Patient review
After being diagnosed with DCIS I had two lumpectomies unfortunately an MRI revealed more cells so my only option was a skin sparing mastectomy, I chose to have immediate reconstruction at the same time, this meant I would need a plastic surgeon. Having had an excellent breast surgeon I assumed the referred plastic surgeon would be equally great, how niave I was, his nurse offered me a discount voucher on a nice Lacey bra when "this" was all over, then the surgeon could not understand why I wanted the less invasive implant reconstruction as opposed and to a more complex and expensive TRAM flap reconstruction "most women would love a tummy tuck" he exclaimed...really !!! I wasn't there like most women to improve and enhance what I already had, I was there to replace what I was about to loose...so the search was on to find another surgeon,.
My mastectomy was my secret , I couldn't exactly ask around for Plastic Surgeon recommendations ! so google it was, I found many, one of which was Richard Rahdon, admittedly his reviews were more about happy ladies loving thier new breasts and tummies loving Richard, and lots of before and after pics to prove how great they looked, however I could not find much about reconstruction, I decided to organize a referral just the same, I met with him and he listened to me, he explained all my options , all the risks, he was very honest about the potential outcomes and I appreciated that. Mastectomy is not pretty and it is important to have medical professionals that you are comfortable with and treat you with respect and dignity and a bit of humor thrown in, because sometimes you just have to laugh ! Richard was all of the above and more, prior to the first surgery I asked him if he was confident he looked at me and said he was, I believed him , the surgery went very well and the next equally as well.
Post surgery care was excellent , it has been 2 months since the final surgery, recon took six months ( I had an expander) In clothing my breasts look much better than they ever did before the mastectomy side looks a little different compared to the other side without clothing however he got them pretty close.... aaaaand I don't have to wear a bra if I don't want to.. yay!!!!
If you are reading this and about to embark upon the mastectomy -reconstructive roller coaster I highly recommend you take Richard Rahdon along for the ride.