15th March 2018 – Top Surgery Appointment with Mr Kneeshaw

The day has arrived for me to go and see Mr Kneeshaw about my top surgery, we were up at 4.30am and we were out on time, which does make a change for us as we normally run late. We landed in Hull within plenty of time for my appointment and still had to wait an hour before being seen, but it was well worth it though.

I have never met someone who was so down to earth and from the moment I met him he put me at ease, even when he was examining me he kept saying “I know this is uncomfortable for you, I do apologise”. He asked the usually questions; do I smoke, do you have any other issues with your chest, what medication are you on, etc. He didn’t mention anything about my weight, which I though he would as I haven’t been able to lose anymore but I haven’t put it back on either.

I explained to him that I do have a reoccurring infection that I get in my right breast just under the nipple. He wanted me to have a mammogram to check that everything was ok, I must admit doing the mammogram was a little daunting, they aren’t the nicest things to have done. I ended up having to have two mammograms, one of which was in 3D and then he wanted me to have an ultrasound as the mammogram showed some abnormalities. They took some biopsies from the infected area and also from a lymph node that was bigger than it should be.

I had to ring his secretary four weeks after my appointment to find out the results, as it would be a waste of time and petrol for me to go back and see him for him just to turn round and say everything was ok. Mr Kneeshaw does aim to have me in for the operation in the next three to four months as he likes to have it completed within the year of being referred and I was referred back in July 2017.

Mr Kneeshaw told me that due to the size of my chest that I would end up with dog ears (this is a term given where there is an overlap of skin that happens under the armpit) and the tissue has also pulled away from the chest wall so I may end up with the incisions meeting in the middle.

He also explained to me that due to the infection that I continue to get in my right breast it has damaged the nipple so unfortunately I will have to lose my nipples. He will see me again 6 months after the operation to make me some nipples and at the same time if I need any revisions done that will be sorted out at the same time.

Update – 14th April:

I rang to find out the test results from my biopsies and everything came back normal, the abnormalities in the lymph node was put down to fighting the infection. She also gave me the date for my top surgery, which is booked for the 27th June.