Surgery

Here's a recap of the past few days... Thursday at 11:30 mom and I checked into the hospital. If you ever need a hospital, this is the place to be. Wood and marble floors, a piano player in the atrium, lots of light & windows, room service and HBO. Thornton Hospital looks more like a hotel than a hospital. It's fantastic. So, we checked in then went to radiology for my dye injection in preparation for the sentinel node biopsy. I was expecting a giant needle, but instead received 4 small injections around the nipple. This burned terribly for about 15 seconds and then was done. No big deal at all. After 15 minutes I went into a big round camera thing - kind of like an mri machine, but much shorter. The technicians were able to see the dye in my body and see the 1st lymph node, so they printed 3 photos and sent me to pre-op.

At pre-op I was in bed #8. The nurse took my vitals and I got into a hospital gown. The doctor came in and drew a map on me. I signed some papers. I managed to hold it together until the nurse was putting in my IV. Then everything became real and I started to cry. After the IV it was time for the nerve block to be administered by the anaesthesiologist. I had to sit on the side of the bed and receive 4 injections into the right side of my back. This would block the pain during and after surgery. I cried my way through this process - first because I was already crying and second because this hurt like like hell! Man did that hurt. So with crumpled tissue in hand, I was then wheeled into the operating room. A nurse injected "a margarita" into my IV. I vaguely remember seeing the operating room.

Next I remember opening my eyes and seeing the clock read 5:00. Then I remember a clock saying 6:00 and wondering why I couldn't keep my eyes open. A nurse took my vitals, told me I was out of surgery and that I could go to my room. I was wheeled on my bed through the hospital, met up with mom and dad on the way and was admitted into my room. Mom told me she had talked with my doctor and that the surgery went well and that my lymph nodes were clear. That was great news that was overshadowed by my hunger. I was starving! So I ate some lemon jello (yuck) and some apple juice. When the nurse checked my drains she noticed some bleeding. Actually she noticed that my hospital gown, dressings and bedding were all soaked with blood. I was bleeding from one of the drain sites. Apparently this is not a good thing, so the doctor was called and I was cleaned up with new dressings. The doctor said if the bleeding didn't stop I'd need to go back into the operating room so they could find the cause of the bleeding and stop it. I was watched pretty closely for a while and thankfully the bleeding subsided. The real bummer was that I was no longer allowed to eat or drink because of the chance I'd be back in surgery. Plus, with the darn IV in my arm, I had to pee every 45 minutes. This was a process, because I had to turn off and disconnect my leg squeezers (big blood pressure cuffs that squeezed my legs to prevent blood clotting), get out of bed using only 1 arm, and wheel my IV into the bathroom. By the time I got back into bed and was reconnected to the leg squeezers, I had about 30 minutes before the whole process started again. Very annoying. My mom spent the night at the hospital with me. Even though I could have come home on Friday, we decided to stay another night just in case the bleeding thing started up again.

Friday in the hospital was good. I got some sleep, got to eat, got off the IV and the pain wasn't too bad. The nerve block has not yet completely worn off, so I feel stiffness and bruises, but nothing unbearable. The pain is much better than I thought it would be. I'm home now. The worst part now are the two lovely grenade-looking drains hanging from my body. They are disgusting, heavy, and in the way. It is nearly impossible to disguise them with any clothing.

So, right now, I'm home, cancer-free, and relatively comfortable. I'm sleeping a lot and mom's not really letting me move. I'm trying to be a good patient. I have not yet opened my bandages to see the wounds or my new foob (fake boob). That will be an entirely new blog! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and notes. I feel very supported and loved and am very thankful for all of you!