We got there at 9:30am and were checked in ready to go at 9:37am (remember the 2 hour visit, I am guessing that's why it took so long, I was truly done when I got to the hospital surgery day) and watched Rachel Ray for about 20 minutes.
I was called to the pre op room and they took blood which I later found out was for a pregnancy test (whahahahah don't have the parts) and to change into the stylish blue and green flowered robes. I was lucky, I got to wear one going backwards covered by one going forwards and those nifty little socks with hold em on the bottom. Once we confirmed I was NOT pregnant (whew, what a relief) I was escorted to a wheel chair and headed to the breast center.
Apparently I had an appointment there at 11am. In keeping with the soap opera attitude, they don't always give you the heads up of what's going on, but anyway, have you ever ridden in a wheel chair on an elevator. Wow, very fun (and I was drug free at the time) reminded me of the Superman ride at Six Flags over Texas. We pulled up to the breast center where I was greeted by all of my friends with whom I have spent many hours with the last eight months.
I had to wait a bit there and seeing as it's a breast center, men are not allowed so Whitney was in the waiting room outside the breast center. I was a bit fidgety at this point and was overwhelmed by the smell of their delicious coffee (that in the past I had thoroughly enjoyed) so I asked to go sit with Whitney. We waited there about 30 minutes and then my friend Pat came to get me. We went into the mammogram room and we took some more shots. Needed to compare post biopsy tumor to yesterday's tumor. Once those were approved, they set up the tray with the numbing solution for the radioactive dye. Let me tell you how nervous I was, I had been warned that this was so so very painful and on a scale of 1-10 it was an 11, so I was freaking out just a little bit.
They placed the cancerous breast into a vice, literally a vice with a square ruler cut out of it.
Step back in time with me a moment , back on my first biopsy I had a Dr. who was one of the nicest Dr's I have ever met. My biopsy was a very difficult one, the tumor was very deep (noticed I used the past tense since my tumor is now a part of the nuclear waste at the hospital now :)) and it required several attempts. One of the reasons was a machine mis calibration.
If you know me well, you know it is not abnormal at all for machines to break when I'm having procedures. This particular day was no different and it really stressed out Dr. E, mis calibrated machines and all.
When we were done he told me it was one of the hardest biopsies he's ever done. He was so apologetic and so nice about the biopsy being a tough one that I think the phone call to me telling me it was cancer was probably a tough one.
He confirmed this yesterday with me as he was injecting the dye. He told me he felt so bad and then when the results came back he just set his head down on the desk and was sad. His ex-wife also had breast cancer, so I think he's quite empathetic.
He told me this entire story and then I asked him when he was putting in the dye and he said "I already did." Can you believe that, I was so anxious about it and I didn't even know he was doing it. He is without a doubt part of the awesome team of Dr's at this breast center. All this was done with my breast vastly secured into spot with the vice.
They then took more pictures until the wire and the pin were lined up and I was ready to go. Not sure where I was going but I was ready!! Wire and pin, did I stump you there? When they do a biopsy they leave a marker or a pin. They have all sorts of crazy names due to the fact that you might have more than one in a breast. I have four in one breast, so they are all different pretzel, butterfly, etc. They are made from titanium and mark the tumor so the rest of the Dr's can find it easily. They place a wire sticking out of the breast touching the pin (I think I didn't go to school for this and this is the information I gathered) as a marker for the surgeon. Some surgeons use a wire that they cover with a cup, my surgeon used a wire that they taped back down to my breast. I got all taped up and grabbed Whitney (poor guy, has his laptop out, his briefcase, coffee, phone and no warning we were leaving-he looked like he was trying to catch a train or something-I felt a little sorry for him) and went down to nuclear medicine.
Unfortunately I was already familiar with nuclear medicine. Did a stint there with my dura explosion a few summers ago. I was NOT excited about revisiting. but par for the course the Dr. was as kind and gentle as possible. We were there (only Whit, Dr, myself and one other woman) for about two hours while the radioactive dye moved from the injection site to the lymph nodes. Whitney stood right there and we talked about our favorite trip destinations. He's great at distracting me and telling me funny stories. It was 2:30ish when we left there and they wheeled me back up to pre op (more FUN elevator rides).
Was assigned to room #8 where they proceeded to hook me up to all the wires and machines. It was at that point that the most painful process took place. They put the needle in my hand for the drip, oh my, I almost came off the bed. Holy cow, but I knew that would also supply the fun juice, so you give a little you get a little!! Started me on a drip and piggy backed an antibiotic. A nurse from gamma came up with her gamma (?) reader to see if the radioactive dye was where it belonged, the machine sounded like a game of pacman. It was funny, but the dye wasn't exactly where they wanted it, so she said she would return. I heard later she was in the OR.
The surgeon dropped by and explained to me again (for the 6000th thousand time) what they were doing and marked me for fun juice. (giant smile inserted here) She's awesome, told me a few more if's and but's and off she went. Shortly there after the anesthesiologist came in and started my fun juice. Pretty much I am history at this point. I know we were in there for a while, Whit says it was about an hour, then they wheeled me off to OR. I do remember seeing the office nurse in there and some bright lights, but that is it.
The most anticipated (aside from the dye injection) was the waking up from anesthesia. In the past I had shook violently, had sweats, chills, thrown up and had no idea where I was. I was absolutely terrified of how this would work out. As it turns out, it was so very pleasant (as far as coming out of anesthesia goes). I had no chills, no nausea, no bright lights, not much of anything. I heard a man saying "Caledonia" and I lifted my fingers and made the peace sign, couldn't quite open my eyes yet, and then he asked if I was in pain. I nodded my head and felt a cold injection in my hand and off I went to sleep some more.
The surgery was over two hours and they removed three lymph nodes. The radioactive dye did what it was supposed to and I didn't require the blue dye. The surgeon came out to Whitney twice he said and was very proud of her incision and the preliminary on the lymph nodes was they appeared to be negative, but path results would take a week. I haven't seen the incision yet, but apparently she was very happy with it and felt I would be too. Then my recovery was about three hours due to the fact that I kept requesting pain medication and they wanted to observe me. I figured the best stuff was at the hospital and I would get it while the getting was good!
I didn't sleep very well last night, but that's not all the surprising. I have been taking my vicodin all day and just taking it easy. All my friends who have called have said the same thing, "you sound so happy." And I am so very happy to have left a part of me at the hospital. The hard part is over, now it's cya time and cya your cya time! (chemo and radiation!)
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