Marni,

I completely understand your sense of relief at having made a decision. After dealing with breast cancer and, now, with probable kidney cancer, I know that waiting for results and then waiting to consult with specialists is the most excruciating part. I recently went for a ct scan in order to prepare for breast reconstruction and they found a very small cyst on my kidney. Supposedly this type of cyst has a 95% chance of being cancerous. It is completely curable and has almost no metastatic potential. I have been waiting to have a procedure called ablation, where the cyst is frozen or burned off. Because this one is so small they can't visualize it well enough to do this, so I will have to have part of my kidney removed in July. Although surgery sounds radical and scary, I am relieved to have a course of action. So, I don't want to highjack your thread, I just want to let you know that I completely understand your feelings around this.

I had a double mastectomy last year and was at home that same day. I really had little difficulty reaching things. The drains were a bit of a hassle. I ended up sewing a little inside pocket into some sweat pants so that I could tuck the drain into that. This allowed me to leave the house after a few days.

Take care,

Andrea