Rainbows and Puppies and Kittens and Sunshine

Ignore my gray hair rant below. About an hour after I hit "post," the phone rang. I was being called for another interview at the same school, for an even better job, as the Principal's Secretary.

I was hired the next day.

Perhaps they liked the experience that my silver hair represents.

If that wasn't good enough, today I met my new plastic surgeon, Dr. CMYP. Let's just say that sometimes things happen for the best, and I'm now feeling very positive about my reconstruction.

In fact, I will no longer call him Combat Doctor's Young Partner. He deserves his own nickname, and perhaps there will come a time when I will post his real name, which I only do when they are really, really good.

For now, I will call him Dr. Hoperestoration.

Unlike my previous plastic surgeon, he believes he can give me an acceptable result. He can loosen the pulling scar tissue running from my armpit to my mastectomy scar (which makes it really hard to shave my pit, by the way, it's not a nice round area anymore). I was told that could not be done. He says he can give me a symmetrical result in clothes, and I would even be able to wear a scoop neck top and nobody would know the difference. (Except, of course, you blog readers.)

My old plastic surgeon told me I'd probably always need a prosthesis of some sort. Dr. Hoperestoration looked at me funny when I asked if I'd need one, and he said definitely not. My old plastic surgeon told me I "might" get up to an A cup, and this doctor asked what size bra I wore and didn't blink when I said I wanted to stay my previous size, a C. No problem.

In fact, he said that if we started all over again - if he removed the expander and put a new one in the correct place, he could get me my inframammory fold back - a feat that I thought impossible. But, at this point, with a new job and having come this far in my recovery, I don't want to start all over. If I can look good in clothes, get dressed without problems, shop and buy stuff I like without worrying about whether the item masks a defect, and sleep on my stomach, I'll be happy.

He thinks that's all likely.

Life is all chocolate and diamonds right now.

The only negative is that because I have a new job, I can't schedule my reconstruction until I get a school break. If I was at my old job, which I know well, I could schedule it for September, which, after the rush of getting the new year started, tends to be kind of quiet. Knowing the job well, after my recovery, I could catch up quickly.

With a new job, I won't know when the quiet times are, and won't know the rhythm of the school, and have too much to learn to take a week off.

Plus, it would be bait and switch for me to have interviewed, talked myself up, been hired and then say, "Oh, by the way, I had cancer and need time off for this first in a series of surgeries."

I won't do that, it's not fair.

Fortunately, I work in a school, and we do get a lot of time off. So, the expander stays in until November. I'll give up Thanksgiving for recovery. Which is exactly what I did last year too. Stepdaughter, you are welcome to cook again. :) Son's girlfriend, you are too.

Son?

Okay, I know better.

Four extra months seems like a long time to keep this miserable expander in, but it's a small price to pay for a good job and a good doctor.

Can you smell the roses? I can.

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