We dropped Mimi at the dog sitter the night before and I am glad we did because we didn't get home until about 6:30pm.
I got to the hospital and checked in at the short term stay unit on the 18th floor. A nurse then did a pre-op assessment and asked me a bunch of questions for my chart. She gave me gowns to change in to and then we waited for awhile as I was scheduled to get the wire placement at 9, the dye at 10 (at mount Sinai) and surgery at 12:15.
Another nurse escorted us to the 3rd floor for the wire placement. She had an Angel pin on her scrubs and it made me feel better :)
An ultrasound tech and radiologist worked together to locate my lump/clip area using the ultrasound and then froze the area and placed the wire. They taped it down so it wasn't sticking out too. The ultrasound tech made a comment about the lump shrinking a lot but didn't say it was completely gone, which made me nervous. I am/was hoping it was gone. But based on past experience I won't rely on a tech anyways - more than one had said it looked like fibroademona during my diagnostic tests.
I waited around for quite a while before I was taken to the nuclear medicine area of mount Sinai. They took me over in a wheelchair which was a bit odd but I guess hospital protocol. They injected the dye and then were able to identify my sentinal nodes for the surgeon, so the biopsy could be done. These are the nodes that are most likely to have cancer if it spreads.
I went directly to the surgery area next as I was running behind. When I got there I felt a bit swarmed by nurses, the anastetic resident and another nurse in training. They explained how the anastetic would work and asked me a bunch of questions about my health and previous surgeries. They tried several times to find a vein in my left arm, which I was afraid of happening since my veins are small and are even worse since chemo. Eventually the main anesthesiologist who was watching from afar said to take a break and bring me in the operating room.
I was wheeled in and that's when my surgeon gave everyone the business! She was pissed because they were all around me and she hadn't had a chance to "speak to the patient." I felt bad for the nursing team! But my surgeon came over and she was very kind to me and reassured me she would take care of me. She said I had already done the hard part with chemo. I was super nervous at this point, as I don't like being put under and I was worried about the surgery, so it helped to get her reassurance.
The main anesthesiologist then took over looking for a vein. He tried three more times I think. Finally they found one and everyone started getting me ready. It felt like greys anatomy! All these people around me and some just there learning/assisting. I remember someone going over my chart and the procedure for the team, and then they put an oxygen mask on me. A couple minutes later I was out and then the next memory was the recovery room. When I woke up I just felt out of it and thirsty. My surgeon came in awhile later and told me everything went very well and also that the lymph nodes were negative!!! I said thank god, and she said that's what your husband said too :)
Once I woke up a bit more I was wheeled back to the short term stay unit, and Jeff walked along with me. There was another woman in my room when we got back. I got into bed for awhile, and they gave me some morphine for pain, and eventually ate something too. I started to feel nauseous so I asked for gravol, which made me very sleepy. I was there from about 3:30 til 5:45. I asked a couple times if I could leave and they wanted me to wait a bit longer. The other woman in the room with me was chatting it up with her friend and there wasn't much privacy. It was noisy and not very comfortable so I am glad I didn't have to stay overnight.
I was pretty glad to get home to my own bed. Almost 48 hours later I feel pretty decent. I am sore and a bit tired but I have been taking Tylenol extra strength and that seems good enough! I go back to see the surgeon on November 23rd to review the pathology report. I will be still hoping for a pathological complete response - meaning chemo destroyed the cancer completely. But whatever the outcome I feel like the cancer is gone at this point. The surgery got rid of anything that remained, and radiation is just my insurance policy. :)
View from the hospital room
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