December 14th
The day has finally come. I had mixed feelings about it. Part of me was afraid and the other part just wanted this over with. I kept trying to tell myself that surgery has to be easier than chemo. It's only one day and if all goes well, you should recover quickly. Chemo was 16 weeks of torture. Not only were you sick but you watched yourself physically transform. Surgery is one step closer to beating cancer. So I was as ready as I could be. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am. So here we go.
My 1st appointment was at 8:00am. I had to get a nuclear dye injection. The dye would gravitate to the lymph nodes leading the surgeon to the ones he wanted to take a sample of. I signed in and the female behind the desk made a comment about the injection hurting. What? Of course, being as stressed as I was, I have no idea what conversations took place between me and any staff at the hospital. But in this particular situation, I must have asked her if the procedure hurt and I can't believe that she actually said yes so of course I was slightly freaking out. When they took me back the doctor explained to me that I would get 4 needles in my left breast each depositing a small amount of nuclear dye. This will be done without any numbing meds. Can I tell you getting pricked 4 times in your breast really hurts. And the dye hurt too. I was yelping and whimpering. Ken was holding my hand but he just couldn't take the pain away. Luckily it was rather quick.
My next appointment was at 9:00am. This was a needle placement. It sounds horrible and it was but at least they numbed my breast this time. The nurse placed my breast in a mammogram machine. (OUCH!) While there, she took several photos to document the micro chip that was placed there when Dr. Simm did a biopsy a few months back. (Starting to cry) She then numbed my breast, took a needle and ran a wire through the needle all the way to the micro chip. The doc said this is like a map to the lump which will guide the surgeon during surgery. Not only is the surgeon going to take a sample of where the cancer was, he's going to remove the micro chip. They took a few more photos and then taped the wire to my chest so my hospital gown didn't rub it. Ken was not in the room for this procedure which we thought was odd.
Finally I was sent to the pre-op room. The nurses gave me liquids through an IV. Yup, gotta love the IV. They went over my medical records asking me if I was allergic to anything, what procedure I was getting, my name, birth date, etc. I answered all questions. Seemed like I laid there forever. I even dozed off a few times. My stomach was growling. I hadn't eaten anything since last night. On our way to the hospital we must of past 50 restaurants all filled with people eating breakfast.
All I could think about was food. My surgery was suppose to be at 11:00am but no one came to get me. Ken and I assumed that the surgeon was running behind schedule since we did hear he was already in surgery this morning. Finally around noon tons of people showed up. They all introduced themselves to me. It was all so fast and the next thing I know the surgeon came in to check on me. It was just about that time. Nerves kicked in again and the tears were rolling out of my eyes. They gave me some tissues and told me to say goodbye to Ken. Off they took me down the hallway as I watched the lights in the ceiling go by. They wheeled me in to the surgery room and had me get off the gurney to lie on the operating table. A nurse waved to me and the next thing I know, I'm in the recovery room.
The day has finally come. I had mixed feelings about it. Part of me was afraid and the other part just wanted this over with. I kept trying to tell myself that surgery has to be easier than chemo. It's only one day and if all goes well, you should recover quickly. Chemo was 16 weeks of torture. Not only were you sick but you watched yourself physically transform. Surgery is one step closer to beating cancer. So I was as ready as I could be. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am. So here we go.
My 1st appointment was at 8:00am. I had to get a nuclear dye injection. The dye would gravitate to the lymph nodes leading the surgeon to the ones he wanted to take a sample of. I signed in and the female behind the desk made a comment about the injection hurting. What? Of course, being as stressed as I was, I have no idea what conversations took place between me and any staff at the hospital. But in this particular situation, I must have asked her if the procedure hurt and I can't believe that she actually said yes so of course I was slightly freaking out. When they took me back the doctor explained to me that I would get 4 needles in my left breast each depositing a small amount of nuclear dye. This will be done without any numbing meds. Can I tell you getting pricked 4 times in your breast really hurts. And the dye hurt too. I was yelping and whimpering. Ken was holding my hand but he just couldn't take the pain away. Luckily it was rather quick.
My next appointment was at 9:00am. This was a needle placement. It sounds horrible and it was but at least they numbed my breast this time. The nurse placed my breast in a mammogram machine. (OUCH!) While there, she took several photos to document the micro chip that was placed there when Dr. Simm did a biopsy a few months back. (Starting to cry) She then numbed my breast, took a needle and ran a wire through the needle all the way to the micro chip. The doc said this is like a map to the lump which will guide the surgeon during surgery. Not only is the surgeon going to take a sample of where the cancer was, he's going to remove the micro chip. They took a few more photos and then taped the wire to my chest so my hospital gown didn't rub it. Ken was not in the room for this procedure which we thought was odd.
Finally I was sent to the pre-op room. The nurses gave me liquids through an IV. Yup, gotta love the IV. They went over my medical records asking me if I was allergic to anything, what procedure I was getting, my name, birth date, etc. I answered all questions. Seemed like I laid there forever. I even dozed off a few times. My stomach was growling. I hadn't eaten anything since last night. On our way to the hospital we must of past 50 restaurants all filled with people eating breakfast.
All I could think about was food. My surgery was suppose to be at 11:00am but no one came to get me. Ken and I assumed that the surgeon was running behind schedule since we did hear he was already in surgery this morning. Finally around noon tons of people showed up. They all introduced themselves to me. It was all so fast and the next thing I know the surgeon came in to check on me. It was just about that time. Nerves kicked in again and the tears were rolling out of my eyes. They gave me some tissues and told me to say goodbye to Ken. Off they took me down the hallway as I watched the lights in the ceiling go by. They wheeled me in to the surgery room and had me get off the gurney to lie on the operating table. A nurse waved to me and the next thing I know, I'm in the recovery room.
I'm so groggy. My eyes opened slightly and I could see a lady across from me and a lady next to me. These are tiny little rooms with curtains that separate us but for some reason all our curtains were open. I have no idea what time it was. I heard the nurse talk to me. I told her I didn't feel good. All of the sudden I started to throw up. But nothing came out. She gave me ice chips and called for someone to bring me nausea medicine. I tried to mumble that I was hungry, that's why I was sick but I was so out of it. So with the nausea meds, back to sleep I went.
This was a long day. From what Ken told me, Dr. Purkert said from the samples he took, they were all cancer free. He did take 2 entire lymph nodes and even though those lymph nodes showed no cancer present, the doctor felt they were just to suspicious to leave them in. The entire surgery lasted about 2 hours and because it was minor surgery, I got stitches and glue. Thank goodness!!!
So now, 6 days later, I'm recovering nicely. Out of the 3 wounds, most of my pain is under my arm where the lymph nodes were removed. I meet with Dr. Purkert next Tuesday for a look over and to discuss the pathology report. But as of now, my surgery was a SUCCESS!!!!
Thanks you for your encouraging e-mails.
XOXO Jen
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