Plastic Surgeon Pre-op Visit

Prior to this visit, I had worked extremely hard coordinating between the hospital, the breast surgeon and my insurance company to gain authorization for removal of BOTH breasts.  By the time I arrived at this 2nd visit to the plastic surgeon, I had received an authorization number, otherwise, I would have had to pay in advance what the insurance would not have covered.  

It was a stressful time. During the visit, the doctor had taken "before" pictures and some measurements, I'm sure it was for the surgical bra.  She also gave me a binder of post-op home care (those guidelines will be in another post) and prescriptions which included:

Emend - anti-nausea pill to be taken 90 min. prior to surgery
Kflex - an antibiotic
Percocet - pain killer
Premethazine - anti-nausea cream
Restoril - for sleep if needed. The next time I see my plastic surgeon will be after I awake from surgery.

Chantix Worked!

I quit smoking five months ago by switching to vaping, even before I knew I had cancer.  I really  loved vaping and hated that my husband still smoked conventional cigarettes.  I hated to be around him.

For five months, I was cigarette-free and thought I would be for the rest of my life, but noticed some side-effects, most of which was a general feeling of being not well.  I cannot be more specific than this because I do not recall the exact symptoms, but, I knew it was from vaping, so, back to cigarettes I went, reluctantly.

My addiction to cigarettes was hungrily awaiting any excuse to jump back into my life and the feeling that I was a failure, for not being able to stick with the vaping, just fed this addiction even more.

I went back to cigarettes until I learned that I had cancer and had no choice but to quit if I wanted reconstructive breast surgery.

I started the cheap version of nicotine lozenges and was making headway until my plastic surgeon said that she would not do the plastic surgery if I was still using nicotine. That's when Chantix entered my life and I finally, finally, finally quit smoking!

Chantix - Day Five

Day Five:

Had 1/2 cigarette while on the phone with the insurance company. This is good, typically, being this stressed, I would have had probably FIVE!  This is working!!

Chantix - Day Four

Day Four:

Went really well, I think throughout the whole day, I only had 1/2 cigarette.  This was the day that I started one pill in the morning and one in the evening.  I am so, so, so happy that this is working!!

Chantix - Day Three

Day Three:

I just realized, one month from today, I will be in surgery.

Anyway, back to Chantix - still going well.  I love how my mind is not pre-occupied with the addiction! So far, it's been one pill a day, for these 1st three days.  Tomorrow, the dosage increases, one pill in the morning and one in the evening.  Heck, I cannot imagine what that is going to feel like!  I don't think I could smoke with the dosage increasing.  I think that if I don't want to smoke, I'm not going to smoke.

Chantix - Day Two

Day Two:

Read some research on how Chantix really works, here's my layman interpretation - it blocks the receptors in the brain which nicotine and addiction feed.  So, when I smoke a cigarette, there is no pleasure. Actually, what I am finding is that it's almost like forgetting that I ever was a smoker!  It's like it's blocking the triggers that would cause me to smoke. 

I'm starting to feel like I felt years and years ago before I ever picked up my 1st cigarette... the mental-state of not being addicted. BUT - what I read is that it's important to still smoke during the 1st week of treatment, I'm thinking that by doing so will train the brain that it really is not pleasurable to smoke.  I am feeling more positive about this than any other quit-method I ever tried before!!

Chantix - Day One

Day One:

Started Chantix, had it in my mind that I will cut-down on my cigarettes right from the start.  I honestly didn't have to make an effort to start cutting down.  The drug nearly immediately began doing 'something' and I wasn't smoking when I might normally smoke.