A Word on Symmetry

I had another fascinating visit with Dr. William Brown, my wonderful plastic surgeon. He is about the most dedicated medical professional I've ever known. The guy starts his day with hospital patient visits at the crack of dawn, ducks into surgery for 6-8 hours, and then checks in with his hospital patients once or twice again every afternoon. He is apparently "The Man" in Denver when it comes to breast reconstruction. Not only is he a perfectionist and the consummate professional, he's also one of the funniest people I've ever met.

When my friend Ellen Chandra was camped out in my hospital room several weeks ago, Dr. Brown commented that he was surprised the hospital didn't suffer a brownout due to the extreme amount of technical equipment we had connected to the electrical outlets in the room. Here's a short list: 2 Cisco PCs, 2 Blackberries, 1 Ipod Touch -- you get the picture! My room looked like a cross between a flower store and a PC Repair shop.

Anyhow, he told me today that from the perspective of health insurance companies, it's all about symmetry. When a woman has reconstruction on one breast, he often performs surgery on the other one so that everything comes out looking perfectly matching when it's all said and done. A law was passed in the early '90s guaranteeing that health insurance companies pay for this so that women don't have to deal with self-image problems, prostheseses, etc. after the surgery. (Without getting too graphic, he can reverse the effects of gravity over a number of years on ye old body.)

Thankfully I have great health insurance with Cisco so once I'm back in the saddle so to speak I'll be "lookin good!" Just another little anecdote along the great journey of breast cancer . . . but seriously, we've come a long way with respect to the way in which this disease is treated and I thought this little tidbit was worth sharing.

Above is a photo of Dr. Brown and me in his office, as well as a little video clip from my hospital stay featuring Ellen and a special surprise visitor, Yogi the Therapy Dog.