I am little behind. Ok A LOT behind. I am one of those people that has the best of intentions, but not always the best follow through; especially when life gets BUSY. And let’s be honest….when is life NOT busy with 3 kids in school, sports and other activities? The problem with having good intentions however, is that people have no idea what you are “thinking of doing” or “planning to do”; they just know what you actually “DO”.
So if I am not able to actually “do” something, I should at least talk about it, right? That way people know that I “mean” to do it…I just don’t know when I will actually “get” to doing it. *smile*
The chronological side of me really wants to post blog entries in the order they happen, but the realistic side of me knows that if I wait to do that, then I might not be able to post for a while, and I really want to give you all the latest on how things are going. So I am going to go ahead with an update about how surgery went, but will probably circle back at another time to talk about and share Race for the Cure pictures and other things I may have missed along the way.
Here goes…
My surgery was on Tuesday, May 14th. I arrived at the hospital around 5:45 a.m. to start the registration process. I was a little nervous, but happy to have Aaron right by my side to reassure me along the way. I knew that it was probably a routine surgery, but as with any surgery, there is always a small chance that something could go wrong. I guess that small percentage entitles me to worry at least a little bit anyways, right?
Luckily I didn’t have a lot of time to sit and worry. The morning actually went by pretty quickly. I got to change into one of those flattering gowns that doesn’t close all the way. I answered a lot of questions. They took my vitals. I had to put on a silly hat that seemed way too big for me (not sure why since I have no hair, but I am sure I looked lovely…it was a cross between a lunch lady hat and something that resembled Bozo the clown J).
My photographer friend Tina got up bright and early to come to the hospital to document this chapter in my journey. (Thank you my dear!) I know that it’s probably not a common thing to bring one’s photographer along to the hospital (unless one is going to have a baby), but I wanted her there to capture this…regardless of how painful or hard it might be, it is part of my journey and I wanted to record it.
Before going into surgery they gave me an IV and my 2 surgeons came in to my pre-op room. 1 surgeon would be doing the double mastectomy and lymph node removal and the other surgeon was scheduled to do reconstruction surgery later in September. They conferred on what would be the best area to remove and what they should try to keep for reconstruction later. My chest area became a canvas of sorts as they drew on me with a purple marker.
Shortly after that, I remember lying down in my pre-op bed. To be honest…the rest is a total blur. I don’t even remember entering the surgical room, which is very different from any of the other surgeries I have had before. From there, the surgery took an hour or two, and then I spent some time in recovery before they wheeled me to my hospital room.
My 1st nurse was wonderful. She made sure I was propped with pillows where necessary and made me feel comfortable in general. (I am SO thankful for nurses that are nurturing and offer to help instead of waiting for you to ask! I am NOT a fan, however, of the nurses that are all business and tend to be huge task masters….thankfully I had only 1 of those during my stay!)
My surgery required me to spend at least one night in the hospital, but I was experiencing A LOT of pain on my left side, so I ended up staying two. I had 3 drainage tubes inserted into my chest area. 1 on the right side, and 2 on the left side. (Tubes are inserted into surgical areas to help keep your swelling down, and the drainage bulbs need to be emptied and measured a couple of times a day to track your healing process.)
I expected to be extremely sore throughout my chest area, but I really only had serious pain on my left side (where they removed 13 lymph nodes). I am sure the pain was due to the extensiveness of the surgery on that side and the doctor also thought that one of the drainage tubes might be sitting on one of my nerves (hence the excessive tears and yelps whenever they moved that one specific tube…OUCH!). Luckily, I had pain meds that were helpful in easing my pain so I could rest easy.
Aaron was a trooper and spent BOTH nights in the hospital room in one of those uncomfortable recliner chairs. I told him he didn’t have to stay, but I was very thankful to have him there with me. I even had a couple of dear friends stop by to spend time with me. (Thank you Mon and Kari….I enjoyed visiting with you very much!)
How did the surgery go? Well….the surgeon originally told Aaron that it went like he had expected it would, which is good. What’s even BETTER though, is that the pathology reports of the tissue and lymph nodes that were removed did NOT SHOW ANY CANCER!!! HOORAY!!!!!
I was surprised to hear him utter the words “cancer free”. What? Did I just hear what I think I heard? As wonderful as that sounds, I found it hard to process this. It was an unexpected statement and I wasn’t positive if he knew FOR SURE that I was cancer free, so I embraced it with a sense of “cautious optimism”. I wanted to talk to my oncologist on a deeper level to figure out what that really meant.
In
the meantime, I was content to collect my things and head home to rest some
more. They sent me home with pain meds and directions on how to empty my
drainage tubes twice a day. Luckily, someone had recommended that I purchase a
special camisole before going into surgery. It zipped in the front and it had
two velcro pockets to hold the drainage bulbs in place. (If you know someone
having this kind of surgery, I would HIGHLY recommend them getting 2 of these after
surgery. One to wear, while the other
one is in the laundry. J )
Below
are some pictures that my photographer friend, Tina Vega, captured at the
hospital the day of my surgery. (You can click on them to enlarge the pictures.)
I
am working at getting caught up on my blog entries….hoping to update you more within
the week! Thanks for being patient with my sporadic-ness. *smile*
Love
to all!
Nae
