Well surgery went pretty well, although I am sore I am in pretty good spirits. I will give you a rundown of my surgery day and how I am recovering so far.
Monday morning I showed up to hospital bright and early 7am. At 8:30 I was scheduled for sentinel node injections. They injected radioactive isotope into 4 spots around my tumour and then put me on a machine that shows where the isotope spreads in order to find the sentinel node. However the dye never spread and never showed the sentinel node. My surgeon reassured me the color dye would show the sentinel node and he would inject that after I was put under.
My anesthesiologist was my saviour. She was such a beautiful soul and took such fantastic care of me. I would put my life in her hands any day. She really put me at ease, which is not surprising after I found out she usually works with peads surgery. She took the time to answer my questions, make me feel comfortable and even going so far as to give me an infant IV and swapping it for the big surgery one after I was under anesthetic. She even gave me some Valium type injection which made me laugh so hard I don't even remember being wheeled into surgery, she is my hero. I also asked her to ask a nurse to call my husband when I get to recovery her response was "no, I will call him personally so he is here with you". Without her I could imagine it being a much more scary experience. I will definitely be sending her a thank you card!
My surgeon has a very good record behind him but his bedside manor was lacking. He is not very good with making me feel comfortable or answering questions but when a really good friend of mine who works at the hospital said if she had any breast issues he is the only one she would trust, it made me feel better. Its funny hot shot surgeons can always afford to have a god complex. He would be the whole package if he took some lessons from my anesthesiologist ;) He told me that the blue dye never worked either, so they just took 4 random lymph nodes. I wish I knew why my lymph nodes never showed up with the color or radioactive dye but surgeons never stick around long enough to answer my questions. Maybe my surgeon uncles could give me a hint.....
I have two big 3inch + incisions one for my lymph nodes and one for the lumpectomy. After surgery the morphine had me so whacked out I forgot to breathe a few times and so I was put on oxygen as my pulse ox got too low. Other than that all has been going well except for the morphine tablets making me super nauseous and having to take heaps of maxalon and feeling like I am going to vomit the last few days. I can't wait until I can stop the pain meds and feel better.
I get my results on the stage of cancer and lymph node involvement on October 6th, so I am praying I get some good news, it is long overdue. I also have physio and occupational therapy appointments which I will post on my important dates list. I can imagine my diary will be full of appointments for some time.
I have gotten so many flowers and visitors and people are truly being incredible. I owe a big thank you to everyone being here for me. I really missed my boys being in hospital and I am so glad to be home as I missed them like crazy. I am signing off now because I feel a bit yucky from my pain meds, so goodnight and thank you for following me and being supportive of my journey thus far.
No comments:
Post a Comment