Review of Mammograms, Ultrasounds and Pathology Slides
If you are having your surgery at the Comprehensive Breast Center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, your mammograms, ultrasounds and breast biopsy slides must be reviewed by the St. Luke’s-Roosevelt’s radiologists and pathologists. Please send or bring the films and pathology slides to Dr. Rosenbaum Smith’s office, located at 425 West 59 Street, Suite 7A, New York, NY 10019. If you have any questions, please call Mary Pepin, Medical Records Secretary, at (212) 523-7177.

Presurgical testing
You will need blood tests, an EKG, and a chest x-ray approximately one week before your surgery. The surgical coordinator at the Comprehensive Breast Center, Jancy Grimaldi, will make the appointments and provide directions to pre-admission testing. Ms. Grimaldi's phone number is (212) 523-7100.

Injection for Sentinel Node Biopsy
If you are having a sentinel node biopsy, the necessary injection of Technicium will take place at the Nuclear Medicine Department on the fourth floor of Roosevelt Hospital. The injection will be done the day prior to or the day of surgery. The surgical coordinator at the Comprehensive Breast Center, Jancy Grimaldi, will make the appointments and provide directions. Ms. Grimaldi's phone number is (212) 523-7100.

Day of Surgery
If you are having a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, your surgery will be performed as outpatient surgery on the fourth floor of 425 West 59 Street (three floors below Dr. Rosenbaum Smith’s office). You should report there approximately one hour before your surgery.

If you are having a wire localization procedure, please check with Ms. Jancy Grimaldi about the exact time of your admission to the outpatient surgical department on the fourth floor of 425 West 59 Street. If you are having a mastectomy, you will be admitted to Roosevelt Hospital. Please report to the fifth floor of Roosevelt Hospital approximately two hours before surgery.

Lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, and mastectomy and sentinel node biopsy take approximately one and one-half hours. Dr. Rosenbaum Smith will speak with your family in the waiting room after the surgery.

Medications
You may take your medications with a sip of water the morning of your surgery. Please do not take aspirin or other anti-coagulants ten days before your surgery.

Surgical Drains
Patients undergoing mastectomy routinely have one or two drains exiting from the skin in the chest. These drains will be removed approximately one week after surgery. The purpose of the drains is to remove any fluids that have collected in the surgical area. Detailed instructions about caring for the drains will be given to you before you leave the hospital.

Recovery At Home
When you leave the ambulatory surgery recovery room or the hospital, you may feel tired, but pain will be minimal. A prescription for Tylenol with codeine will have been given to you before your surgery. Normal activities at home can be resumed as soon as possible. You may go back to work as soon as you feel well enough. For women having lumpectomies, or mastectomies without reconstruction, this may be in a few days to a week. For women having mastectomies with reconstruction, recovery at home may take three weeks. You may drive locally two to three days after lumpectomy or mastectomy, and one week after mastectomy with reconstruction.

Pathology Report
Your pathology report will be available one week after your surgery. Please schedule your first post-operative appointment with Dr. Rosenbaum Smith eight days after your surgery, so that you can discuss further treatment and make appointments with the Medical and Radiation Oncologists.

Long Term Follow-Up
Dr. Rosenbaum Smith would like to see all patients at the three-month mark following surgery. Women who have had lumpectomies will also need a mammogram of the operated breast, which will be considered the new baseline mammogram, at that time.

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