It's been a few weeks since my mastectomy. I am still healing. I am not 100%, but each day I am slowly getting better. While I sit here and heal, I have thought about putting a post together to try and help other ladies who may be facing a mastectomy and answer any sort of questions that they may have. One thing one has to remember is that every one is different. Everyone heals a certain way. Everyone has a different pain tolerance. But here are a few things that I thought were very helpful and wish someone had told me... or they did tell me.
Pre-surgery
* It's okay to cry. Going into surgery is and can be a frightening experience. It's okay to shed your big girl panties (literally, you have to). There's lots of things that can go wrong while under anesthesia and it's okay to be a little or a lot freaked out.
* If you go to OHSU, be prepared to take a shower the night before and the morning of with this putrid smelling "soap." It's an anti-bacterial wash to get all the germs off of your body.
* Change the bedding the day before your surgery. When you get home, and you want to lie in bed, it's nicest to do it on fresh sheets.
* Packing - pack light. Pack a pair of pants that are easy on and off (think elastic, yoga pants). You don't want to be buttoning and zipping up a zipper. My sister-in-law got me a great shirt from Heal in Comfort. The shirt was nice and comfortable and I wore it for days. Pack some socks and a pair of underwear. Bring a book, iPod or something to do in your down time. Unless you like daytime TV, TV sucks. Pack a shirt that buttons up or zips. Wear easy on/off shoes to slip into while you're in the hospital. Toiletries too.
* Pack a few snacks, easy on the tummy. When you order room service, it usually takes 45 minutes to an hour.
* Pack one of those neck things that you bring on an airplane. You'll be sleeping sort of upright for a few days.
* Shop. Make sure you've got your fridge and pantry stocked up.
* Make plans to have help with you the first week.
* Leave that toe nail polish on! They didn't say anything about my red toe nails. I also had on clear polish on my fingers. No one said a word.
* Ask your surgeon if you will see any bandages on your chest following the surgery. My surgeon used dermabond which goes over the incision and makes it waterproof. In addition, my surgeon doesn't use any "bounding" or bandages. However, if I wanted to be put into a camisole or something, she would have done that.
* Make your post-surgery check up before surgery.
Surgery
* Yes, they will intubate you - put a tube down your throat to help you breathe.
* They will most likely before you wake up from surgery drain your bladder. That means a catheder.
* You'll meet your surgeon again, the anesthesist, nurse anesthesist, head nurse of the OR and more. It's a bit overwhelming.
Post-surgery
* If your at all modest, throw it out the window. They've seen it all!
* Have an advocate with you. When you get out of surgery you're weak. I could barely press the "Nurse" button on the bed and when I got one, they could barely hear me because I could barely talk because of the tube that was down my throat.
* If you have to use the bathroom, try your hardest to do it yourself by getting out of bed. But do it slowly. Get help from everyone you can. I went about 8 hours after surgery. It took about 10 minutes for me to get from the bed to the bathroom about 10 feet away. I first sat up, rest, swung my legs over the side of the bed, rest, stood up, rest, walked a bit, rest, walked more and got to the toilet. I did tell everyone to give me privacy so I could pee. I don't pee well when everyone is watching me. And yes, they do measure the amount of urine output. (This is where having easy on/off shoes works great)
* Expect drains to be annoying. They are stitched in place. Pin them to your hospital gown.
* Expect to be sore - as in you just bench pressed your max about 100 times.
* Expect not to be able to take a deep breath in. Shallow breaths are all you can do until the swelling goes down, and if you had immediate reconstruction the pectoral muscles will be sore.
* Don't worry about wearing underwear. It's over rated after surgery in a hospital.
* Get up and walk as much as possible.
* Don't expect to get lots of sleep. Nursing shift change and vitals to be taken every 4 hours makes sleeping a pain.
* Keep a barf bucket nearby.
* Make sure you have water handy at all times.
* You may get a cough. This is a result of the intubation. I coughed a lot and got a lot of phlegmy stuff up.
* Fill your prescriptions at the hospital pharmacy.
* Expect the male CNAs to ask if you need any help with hygeine. I had to laugh because all the male CNAs asked if I need help. None of the women did.
Going home, I wore the same elastic pants I came to the hospital in. I also wore a mastectomy camisole home with the drains attached to it. The cami zips in the front. I didn't velcro the drains to it, but rather pinned them to the camisole itself. I tried, but it was too uncomfortable. If you get a bra or cami specifically for the drains, make sure your cami is roomy around the chest because it will be swollen. Also in the car, I made sure the seatbelt didn't touch my chest. You can put a pillow or something where the belt goes across the chest to pad it.
At Home
* If you had a double mastectomy, you won't be able to lean on anything in any direction because of the drains.
* Use lots of pillows.
* Don't forget to move around. You are at a higher risk for blood clots following surgery.
* Rest
* Do your exercises to get your shoulders working again.
* If you had axillary dissection, watch for cording or axillary web syndrome. If you suspect you have it, then tell your surgeon and have them refer you to a physical therapist who is certified in lymphedema.
* Get a lanyard to hook your drains on when taking a shower. Your first shower will feel great but take it very slow.
* Driving - my doctor said I could resume driving after I stopped taking narcotics and could turn my head left and right without pain.
* Drains - My surgeon said that the drains can come out when it stopped draining over 30mL in a 24 hour period for 48 hours. Again, the magic number is less than 30. For example: Day 5, in a 24 hour period, my drain collected 29mL cummulative. On Day 6, I measured 25mL of fluid in a 24 hour period. That means I can get the drain out. Now if on Day 6, I measured 33mL of fluid in a 24 hour period, I would not get the drain out. It has to be 30mL or less in a 24 hour period for two days straight. Mine came out one drain at a time.
* Stay on top of your pain medication.
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Day 127 - Oophorectomy Surgery, Breast Surgery & Breast Reconstruction Surgery
Sorry that I haven't been posting as frequently. I have been busy at work, getting over a cold and just busy when I get home to get to the computer to really post. Most of you may be wondering what happened at my three appointments on Thursday. Well, two out of three of them went well...
First appointment was with the Gynecologist Oncologist or gynoc. The appointment started off well enough. I went in and we started discussing the oophorectomy. Somewhere during our discussion the appointment went from a consultation to a pre-op appointment. The doctor left and told me she wanted to examine me and to get undressed. Then she came back in and looked at me and did a pap test and more. Then she left and said we'll discuss more of the surgery when she returned. But before she returned, her nurse came in with a tray full of blood. I said what are those tests for? She said she didn't know and said she could go and ask. I said yes because I didn't want to give blood without knowing. She left and then came back in. Turns out she was getting blood for pre-op stuff. I said, no. I didn't want to give any blood through my port because I was going to be talking to my other surgeons and they might want some other tests done and I didn't want my port accessed twice in one day. Hell no. Then I just broke down in tears because it was happening all so fast and the doctor didn't even tell me what the hell was going on. She had disappeared and said she'd be back to talk about the surgery. I figured we'd talk more about what went on and ask more questions. At that time the doctor came back in and I asked her what was going on. I said I came in for a consultation and where did this turn into something else? She replied that "You seemed certain that you wanted the surgery so I went ahead and made this into a pre-op appointment." I said, "Where did that change?" I told her I was a planner and I don't like surprises and I feel like I am being surprised right now and it doesn't feel good. It was at that time that she actually took time to discuss with me the procedure and what sort of other tests are she's going to need... blood, ultrasound and something else. I refused to give blood, so they set it up that after I meet with the other surgeons, I can get my blood drawn. We also talked about if I should get my mastectomy with immediate reconstruction and the oophorectomy done at the same time. I hadn't decided because I hadn't talked to the other surgeons yet. So after that discussion, we went through the pre-op stuff, like the risks and what not. She does laproscopic surgery. She'll make up to 6 incisions in my abdomen to snip and drag out the fallopian tubes and the ovaries. Once they are taken out, they are sent to the lab to be "staged" - to see if there were any microscopic cancer cells/tumors. In about two weeks the results come back. Now normally if I wasn't BRCA positive, they would stage in the operating room. But they want to be certain that everything is okay. The surgery takes about 2 hours and if I was doing this as a stand alone surgery, I would go home the same day. I asked Brad if I was overreacting about the whole appointment. He said no, because he thought that this was going to be a consulation appointment and not a preoperative appointment. He noticed that it changed its course with no warning. I am not sure if I want to go with her. I may talk with Brooke or Christine about her because I am not sure if I want to go with her because of her bedside manner.
Following that disasterous appointment, Brad and I walked to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch. That was a nice walk... it's about a mile away if that. We had a nice lunch and then walked back to OHSU's Center for Health and Healing for our next two appointments. We meandered our way back because we had about an hour to kill.
We got to our appointment about 20 minutes early and then were led back into a room about 2.30p. On our way there, I saw Maureen one of the CNA who works with Dr. Luoh. Then I passed the nurses station with the schedulers and Brooke was there. She ran out to give me a big hug. We talked for just a moment before we went to the our room. To make a really long wait short... I wandered out of the room and up to the nurse's desk to talk to Brooke. I told her about the disasterous Gynoc appointment. She and the scheduler, Sierra, were happy that I stood up for myself and said No and stopped all procedures from happening. They said that many patients don't advocate for themselves and just go with it. I always try to be in the know and so that way I am prepared. In any case, I saw Dr. Pommier, the surgeon who put in my port while I was chatting with the ladies. He called me out and asked, "How's it going Mrs. Rake?" I laughed. Finally after 3p, I finally got in to see Dr. Naik. She was finishing up with a patient. She looked at my boobs and was impressed that I responded so well to treatment. We talked about surgery and the whole appointment was driven by me and Brad asking questions. My first question after she examined me was "Would you suggest that I be a candidate for a lumpectomy now - IF I wasn't BRCA positive?" She said yes. That's all I wanted to know. I don't want a lumpectomy, I just wanted to know if I responded well enough to the treatment where a lumpectomy was a possibility. I'm still getting a double mastectomy. I asked how long the surgery takes... normally 4-5 hours. We discussed whether we should do an oophorectomy at the same time. She said that some patients do, but recovery time is longer. She suggested that I not do it at the same time. The oophorectomy will have to be done after her surgery, so that would mean I would be under anesthesia for 6 hours at the minimum and that's too long. Good to know. We talked about drains (a question she deferred to Dr. Thaker), good clothes to wear afterwards, pain protocol (narcotics, she uses IV pain, then changes to pill form as soon as the patient can handle pills), port removal (she's going to take out the port during the surgery - hooray!), is surgery scheduled for morning or afternoon (morning). I also asked what kind of lymph node dissection she will do. She said she would do an axillary dissection. She will take out 10-20 nodes depending on how many are there. Each person has different amounts of nodes in their body. She said that she will take out the cluster that was affected under my arm... and that may be anywhere between 10-20. I asked about the different levels of node dissection. She said that they normally do Level 1 and 2. Level 3 is where it's deep in the body and she normally doesn't do those unless she has to. Brad asked if the incision would be bigger or smaller now that the tumor has shrunk. She said that it would be a bit smaller. I asked how many nights I can expect to be in the hospital. Dr. Naik said anywhere from 1-2. I will have the drains in my body 10-14 days. I will be sore for a couple of weeks. My next course is another pre-op meeting where we go over the nitty gritty information and get waivers of consent. I will need an EKG and blood work. We asked her about blood work... which she wants about a week before the surgery. She said that since my last treatment was a week ago, my blood counts will be out of whack. It won't be a true representation. (Um, then why did the gynoc want my blood today? She should know that right after chemo, my blood counts won't be a true representaton) We said cool. I can't wait for the next step. Dr. Naik said that I look good and she can't believe that time has passed so quickly. I so believe it!
Next we waited for the last surgeon... Dr. Thaker. She came in and was so upbeat, energetic and I really like her. She said that I look great! She remembered the first meeting and she said that I look so much better than that meeting. Um, yea. :) Her first question was if I wanted to stay the same size or if I wanted to go bigger. I said, after all this, I want to be bigger. She laughed. She said that we will go with our original plan to do the tissue expanders and then after radiation, we'll switch out the expanders with the implants. Hooray! This appointmet was again driven by Brad and I. We had questions... the surgery will last about 1-3 hours. If all goes according to plan, as soon as Dr. Naik is done with the first breast, she will be called in and she will place the tissue expander under the pectoral muscle. She says usually when she's done with that, Dr. Naik is done with the second breast... so it's sort of a tag team. Wonderful. Less time under. She also uses a product called AlloDerm. AlloDerm is used because the pectoral muscle will not cover the whole expander and it creates sort of a sling. It's made of collogen, so blood flow and cells will begin to take over it. She calls AlloDerm as an empty apartment, and my body just needs to move in! I like her - did I mention that? After the expanders are in place, she will put in some saline so at least I will have little boobs after surgery. She doesn't want to fill them too big because she doesn't want to stretch out the skin and cause bad healing. Apparently when Dr. Naik goes in to do the mastectomy, she takes away a lot of the blood flow, so my skin needs to find new ways to deliver blood to other areas of the skin. I didn't know that. That's interesting. After about two weeks, I will see Dr. Thaker and the injecting the saline in the expanders. She'll start off small and then increase (100mL max). She said that it usually takes about 3 appointments until the desired size or about 4 weeks. Hooray! It's going to be cool because she said that I will be taking my new boobs out for a test drive. I don't have to guess. All I have to do is say "stop" and that will be it! So when I reach my desired size she'll put a little more in to for some "padding" and that will be it. Then I go to radiation and do that. Following that, she waits 3 months to make sure the skin has healed. If my skin does well, then it's on to the implant switch. That surgery will take about 2-3 hours. It is at that time that I think I will do the oophorectomy. Dr. Thaker said that would be fine. I asked about nipple reconstruction. That can be an office procedure at a later date... and tattooing would be done in office as well. I told her that I will be flying in September and since the expanders have metal in them, what happens. She said that she can write a letter stating I have expanders. She said that if I go to some remote area, then they may not take the letter... but she does write letters and says that normally security doesn't ask, nor does it cause problems. She said that when she was going through security at LAX, the security person asked if she had implants. She said, "No, but I have a lot of patients who do. Thanks for asking." I laughed. She said that I will have several drains... the breast and I may have one in the lymph nodes. They will be taken out in the office and held in by a stitch. As for pain management she puts in a pain pump which is a tube that that goes into the breast and numbs it, similar to novicain at the dentists office. It usually lasts about 3-5 days depending on how much I use it. When it's done, I can pull it out at home! Oh yes, she said that Brad can administer the saline into the tissue expander... um, no. She also said that when I am expanding, she will give me some pain medication to take before going to bed. She said that it's more uncomfortable and most people have the pain when they're going to bed and trying to relax. Our next appointment will be a week or so before surgery for the consent form and to go over the actual surgery. Fantastic. She'll also show me what the expanders look like. Oh yes, at a later date, she may take some fat from another part of my body and insert it onto my chest to make the breast look more natural - rather than two cantalopes. Ha. She then showed me pictures of breasts before, tissue expanders and then implants. Looks good! I can't wait.
First appointment was with the Gynecologist Oncologist or gynoc. The appointment started off well enough. I went in and we started discussing the oophorectomy. Somewhere during our discussion the appointment went from a consultation to a pre-op appointment. The doctor left and told me she wanted to examine me and to get undressed. Then she came back in and looked at me and did a pap test and more. Then she left and said we'll discuss more of the surgery when she returned. But before she returned, her nurse came in with a tray full of blood. I said what are those tests for? She said she didn't know and said she could go and ask. I said yes because I didn't want to give blood without knowing. She left and then came back in. Turns out she was getting blood for pre-op stuff. I said, no. I didn't want to give any blood through my port because I was going to be talking to my other surgeons and they might want some other tests done and I didn't want my port accessed twice in one day. Hell no. Then I just broke down in tears because it was happening all so fast and the doctor didn't even tell me what the hell was going on. She had disappeared and said she'd be back to talk about the surgery. I figured we'd talk more about what went on and ask more questions. At that time the doctor came back in and I asked her what was going on. I said I came in for a consultation and where did this turn into something else? She replied that "You seemed certain that you wanted the surgery so I went ahead and made this into a pre-op appointment." I said, "Where did that change?" I told her I was a planner and I don't like surprises and I feel like I am being surprised right now and it doesn't feel good. It was at that time that she actually took time to discuss with me the procedure and what sort of other tests are she's going to need... blood, ultrasound and something else. I refused to give blood, so they set it up that after I meet with the other surgeons, I can get my blood drawn. We also talked about if I should get my mastectomy with immediate reconstruction and the oophorectomy done at the same time. I hadn't decided because I hadn't talked to the other surgeons yet. So after that discussion, we went through the pre-op stuff, like the risks and what not. She does laproscopic surgery. She'll make up to 6 incisions in my abdomen to snip and drag out the fallopian tubes and the ovaries. Once they are taken out, they are sent to the lab to be "staged" - to see if there were any microscopic cancer cells/tumors. In about two weeks the results come back. Now normally if I wasn't BRCA positive, they would stage in the operating room. But they want to be certain that everything is okay. The surgery takes about 2 hours and if I was doing this as a stand alone surgery, I would go home the same day. I asked Brad if I was overreacting about the whole appointment. He said no, because he thought that this was going to be a consulation appointment and not a preoperative appointment. He noticed that it changed its course with no warning. I am not sure if I want to go with her. I may talk with Brooke or Christine about her because I am not sure if I want to go with her because of her bedside manner.
Following that disasterous appointment, Brad and I walked to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch. That was a nice walk... it's about a mile away if that. We had a nice lunch and then walked back to OHSU's Center for Health and Healing for our next two appointments. We meandered our way back because we had about an hour to kill.
We got to our appointment about 20 minutes early and then were led back into a room about 2.30p. On our way there, I saw Maureen one of the CNA who works with Dr. Luoh. Then I passed the nurses station with the schedulers and Brooke was there. She ran out to give me a big hug. We talked for just a moment before we went to the our room. To make a really long wait short... I wandered out of the room and up to the nurse's desk to talk to Brooke. I told her about the disasterous Gynoc appointment. She and the scheduler, Sierra, were happy that I stood up for myself and said No and stopped all procedures from happening. They said that many patients don't advocate for themselves and just go with it. I always try to be in the know and so that way I am prepared. In any case, I saw Dr. Pommier, the surgeon who put in my port while I was chatting with the ladies. He called me out and asked, "How's it going Mrs. Rake?" I laughed. Finally after 3p, I finally got in to see Dr. Naik. She was finishing up with a patient. She looked at my boobs and was impressed that I responded so well to treatment. We talked about surgery and the whole appointment was driven by me and Brad asking questions. My first question after she examined me was "Would you suggest that I be a candidate for a lumpectomy now - IF I wasn't BRCA positive?" She said yes. That's all I wanted to know. I don't want a lumpectomy, I just wanted to know if I responded well enough to the treatment where a lumpectomy was a possibility. I'm still getting a double mastectomy. I asked how long the surgery takes... normally 4-5 hours. We discussed whether we should do an oophorectomy at the same time. She said that some patients do, but recovery time is longer. She suggested that I not do it at the same time. The oophorectomy will have to be done after her surgery, so that would mean I would be under anesthesia for 6 hours at the minimum and that's too long. Good to know. We talked about drains (a question she deferred to Dr. Thaker), good clothes to wear afterwards, pain protocol (narcotics, she uses IV pain, then changes to pill form as soon as the patient can handle pills), port removal (she's going to take out the port during the surgery - hooray!), is surgery scheduled for morning or afternoon (morning). I also asked what kind of lymph node dissection she will do. She said she would do an axillary dissection. She will take out 10-20 nodes depending on how many are there. Each person has different amounts of nodes in their body. She said that she will take out the cluster that was affected under my arm... and that may be anywhere between 10-20. I asked about the different levels of node dissection. She said that they normally do Level 1 and 2. Level 3 is where it's deep in the body and she normally doesn't do those unless she has to. Brad asked if the incision would be bigger or smaller now that the tumor has shrunk. She said that it would be a bit smaller. I asked how many nights I can expect to be in the hospital. Dr. Naik said anywhere from 1-2. I will have the drains in my body 10-14 days. I will be sore for a couple of weeks. My next course is another pre-op meeting where we go over the nitty gritty information and get waivers of consent. I will need an EKG and blood work. We asked her about blood work... which she wants about a week before the surgery. She said that since my last treatment was a week ago, my blood counts will be out of whack. It won't be a true representation. (Um, then why did the gynoc want my blood today? She should know that right after chemo, my blood counts won't be a true representaton) We said cool. I can't wait for the next step. Dr. Naik said that I look good and she can't believe that time has passed so quickly. I so believe it!
Next we waited for the last surgeon... Dr. Thaker. She came in and was so upbeat, energetic and I really like her. She said that I look great! She remembered the first meeting and she said that I look so much better than that meeting. Um, yea. :) Her first question was if I wanted to stay the same size or if I wanted to go bigger. I said, after all this, I want to be bigger. She laughed. She said that we will go with our original plan to do the tissue expanders and then after radiation, we'll switch out the expanders with the implants. Hooray! This appointmet was again driven by Brad and I. We had questions... the surgery will last about 1-3 hours. If all goes according to plan, as soon as Dr. Naik is done with the first breast, she will be called in and she will place the tissue expander under the pectoral muscle. She says usually when she's done with that, Dr. Naik is done with the second breast... so it's sort of a tag team. Wonderful. Less time under. She also uses a product called AlloDerm. AlloDerm is used because the pectoral muscle will not cover the whole expander and it creates sort of a sling. It's made of collogen, so blood flow and cells will begin to take over it. She calls AlloDerm as an empty apartment, and my body just needs to move in! I like her - did I mention that? After the expanders are in place, she will put in some saline so at least I will have little boobs after surgery. She doesn't want to fill them too big because she doesn't want to stretch out the skin and cause bad healing. Apparently when Dr. Naik goes in to do the mastectomy, she takes away a lot of the blood flow, so my skin needs to find new ways to deliver blood to other areas of the skin. I didn't know that. That's interesting. After about two weeks, I will see Dr. Thaker and the injecting the saline in the expanders. She'll start off small and then increase (100mL max). She said that it usually takes about 3 appointments until the desired size or about 4 weeks. Hooray! It's going to be cool because she said that I will be taking my new boobs out for a test drive. I don't have to guess. All I have to do is say "stop" and that will be it! So when I reach my desired size she'll put a little more in to for some "padding" and that will be it. Then I go to radiation and do that. Following that, she waits 3 months to make sure the skin has healed. If my skin does well, then it's on to the implant switch. That surgery will take about 2-3 hours. It is at that time that I think I will do the oophorectomy. Dr. Thaker said that would be fine. I asked about nipple reconstruction. That can be an office procedure at a later date... and tattooing would be done in office as well. I told her that I will be flying in September and since the expanders have metal in them, what happens. She said that she can write a letter stating I have expanders. She said that if I go to some remote area, then they may not take the letter... but she does write letters and says that normally security doesn't ask, nor does it cause problems. She said that when she was going through security at LAX, the security person asked if she had implants. She said, "No, but I have a lot of patients who do. Thanks for asking." I laughed. She said that I will have several drains... the breast and I may have one in the lymph nodes. They will be taken out in the office and held in by a stitch. As for pain management she puts in a pain pump which is a tube that that goes into the breast and numbs it, similar to novicain at the dentists office. It usually lasts about 3-5 days depending on how much I use it. When it's done, I can pull it out at home! Oh yes, she said that Brad can administer the saline into the tissue expander... um, no. She also said that when I am expanding, she will give me some pain medication to take before going to bed. She said that it's more uncomfortable and most people have the pain when they're going to bed and trying to relax. Our next appointment will be a week or so before surgery for the consent form and to go over the actual surgery. Fantastic. She'll also show me what the expanders look like. Oh yes, at a later date, she may take some fat from another part of my body and insert it onto my chest to make the breast look more natural - rather than two cantalopes. Ha. She then showed me pictures of breasts before, tissue expanders and then implants. Looks good! I can't wait.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Day 34 - Port surgery
So I didn't get to write yesterday because, well, I wasn't home long enough to write. So here's how the day played out... started good, but ended up horrible. some of you may alredy know... but here goes...
I woke up at 3a to get ready for work. My plan was to stop by Burger King and get some breakfast... a nice high caloric breakfast that would keep me going until 5 when I would be home and eating dinner. The first BK I stopped at I couldn't order because their computer system was rebooting, so I went to the one closer to work. I got two sausage/egg/cheese croissanwiches (buy one get one free) and a side of hashbrowns. I wolfed down all of it with a chaser of 23oz of water. Thank goodness I did because it would be HOURS until my next drink and meal.
I made it through work all right. I even endured sitting in a meeting with my fellow coworkers eating philly cheese steaks. OMG, I was so hungry for one by the time the meeting was over... or I left for the day. So... at 12 I left for home. I met Brad and we headed up the hill to the hospital. We got there at 1:15 and checked in. Evelyn met us there. She got off of work early. Shortly after 130, Brad and I went to the outpatient waiting area. There I had to undress... everything and put on this beautiful Bair gown. The gown was HUGE... I could fit 3 of me in it. But it was kind of cool because they could hook me up to a blower. The blower would circulate hot air into the gown and keep me warm. Some dude came to take my blood pressure and temperature (he was creepy). Then another man came to put my IV in. I said, good luck as I felt dehydrated. He stuck a needle in me to numb the area and then gave me the IV. He was great. So we waited for awhile. Me on the bed, naked as a jaybird under the gown and Brad in the hard chair beside me. I fell asleep for awhile. An anesthesiologist came by and asked me a whole bunch of questions about myself and then a bunch of questions about my personal life. He told me that my surgery time was scheduled for 3:25. It was only 2:30. :-( At around 3.30, someone came to my bed and said that Dr. Pommier, the doctor doing my port surgery, was running behind. There was a rumor that it would be at 5p before he was complete with the other surgery. I was so mad. I was hungry and thirsty. To add insult to injury, the outpatient day surgery unit would be closing at 5p. Before I was transported, I was greeted by Dr. Pommier's resident and a 3rd year medical student. They went over how the surgery was going to be performed and it was at that time I could ask questions. I asked how they insert the port. First they do an ultrasound of my neck and look for the jugular vein. Then they make an incision in my neck. After that they insert a wire which follows the vein all the way down to the heart. After they follow that down, the doctor makes an incision in my chest about an inch or so wide, scoops out a pocket for the port (which is the size of a nickel or quarter... one person says one thing... literature on the smart port says another) and then places the unit in the pocket. Next they take sheathing and push that up along the wire, followed by the catheder. The catheder is "tunneled" under my skin. They take the wire out and then hook everything up, sew the port in place and then sew me up. The procedure takes about an hour.
So after they told me all this and I signed the papers, they had to wheel me to the surgery wing in a totally different building. That sucked. So I got to the new wing. The only upside to the new location was that I got TV. Brad and Evelyn both got to wait for me while I waited for Dr. P. Shortly before 5:30, Dr. P made his presence known. I talked with him briefly and said lets get going. I also talked with a new anesthesiologist. Thank goodness for the med student... he was the one who kept us aprised of the situation. He was nice. He just got off his obgyn rotation!
Then finally, they came to get me. The anesthesiologist gave me some medicine to make me feel good and less anxious. She asked me as she was wheeling me down to the OR if I was doing okay. I said, sure, as I wasn't anxious to begin with. From the surgery unit to the OR it's an eighth of a mile. Someone actually measured it. Interesting. It was OR 20, the very last one. I was rolled in at 5:50 (big clock over the door). I was told to move onto the other bed. Then the anesthesiologist said she was giving me the "twilight" medication. The only other thing that I remember is that someone said they were putting oxygen on my nose and to breathe. The next thing I remember is them saying wake up and how do I feel. I think I said I want apple juice! I was so happy it was all done. Then they wheeled me to the recovery area. I had a nice nurse... Michael, who assisted me and answered my questions over and over again. Then the portable xray man came and took a picture. Everything looked okay. I got my apple juice - yummy - and a choice of saltines or graham crackers. I chose saltines. But at that point I was too ill (headache) to eat very much. But I managed to eat a few without getting sick. My pain killer of choice vicodin. I took a vicodin... and then they called Brad who was waiting with his mom in the surgery waiting area. He came downstairs and met me. Then slowly I got up and ready to go. I was moving slow since I was still weak, not from the surgery, but from not eating. Michael told Brad to go get the car and he would wheel me down to the ER exit. We met up and it was time to go home! Discharged!By the time I got home it was after 9p!
What a long day. Brad dropped me off so I could get changed and eat while he went to pick up the girls at Becky's. Thank you so much Becky for watching the girls all day long! While he was gone I managed to eat half a bowl of ravioli. We didn't eat the enchiladas because it was way too late. After eating half of the can of Chef Boyardee, I started to feel better. I only ate half a can because I didn't know if I would throw it all up, but after I managed to eat that much, I felt I could eat the rest. It was so yummy. I was getting my strength back. I felt like dancing after eating... that's how much better I felt. It was awesome. :) Brad ended up eating some left overs after he got the girls to bed. Then it was time for me to sleep.
So that's how my day started out good and ended up bad. But the port is now in place and Dr. P left a needle in the port for my chemo the next day (as I am typing this... I've got cytoxan dripping into my body).
I woke up at 3a to get ready for work. My plan was to stop by Burger King and get some breakfast... a nice high caloric breakfast that would keep me going until 5 when I would be home and eating dinner. The first BK I stopped at I couldn't order because their computer system was rebooting, so I went to the one closer to work. I got two sausage/egg/cheese croissanwiches (buy one get one free) and a side of hashbrowns. I wolfed down all of it with a chaser of 23oz of water. Thank goodness I did because it would be HOURS until my next drink and meal.
I made it through work all right. I even endured sitting in a meeting with my fellow coworkers eating philly cheese steaks. OMG, I was so hungry for one by the time the meeting was over... or I left for the day. So... at 12 I left for home. I met Brad and we headed up the hill to the hospital. We got there at 1:15 and checked in. Evelyn met us there. She got off of work early. Shortly after 130, Brad and I went to the outpatient waiting area. There I had to undress... everything and put on this beautiful Bair gown. The gown was HUGE... I could fit 3 of me in it. But it was kind of cool because they could hook me up to a blower. The blower would circulate hot air into the gown and keep me warm. Some dude came to take my blood pressure and temperature (he was creepy). Then another man came to put my IV in. I said, good luck as I felt dehydrated. He stuck a needle in me to numb the area and then gave me the IV. He was great. So we waited for awhile. Me on the bed, naked as a jaybird under the gown and Brad in the hard chair beside me. I fell asleep for awhile. An anesthesiologist came by and asked me a whole bunch of questions about myself and then a bunch of questions about my personal life. He told me that my surgery time was scheduled for 3:25. It was only 2:30. :-( At around 3.30, someone came to my bed and said that Dr. Pommier, the doctor doing my port surgery, was running behind. There was a rumor that it would be at 5p before he was complete with the other surgery. I was so mad. I was hungry and thirsty. To add insult to injury, the outpatient day surgery unit would be closing at 5p. Before I was transported, I was greeted by Dr. Pommier's resident and a 3rd year medical student. They went over how the surgery was going to be performed and it was at that time I could ask questions. I asked how they insert the port. First they do an ultrasound of my neck and look for the jugular vein. Then they make an incision in my neck. After that they insert a wire which follows the vein all the way down to the heart. After they follow that down, the doctor makes an incision in my chest about an inch or so wide, scoops out a pocket for the port (which is the size of a nickel or quarter... one person says one thing... literature on the smart port says another) and then places the unit in the pocket. Next they take sheathing and push that up along the wire, followed by the catheder. The catheder is "tunneled" under my skin. They take the wire out and then hook everything up, sew the port in place and then sew me up. The procedure takes about an hour.
So after they told me all this and I signed the papers, they had to wheel me to the surgery wing in a totally different building. That sucked. So I got to the new wing. The only upside to the new location was that I got TV. Brad and Evelyn both got to wait for me while I waited for Dr. P. Shortly before 5:30, Dr. P made his presence known. I talked with him briefly and said lets get going. I also talked with a new anesthesiologist. Thank goodness for the med student... he was the one who kept us aprised of the situation. He was nice. He just got off his obgyn rotation!
Then finally, they came to get me. The anesthesiologist gave me some medicine to make me feel good and less anxious. She asked me as she was wheeling me down to the OR if I was doing okay. I said, sure, as I wasn't anxious to begin with. From the surgery unit to the OR it's an eighth of a mile. Someone actually measured it. Interesting. It was OR 20, the very last one. I was rolled in at 5:50 (big clock over the door). I was told to move onto the other bed. Then the anesthesiologist said she was giving me the "twilight" medication. The only other thing that I remember is that someone said they were putting oxygen on my nose and to breathe. The next thing I remember is them saying wake up and how do I feel. I think I said I want apple juice! I was so happy it was all done. Then they wheeled me to the recovery area. I had a nice nurse... Michael, who assisted me and answered my questions over and over again. Then the portable xray man came and took a picture. Everything looked okay. I got my apple juice - yummy - and a choice of saltines or graham crackers. I chose saltines. But at that point I was too ill (headache) to eat very much. But I managed to eat a few without getting sick. My pain killer of choice vicodin. I took a vicodin... and then they called Brad who was waiting with his mom in the surgery waiting area. He came downstairs and met me. Then slowly I got up and ready to go. I was moving slow since I was still weak, not from the surgery, but from not eating. Michael told Brad to go get the car and he would wheel me down to the ER exit. We met up and it was time to go home! Discharged!By the time I got home it was after 9p!
What a long day. Brad dropped me off so I could get changed and eat while he went to pick up the girls at Becky's. Thank you so much Becky for watching the girls all day long! While he was gone I managed to eat half a bowl of ravioli. We didn't eat the enchiladas because it was way too late. After eating half of the can of Chef Boyardee, I started to feel better. I only ate half a can because I didn't know if I would throw it all up, but after I managed to eat that much, I felt I could eat the rest. It was so yummy. I was getting my strength back. I felt like dancing after eating... that's how much better I felt. It was awesome. :) Brad ended up eating some left overs after he got the girls to bed. Then it was time for me to sleep.
So that's how my day started out good and ended up bad. But the port is now in place and Dr. P left a needle in the port for my chemo the next day (as I am typing this... I've got cytoxan dripping into my body).
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