???? Story of my life.
New fear: the stares are in my head
I am now TERRIFIED that everyone is staring at my tits!!!! I was never worried about this before but as a woman I think I needed to be worried about something right? I didn’t worry about this in the beginning and I fell in love with the fact that I didn’t need a bra, and sometimes I don’t need to wear these funny things, but sometimes you do and other times you can do the outline of the damn FLOWER!!!! Now, that is just NOT acceptable. A DAMN FLOWER!!!!! I could just imaging being in a store and having a little kid yell to his mom, “Mommy, why does that woman have a flower on her boobies?” Oh my god, I would die. Just die.
Kennedy Center escapade
I was very fortunate to win 2 free tickets to the opera at the Kennedy Center recently so my husband and I went and I wore a nice little outfit and decided…no pedals. Now, the Kennedy Center has A LOT of mirrors. As we were walking around I glanced in the mirror, did a double take and just shrieked at my husband…about my nipples!!!! I yelled at him for letting me out of the house and here was his reply:
“Allison, you are not Jennifer Aniston. You are fine….relax.”
Ahhhhh, I love how my husband puts things into perspective. Obviously my boobs/tits are NOT like Jennifer Aniston LOL. I kept saying, “what the hell does THAT MEAN?!” (when I knew exactly what it meant but it was more dramatic and comical than anything else…and I had some champagne in me). So amusing and such a good laugh.
Allison, I am one of the ones who mentioned your blog to Dr. Rottman! I also used the Willey/Spear team, but have expanders. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us; it’s nice to hear someone else’s experience, but also from a person who has the same doctors!
PS. I use DIMR’s (they aren’t flower shaped, super thin, and I love them!)