Time to Rebuild -TRAM Flap is on its way.

HI All,

Been a long time since the last post. That's a good thing in a lot of ways. We have been busy with soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and now baseball is up and running 24/7...

Janis has always wanted to pursue breast reconstruction and we had just met with the surgeon when I found out from work we were switching health care plans...no big deal, right? Well, the surgeon was on Regence and not on united...so the concensus from those in HR and at UHC was that we should try to get as much done prior to the switch as possible....well, so much for baseball season being the most important thing going....Sure seems like some doors have been opened, but we will have the bulk of the procedures done prior to the health switch. Also, with cancer, they are required to transfer, so things should be ok...will believe it when I see it. Paperwork was crazy when we only had one health insurance, now the paperwork, in the midst of a switch...I bet we get 5 different bills for the same thing.

The reconstruction method Janis selected is referred to as a TRAM flap proceedure. It is a series of proceedures where they take tissue from the tummy and move it to make a new breast mound. The first procedure is called a surgical delay -basically a hip to hip horizontal incision to change the blood flow in the tissue, making it heartier in preparation of the move. This first proceedure kind of freaks me out...it was done in the office and so far has been fine. Lots of pain, lots of sleeping for Janis and not a lot of movement. She is doing well.

After the surgical delay there is a 10-14 day period before the big surgery. This will take place on the 15th. This is a 5 or so hour procedure, and will require several night stay in the hospital. Let's pray that this goes successfully.

The silver lining to all this is that we can see the finish line a lot sooner than we had anticipated...What's a series of surgeries and doctor visits on top of baseball season?

Jeff