I'll Admit It...

  Okay, I confess, I am not completely "brave". As surgery nears, I do have a silly concern. Anesthesia. That's it. Beyond not holding my own babies for a while after I have the surgery, my only fear is of being under anesthesia for such a long time. It's kind of not even a rational fear...I mean, this isn't the 1700's and I am a very healthy individual. I am not going in for a heart transplant...I'm really healthy for the most part.

  However, my fear is similar to other "normal" fears people have. It's like when you get in the car for a long road trip and worry if you'll get in an accident and die (1 in 100). When you get on a plane and pray that you'll arrive safely to your destination (odds of death in airplane crash 1 in  20,000). When the weather is really bad, and you go outside with an umbrella and you remember all the stories about people being hit by lightning (1 in 83,930). I mean, I know I am not the only crazy person that gets a little nervous when their flight gets bumpy, or when there is an ominous storm rolling past (by the way, my all time biggest fear...tornadoes, hands down (1 in 60,000).

 I try to relax my mind, and often convince myself that I am just turning into one of those really crazy people..you know, tin foil for hats kind of people. The odds of dying under general anesthesia while undergoing a mastectomy, 1 in 200,000. So, I am ultimately more likely to die in a plane crash, in an automobile accident, or by being struck by lightening than I would by undergoing this surgery. I'd have about the same chance of dying by an astroid impact than I would under general anesthesia, which is also roughly 1 in 200,000.  

  However, the odds of dying from cancer is 1 in 7. So, my odds of a cancer related death (if I didn't have some sort of crazy unknown genetic mutation) is 1 in 7, and my odds of dying during the PBM are 1 in 200,000. These statistics are an eye opener for sure. So, I'll take my 1 in 200,000 chance with the surgery in order to save my 1 in 7 chance of dying from cancer.

 Not going to lie, I am going to see if I can take a valium before surgery though. The whole counting down from 10...no thanks. I'll just tell you goodnight, and I'll wake up amongst the small chested people in the world. Will I wake up in pain? Yeah, most likely...will it be worth it, absolutely. So, I think I'll take my chances!

(Statistics found on live science.com and heatthsearches.org...these are "lifetime" odds)