The surgery

I cannot believe it was a week ago that I was passing the time, waiting to go to the hospital for my "4pm" surgery.   I am starting to feel like a semi-human again, so I am ready to recount the events of the day.

The posse (Craig, Mom, Dad, Aunt Patty) and I headed to the hospital for our planned 12:30pm arrival.   That is about the ONLY thing that was on time all day.    We waited until almost 2pm before they finally took me into the pre-surgical area.    I was supposed to be at nuclear medicine at 2pm for my radioactive dye injection so I was a bit nervous that things were already late.   I had to go into the pre-op area by myself (with the nurse, of course) and it was a bit overwhelming.    I felt really, really alone.  (I had just read in one of my cancer books that morning that there are times in your journey when you really are on your own and that was one of those times.)  

My assigned nurse was Conny, a 15 year breast cancer survivor.    She was so nice and caring and exactly the person I needed at that moment.    She was a little confused at first when looking at my file.  She started by asking me what I had already had done up to that point.  I was not sure how to answer the question so I told her the plastic surgeon had marked me up the night before.    She was still confused so she asked me basically what I was there for.     I was a little unsettled by the question but I told her a bilateral mastectomy with tissue expander reconstruction.    It turned out that she only had the paperwork from my plastic surgeon (so the reconstruction) but nothing from the breast surgeon (so the actual mastectomy).    We had a chuckle over that and she went off to find the complete paperwork.  Once she had that, she asked me the standard medical questions, got my IV in and rushed me off to nuclear medicine since I was already 45 minutes late.

The dye injection was SO much easier than I had thought it would be.  I am not sure if I just had a really good surgeon who did it or I had let my imagination run wild.    It was not the most comfortable injection but totally bearable.    The surgeon looked a bit like Grizzly Adams - maybe that distracted me!  ;)    I had to wait there for a while until the dye made its way to the nodes so the surgeon could find them with the scanner and then mark their placement with an "X" on my skin.   Pretty high tech!  :)

Then it was back to pre-op to wait and wait and wait...    Unfortunately, Craig had left by the time I got back there because he had to take Raymond to golf class so I was bummed I did not get to see him but my mom and dad kept me company, until dad had to leave to take care of the kids so Craig could come back.    We saw my breast surgeon at around 4pm (my surgery time) and found out she still had 1 more procedure before me.    (The first surgery of the day in my OR had run late or started late so they whole schedule was off.)      So we just kept waiting as more and more people got taken for their procedures.     At the end, there were only 2 or 3 other people in pre-op and they all seemed to be people who had come from the ER - no other scheduled surgeries.  

I was feeling a bit impatient and frustrated.   I had my "cheering crowd" all ready for the 4pm start and now it was nearly 6pm.    I felt like no one was thinking about me anymore - I know not true but you are not exactly rational while waiting for major cancer-related surgery.     The man in the pre-op area right next to me was in for some hand surgery after an injury at work.    To confirm they have the right person, doctors and nurses are always asking for your name and date of birth.   His date of birth was June 11, which is the day my cousin Cathy lost her battle with melanoma in 2010.   I immediately knew I was not alone and it was the most comforting feeling.  I knew my angel cousin (and everyone else she was hanging out with in heaven that night) were right there beside me.

At some point, my plastic surgeon and breast surgeon came by to make the final determination on how to do the surgery.    The night before the plastic surgeon had done 2 mark-ups on my chest so he could get the breast surgeon's advice.   The prodded and squished and pulled at me (nicely apologizing the whole time) and made their decision.    I am pretty sure the way they did it made the breast surgeon's job a bit more difficult but will result in a better cosmetic outcome.     I am SO happy I went with my breast/plastic surgeon pair.  It was so clear that they work well together and respect each other as physicians.    Friday was the first time I had ever seen them together.

Not long after that the anesthesiologist came by the introduce himself and gave me something fun that calmed me down even more  :)    and then they took me into the OR at almost 6:30pm!    I was not awake for long in there but I remember a lot of activity from everyone except my breast surgeon.   She stood right next to me, holding my hand and stroking my arm until I fell asleep.   It really helped put me at ease.  And then I was out!

To be continued...