My lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy were on Thursday, October 30, 2008. I showed up at 8:30 a.m. at one hospital to get a radioactive substance injected into my breast. On the way there, we saw FIVE separate golden retrievers out for their morning walk! Five!! Miles & I decided that was a great sign. At the Nuclear Medicine Department, I laid down on the table. Before we started, the man told me I could scream or kick or do whatever as long as I didn't bite him. Hmm, guess that translated to "This is going to hurt..." Ah yes, it hurt A LOT. It was one of the more painful things I've ever felt. They injected three (slow) times into my left nipple and areola. I didn't see how long the needles were, but they sure felt long going in. That hurt already, but once each one was in it just kept hurting worse and worse. Finally, they were finished and 3 minutes later all the pain and soreness was already gone, whew! He then took a scan of my breast, and sent me on my way.
We showed up at the separate surgery location around 9:30 a.m. for my 10:30 surgery. But they told us there was an emergency surgery and I'd been bumped til 1 p.m. Bummer. So we went to the Lucky Penny and I watched with envy as Miles, my mom and my dad ate b-fast. We went back to the medical center, and got comfy in my waiting/post-op room. I'd never been in a hospital bed or room before, and it was pretty nice! Everyone was very kind and they made sure we were all comfortable. Then Miles' dad showed up to join my support team as well, which was great. The more, the merrier!
My nurse had trouble finding an IV vein in my hand, but another nurse finally got it. Then all of the sudden they told me it was time. This was my first surgery and general anesthesia, so it was all very new and nerve-wracking. I said goodbye to everyone, and my bed was wheeled out by a gruff nurse. She confirmed my name and birthdate, and it felt very sterile and surreal. She took me downstairs and dropped me off in the waiting room. Surprisingly, I wasn't as freaked out as I thought I might be. I remembered to breathe and that helped. The anesthesiologist showed up -- he was very kind and eased my nervousness a bit. He also told me that he had sent many patients to see Dr. Awesome, including his wife! That eased my anxiety even more. And then Dr. Awesome came cheerfully into the room, patted my legs and said "Hi Teresa! So where'd you guys have it?!" (talking about our wedding ceremony), and that made me feel even better. He has a way about him like Santa Clause, he is awesome!!
Next they wheeled me into the operating room, and I had to crawl from my bed to the operating table, and things felt even more surreal. Then suddenly everything happened at once. My arm was pulled out to the side, they put a blood pressure cuff on, they put a pulse-checker on, and they injected something into my IV. My other arm was pulled out to the side, my gown was unsnapped, and someone wiped down my skin. Both doctors fired questions at me about the wedding, and someone talked about the orchids at his own wedding. And the anesthesiologist said that I should be getting drowsy. I felt really out of control, and wished everything would slow down so I could see what everyone was doing. But that thought lasted for 5 seconds only. Then I remember saying I was getting drowsy, and that was the last thing I remember.
I woke up groggy in a big room. A nurse fluttered around me, really busy. I talked to her, but don't remember what I said in the beginning. I asked her name a lot (Susan), and kept saying "Susan? Oh, okay! Thank you so much, Susan, you've been so helpful!" She kept asking me what my pain was, and kept pumping morphine into me, and so my response went from a 4, to a 3, to still a 3, to a "1 or 0 probably!" I think I said the same things over and over to her. I must have told her about our wedding, because later on I heard her on the phone saying "...lovely girl... did you know that she just got married a couple days ago?!" Some time passed and all of the sudden Miles was beside the bed, and I was so happy to see him! I was so out of it, I hadn't even wondered about my lymph node status or how many were taken out. But the first thing Miles said was that my lymph nodes were clean! I remember it didn't really register in my brain, I knew that Miles was really happy and smiling so big, and that made me happy too.
After maybe 20 or 30 minutes, someone finally took me back upstairs to my original room where mom, dad and Miles' dad were. I was so relieved, and they all told me how quickly it went. I was out of it for a while still. I talked to my brother on the phone, and apparently I kept saying "I feel great!" We finally decided I was okay to go. I got as far as the hallway and almost blacked out, so they set me down in a wheelchair and put me back in bed. We stayed another hour maybe, and I drank chicken broth and ate crackers. We tried again with me in the wheelchair and made it out and home safely.
At home that evening I felt surprisingly good. The pain was definitely manageable. I became more coherent, and was up and moving around. I was back to playing Gin Rummy with mom an hour or two after arriving home. I took Vicodin that day and all day the next day. But after that, no Vicodin and I was fine. There was never any sharp pain, which surprised me. Just a lot of dull pain and general soreness on my left side. I also came home with a new BFF called a drain. The drain liquid went from red to dark pink to light pink to yellow-orange over the course of a week. I had bandages over the incision and the drain. I took the bandages off after 2 days, and still couldn't see the incision because it was covered with Steri-strips. I was shocked but interested to see that the drain was just a plastic tube sticking out of breast. It was pretty cool. As gross and annoying as the drain was, it was also kind of awesome to see my bodily liquids and tissue coming out.
Here is a picture from a couple days after surgery:
And here is a picture of my lovely drain. (No, that is not pee!):
The pain and soreness has gotten slowly but steadily better. The sensations and the numbnesses change day to day. But I definitely can move my arm around more and more every day. Supposedly it takes 6 to 8 weeks to fully heal, including the scar tissue going away. I can't wait. Right now there's a large chunk of hard scar tissue right where my lump used to be... I can't wait for the day I can poke around and only feel soft tissue where my awful tumor was. Yay! :)
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