Sammy Dallas

My last post described my discovery of The Lump, so I thought I would continue this trip to the past and discuss the weeks following my diagnosis and leading up to my first chemo treatment.  I refer to this period of time as Sammy Dallas.  This name comes from my (late) dog’s name and my mother’s maiden name, the common formula for a person’s x-rated movie star name.  With all these strange eyes and hands on my breasts, an x-rated star is exactly what I've felt like!

After looking over my appointment book and recalling all the doctors and nurses, I came up with 20 people who have had some visual and/or physical contact with my breasts since The Lump.  The majority of these people were women, however, I thought it worthy to comment on the four men.  

The first was a young, handsome, visiting pathologist from Mt. Sinai in New York City, who I could not look at directly because I knew I’d start giggling.  The second was my oncologist, Dr. K., who can’t be more than five years older than I am.  I see him every two weeks so he’s gotten to know me and my breasts very well.  The last two were different plastic surgeons I saw for consultations.  The first was an older, seasoned surgeon who showed me a photo album of his work, so I saw nearly a hundred before and after pictures of breasts in shapes and sizes I never even imagined could grow.  When that mortification was over, he asked me if he could take a picture for “future surgical reference.”  The picture was of my breasts only, but I still felt that I deserved monetary compensation, especially since he was flying out for a “conference” that day and I pictured him going through his digital slideshow of breasts to pass time on the airplane.  The second plastic surgeon mostly talked about himself while I sat on the table with the flimsy paper vest open so he could reference, point to, and poke my breasts as he described various procedures he is capable of doing. 

Breast viewings have since decreased now that I’m undergoing chemo, but only temporarily.  With a breast surgeon appointment and MRI coming up, it won’t be long before Sammy Dallas gets to make another appearance on the examining table!