1st leg- the surgery - Check !

Well I am sitting in a beautiful viewed room on the 9th floor of MD Anderson. We have a very entertaining view ( that comes with drawback of noise!) of the chopper landing pad of ORMC and a pretty view of Orlando in the backgroup.

Presurgery:

Left the house around 6:15, taking it easy.I have learned by now that there almost is a 30 minute buffer in appointments.

Got into the nuclear scanning department and got 2 10 minute pictures of the lymph nodes, the injection given yesterday will light up all the lymph nodes on the right side and help them determine the first ones that are likely to be hit (sentinel/guardian nodes ) by cancer cells. Those are the ones that will be biopsied, this procedure called Sentinel Node Biopsy is great since before this they had to remove all lymph nodes instead of few to determine whether there was involvement or not. If all lymph nodes are removed there could be life long effects of it on that side.

The table I lay on was so narrow I was about to roll off could not help but ask whether they had a special table for guys or bigger gals. They did not.

After this we were sent to the Ambulatory care center Surgery waiting room. It was kind of a boring area I would have thought they would have a bit more relaxing, nice area for the families who are waiting for people coming out of surgery. Maybe someplace with a porch, cafeteria.. some puzzles...

Suddenly I had a strong urge/need to do a sun salutation, went outside hoping to find a spot in a garden at that time they were spraying pesticides ewww.. rushed back in. Found a quiet corner on the other side of the waiting room and was able to do 4 basic sun salutations.. ahhh.. that felt so good I was going to do more but I got spotted and was getting weird looks thrown my way. I think they also have to have a yoga/meditation session.. room for presurgery patients.

I went up to the Breast Care center trying to choose 1 free item I am allowed to take but could not make up my mind probably will get one on Wednesday when I come back for post-surgery checkup. The weather was beautiful and I just did not want to go in.

Finally they took me in to the pre-op room which was more like a ward wih 10+ beds/units separated with curtains. Met with too many people, anaestesiologist, asst of Dr. Chambers. The nurse Mary took care of me who had also had a bilateral mastectomy in 1988 she had such a great character, called herself 'crazy'.

There was another nurse at the station with the 'chemo' hair, which I am getting really good at recognizing. She had just finished her chemo from bc.

After asking me gazillion questions getting my stats and starting my IV they gave Valium to calm me down. This kind of medication does not seem to work well with my body, it made me feel drowsy but my muscles tensed up and got restless leg syndrome.. actually I got restless allover. Could not get up and walk since I was tied to a lot of gadgets. They also wrapped some contraptures around my legs that pumped air and massaged my legs to make sure that circulation continues nicely. Can you say claustrophobia ?

Surgery :

I wanted to go to the restroom, they said OK said bye to Fred and they wheeled me out of the pre-op area with my bed and into a place which I think is the operating room. I kind of was expecting somewhere like the or's that I saw at Greys Anatomy or House all I remember seeing are the big round lights above and a stereo.. and bammm .. everything went blank. I was thinking that the anastesiologist would talk to me.. say count down.. or tell your ss#.. nothing I just went out.

So thats all I know about it guess it is a lot better than knowing all that went on in there. brrr...

Dr. Chambers report to family:

I believe Dr. Chambers took about 1-1.5 hours and then came out and told my family everything went well and Dr.Pope was taking over for reconstruction. She did not give any specific info but she 'thought' that the lymph nodes that she took out ( 3-4) were clean. Of course we will not know for sure until the path report next wednesday.

Post-Op room :

What I first remember was me asking the nurse whether they removed any lymphnodes and her patiently answering me 'Oh honey as I told you a number of times before they removed 3-4 thats all I know'. I wonder what else I talked about that I have absolutely no recollection of hmmm...

It got really dark outside and they were talking about a storm brewing and I started worrying about my daughter who was going to drive down from Gainsville.. ( ohh being a worry bug mom is so hard on both the mom and the daughter I have to stop doing this)

I was told that my room was getting prepared and they moved me to the next post-op room where there were not that many patients and my family could come and sit with me.( Could they have done this cause I was constantly talking asking questions and they thought that letting my family take the hits would be better for them ?)

Fred and Sibel came in ! I was soo happy to see them, I had not seen Sibel for 2 weeks after we dropped her to UF. My mom, motherinlaw and her sister also came, rotating. I was waking up pretty fast. They kept me there for a long time before moving me to my room at MD Anderson.

Me and Sibo in the post-op room

Hospital stay:

The room is really nice, they have the bed that has some kind of air pressure which adjusts itself

There is a murphy bed , a recliner and a high tech table ( if you open it a certain way it becomes a vanity drawer with a mirror )

And a beautiful view of Orlando from which I can even see the OIA tower and the Marriot/Ritz Carlton buildings.I think having a bright hospital room really makes a difference.

M and her husband A visited and we had a good time chatting. I was feeling pretty good and making phone calls . However afterwards I started getting really nauseaous and they gave something in the IV that stopped it. I guess it could be because I had not eaten anything for 20 hours. I am used to grazing and go nuts if I go without eating for 3 hours ! They had also given me a shot of Morphine which I did not quite like, it gives a weird rush initially then gave me a funny feeling, but it did cut the pain for a long time.

I was warned that I would feel pressure on my chest and difficulty breathing when the expanders were placed however did not have any of those problems.

They gave me a gadget that I am supposed to inhale forcefully to wake up the lungs since all organs are supposed to go in a 'sleep' mode during surgery. I think I did pretty well with inhaling up to 160-170 and later up to 200.

The nurses were really nice but I am not sure that they are thinking the same about me. I am not a hard patient but I am no 'walk in the park' if I think something is not right I have no problem letting them know of course always in a polite manner. Such as requesting the nurse herself taking care of me and none of the techs touching me , after a near experience with a 'sanity breach' by an intern, who I was told was spotted crying outside after I asked her ' Did you just drop that on the floor ?'

After that incident the Head Nurse came and visited introducing herself I guess I got an escalated status and got vip treatment.

1st night:

Limitations:

IV

Catheter

Can only lay on my back

Torso has to be elevated at least 30 degrees at all times.

I have 4 drains ( 2 on each side) which are dangling around these are with me for 2 weeks.

I can not use my arms to prop myself, correct myself in bed or hold on, my torso muscles hurt luckily I have pretty strong core and leg muscles which came in really handy in moving around.

Thought to myself that I only can do something about the 1st 2 items. Asked them to remove the catheter first, they got the permission from the doctor (original instruction was to keep it on for 1 day) and told me that I would need to urinate within 6-8 hours if not they will need to put it back on. Told them to take it off and I would do it.

IV, asked them to take it off since I was able to force down some food chicken broth worked great ! They took that off later.

In order to meet the 6-8 hour urinating deadline I consumed huge amounts of liquids anything that came my way. And by the 6th hour still nothing.. so I started doing some visualizations and self affirmations like ' I really need to go to the bathroom' and that actually worked. Well maybe it worked too well because I urinated total of 2.5 liters throughout the night , could not get that much sleep going to the restroom almost every hour.

I had some problems with pain management, if I lay still I was ok but my back ached from lying down in the same position. My left arms mobility is very limited I have a sharp pain on that side which I found odd since the lymph nodes were removed from the right side. However Dr. Pope did tell my family that it was a bit hard to get in the expanders on that side.

Switched to Hydrocodone which I had used before when I had dental surgery and it had knocked me out for a while. However last night my body simply was NOT going to shut down and go into sleep mode. I think it freaked out after the surgery and I might be having a 'control attack of not letting go again'

Went to the bathroom and did some reading ( did not want to wake Fred up ) walked a bit in the hallways. But I got a bit tipsy and it is kind of hard to walk descent with a hospital gown with 4 drains dangling around and no arm strength to hold things in place.

I just can not seem to lay down. I dozed maybe a couple of times but was awake almost all night. The pain meds are not that affective.

The nurses coming in to take stats and empty drains, give medications every 4 hour also was a distraction.

I was extremely happy when it was finally the morning, and I did not feel tired at all. Geesh this is not good I need the rest but my body is totally wound up and in fight mode... I have to find a way to wind down/relax and let go to let the healing begin.

Decided to stay 1 more night I am not ready to go home yet, especially it being the Labor day weekend and my pain medications not settled in yet.