The hospital stay

My surgery finally wrapped up late Friday night - maybe 10:30ish?    Craig and Mom saw the breast surgeon when she was done at 9ish and learned the good news about the clear lymph nodes.    Turns out the surgeon was worried that there would be cancer in the nodes when she first got in there because they were "hard" or something like that AND she had to call the pathologist back in because she identified a few more nodes on my right side (along the rib cage rather than under my armpit) that she wanted tested.    In all, I lost 5 nodes on the right side and 2 on the left.    Not bad at all!    She also was able to save my left nipple because no evidence of cancer was shown in that part of the tissue.   (I knew going into the surgery that the right one would be removed due to the location of the tumors.)   A while later when the plastic surgeon was done, he went to see Craig and Mom to let them know his part of the surgery had gone well too.

I was in recovery for a while.   I remember the final time I woke up, as I am sure I had probably been in and out a few times before I really woke up.    The first thing I said was "ouch."    I was a tad bit sore.     I kept trying to get the attention of the nurses wandering around and when I did, my next word was "family."  I really wanted to see Craig and Mom.    They came in not long after and it was so great to see them.   I was so happy the surgery was done.    The time flew by for me :)  not so much for them!    They finally wheeled me up to my room at around 1am.   Luckily I was in my own room!  It was tiny but no roommate.    

The weekend is kind of a blur.    My plastic surgeon was not lying when he told me the recovery from this kind of surgery was painful but I had lots of meds for the first day - morphine, valium, zofran (anti-nausea because my system did not like the anesthesia and/or morphine) and others, I am sure.   I was REALLY loopy that first day - I would be talking and then all of the sudden stop because I had no idea what I was talking about and neither did the other people in the room.   It was a bit scary to me but normal, I guess.   My vision was also blurry for a little while - I could read a sign across the room with no issues but had trouble reading stuff on my Blackberry.    That cleared up after a while.  

Day 2 (Sunday) was really rough.    They shut off the morphine pump because the plastic surgeon thought that was partially responsible for the nausea but no one really explained to me that (1) pain medication would only be given on an "as needed" basis and (2) what kind of medication was available to me.    I basically got behind in the pain management and the nurse and nurses aides were not particularly helpful or sympathetic.   By mid-afternoon, I wanted to talk to my plastic surgeon because of the pain and something else I was worried about and the nurse really did not want to call him, telling me he'd check in that evening and they would talk to him them.   My Mom went all "Mother Hen" on her and the nurse finally called him.  (Thank God for my Mom!!)   Within 2 minutes, my cell phone rang and it was the plastic surgeon.    He totally talked me down from the ledge and asked me if they had been given me any valium (which helps relax the muscles along with its other function) which they had not so he told me I should have some.    I could not completely tell but I think he was a bit annoyed with the nursing staff.   He did not seem at all annoyed with me that I insisted on talking to him.   (I could hear his 16-month-old daughter in the background.)   Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my plastic surgeon?    

Things got a little better from there but I could not wait to get the hell out of the hospital.   My advice to anyone having surgery - try to have it during the week.   The nurse I had for just the few hours I was in the hospital on Monday morning was AMAZING!    Nice and caring and attentive.   (My weekend overnight nurse was very nice but I did not see him much since I was sleeping for most of that time.)    My other advice is make sure (with a competent other adult in the room who is not in pain) that you completely understand what medications they are automatically giving you, what meds are available, what they are for and how often you can take them.   Don't let yourself get behind in the pain because it really sucks to try and get caught up!!!

After the plastic and breast surgeons both cleared me, we headed home.   They kids were at daycare so I had time to get comfortable and nap before they came home.  It felt great to be home and taken care of by Craig and my Mom.   No more waiting for pain meds.   The service was quick and kind!  ;)    It was great to see the kids on Monday night although the flurry of activity was a bit exhausting.  

On Tuesday, a visiting nurse came by the check me out and all was good except I was still having stomach issues with the pain medication (vicodin).   I decided to stop taking it and just take advil and tylenol for the pain and the valium to relax the muscles.   At this point,  I only take the valium overnight as it makes me a bit tired during the day.   I am definitely still quite sore especially because I have these 4 drains that get the post-surgical fluid out of my body.   They are incredibly annoying to hide and cause some major soreness where they come out of my skin.   I hope to get rid of 2 of them when I see the plastic surgeon on Monday and the other 2 a week later.  

I must say the recovery has been harder than I thought it would be.    It hurts and I am tired but I am CANCER-FREE so it is worth every ache and pain I have and continue to go through!   Each day really is better and better.   Yesterday I even walked to the end of the driveway to get the mail - my first venture outside the house.   It was thrilling!   :)   After 2 days of horrible rain, it was nice to get some fresh air!