Making a list and checking it twice (or three times. or four times....)

As a mom I have become a pro at making lists. Lists for stuff to bring to daycare. Lists of items to buy at the grocery store. Lists of the lists that I need to write. So it's no big surprise that as I prepare for my visits to the breast surgeon and general surgeon this upcoming Monday, I have begun quite an extensive list of questions:

1) What is my recovery time going to be? Because I have a toddler who pretty much thinks that mom and dad should be playing with him at all possible moments. And I should mention that mom and dad LOVE to play with him at all possible moments so I need a super quick recovery time!

2) How long will it be before I can lift things? Again, baby. Wants to be held. Mom wants to hold him.

3) What are the possible complications? This is always a touchy question to ask any doctor as 9 times out of 10 "death" is one of the outcomes. When I am feeling positive about things, I like to think that one of my outcomes to the surgery will be life rather then death. Lets hope Monday is one of those positive days!

4) Will the doctor be able to code the surgery correctly so that my insurance company will cover it? I am not trying to make my doctor out to be an idiot at our meeting. I just want them to remember that this is not a cosmetic surgery. Fake boobs can look pretty amazing, however, if my genetics would have been better,  I would have chosen to just keep my floppy ones.

5) Can I have a one step straight to implant procedure or will I have to do the expander method of filling up with saline every couple of weeks and then having another surgery for the implant? It is going to already be RIDICULOUSLY difficult for me to sit and do nothing for several weeks. I am not a sit and do nothing kind of girl. So the sooner that this whole thing can begin healing the better.

6) Should I have a nipple sparing or a non-nipple sparing mastectomy? Until all of the researching that I have done, I never actually realized that nipple's are considered breast tissue and therefore in a preventative mastectomy they normally remove them. However, due to the face that all my testing came back negative (still doing the happy dance about that one!!) it might be an option for me to save my nipples in the surgery. It's a tough call though. If I am going the extreme to rid myself of as much of a risk as possible, should I just get rid of everything I can. Or should I try to retain some semblance of "normalcy" and keep one small part of me? It's an odd thing to think about...nipples or no nipples?

7) What are the different kinds of implants and what are the pros and cons of each? A conversation I NEVER imagined that I would be having. It seems so very Playboy. Oo la la!

8) One of the most important questions I can think to ask...How much will this reduce my risk of getting breast cancer? After the surgery they take away all of the breast tissue that they have removed and send it away for pathology. They check for pre-cancerous and cancerous tissues. Based on those results they will be able to let me know how much I have reduced my risk. An amazing thing to know.

9) Number 9 will be the hardest question to ask though as this will make everything real. When can I schedule my surgery?