Wednesday,July 24, 2013:
Well family and friends. It has been a really good two days. I went in for my breast surgery yesterday and the plan was to go in to the mammographer and have her find the 'marker' that was in my left breast which marks where the tumor is/was. Once it is identified, the Doctor over the mammography dept. goes in and puts a wire into the breast at the marker so the Surgeon will know where to go to remove the tumor and the surrounding tissue he has identified to remove. So, I go in and they start looking for the marker. It is a little titanium piece of metal that looks like a crinkled up stapler. Well, after taking a lot of pictures from different views they could not find the marker or the tumor. There was absolutely nothing there. When I told them that Dr. Scott was the first Doctor I saw and that he did the biopsy on the tumor she said immediately that Dr. Scott does not leave 'markers' in his patients! So, I was getting really nervous. They contacted my surgeon and told him about the situation. He directed them to have me have a sonogram and take several views and pictures which they did. My surgery was supposed to begin at 11 a.m. but I was still waiting at 12:30 p.m. We had some serious questions to ask Dr. Bebb, the surgeon who was going to be removing the 'tumor and surrounding tissue' wondering how he was going to identify the area he needed to remove since there was nothing there anymore. Well, we had Dr. Wells, the anesthesiologist come in first and go over what he would be doing. Dr. Bebb came in and we asked him how he would know where to cut and what to remove. We knew he had probably had this happen before, and of course, he had. He simply said that he had identified the quadrant where the tumor had been and he would be removing a pie shaped slice of tissue and would go down to the muscle but not remove any of the muscle and was certain he would get the tissue he needed to remove. He also was removing all the lymph nodes under my right arm/breast. He is a very religious man and I asked if he would pray for me and of course he said sure, took my hand and I took Wayne's and said a very powerful prayer. One of the best I had ever heard and one that I really needed to hear! Thank you God and Dr. Bebb. You both delivered. The next to come in was Dr. Kays. He was the plastic surgeon who would be making the initial incisions for the breast lift (both breasts) and then he would let Dr. Bebb step in to do his surgery. Then, Dr. Kays would finish up with the lift. When Dr. Kays came in Wayne. Mom, my sisters Wanda and Cindy were in the exam room waiting for me to go to surgery. Dr. Kays had me take my super sexy hospital gown and move it out of his way so he could draw and measure on my breasts. He did a lot of marking so he would know where to cut and make sure I would be symmetrical when he was done. He is a sweet, sweet Doctor. Things were running late in the operating room so it didn't matter that my pre-op was taking so long. So, I was moved to the OR about 1 p.m. I don't remember anything about the OR. They had given me something in my IV just a little bit before they took me to the OR so all I remember is being rolled down the hall and that's it. The surgery was planned for 3.5 hours but they were done in 2 hours. They said I bled very, very little which makes it easy on them. They removed the tissue and lymph nodes and removed an equal amount of tissue from my left breast so they would be a matching pair! Hahaha! When they started bringing me back out of the anesthesia I could hear someone calling my name and telling me to wake up. I could hear them so clearly and I could hear everything around me but I could not make my body open my eyes or answer her. I heard her walk away and tell the others I was about to come around then in a little while she came back and kept trying to get me to wake up. I still heard it all and was telling my body to talk and to open my eyes and to make some kind of noise but my body would not respond. My mind was alive and alert but was not working together with my motor skills. I was getting scared in my mind and remember thinking that this must be how someone with Lou Gehrig's Disease must feel. Aware of everything but unable to respond in any way. I was finally able to let out a grunt and over time I talked and then opened my eyes. I cannot tell you anything about what or who I saw when I opened my eyes. I have no idea. I finally remember seeing Wayne in my recovery room and then after a little while they took me to my room (which was very nice). I was hooked up to IV's and hooked up to an 'on demand' morphine drip. I was sooooo groggy and drifted in and out while talking to my family who were with me in my room. They all left about 9 p.m. and from about 6:30 p.m. on my pain level was 0. When I first got back to the room I told the nurse it was about a 2 so I was definitely getting better. I used the morphine 1X for the pain and later in the night I just could not sleep so I hit is 3X's and managed to get about an hour and a half of sleep. Whenever I would get almost to sleep a nurse would come in and turn on the light to take my blood pressure, temp and respiration! About 4 a.m. I gave up and turned on the tv. I will sleep really good tonight. One of the problems with not going to sleep was they had both my legs wrapped in these sleeves that would pump up with air and then release. There were three different sections on each leg and the pressure would move up and down my leg. This would prevent me from getting blood clots. I told them that was part of the problem with me not sleeping. Since I had been getting up by myself to go to the bathroom she felt like I was moving around enough that she took them off me. They also had to take my blood pressure on my leg. This was because they removed the portacath from my left arm and could not use it and they could not use my right arm (ever again) because I had lymph nodes removed. Dr. Kays finally came by around 2 p.m. today and checked on my bandages, gave me some instructions and told me I could go home and that I had done remarkably well. So, now I am here at home. I cannot lie down flat and must sleep in a reclining position. I have a drain that goes from under my arm to outside my body down to a bulb. It is stitched to the side of my body and I have to be careful not to pull on the tube because it hurts like a son of a gun. We have to 'milk' the tube once in the morning and once before I go to bed and log the amounts of fluid that comes out. I am starting to feel really sore every place a knife has cut me and up underneath my right arm which has something to do with the lymph nodes that were removed. I am not long from going to bed since I did not sleep last night and it will be a welcome relief. I will probably be even more sore tomorrow but they gave me some good drugs and I don't intend to suffer any at all. My throat is sore from the tube they had down my throat and I have a fat upper lip on one side where they must have bumped it or had it pinched somehow. Not sure what my breasts will look like. They kind of look odd and misshapen but I guess it will take time for things to 'settle out'! Hahahaha! I thank everyone for having me in their prayers, putting me on their prayer list and for all the support you have given me. I am on the mend. Next Monday I will see Dr. Kays and on Wednesday I will see the radiologist for the first time and find out how many treatments I will need to have and when they will start. I had been told I needed to wait at least 6 weeks after my surgery. We will see!
Hugs to all,
Glenda
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