Under the Knife!!

Hi Everyone, Sorry it has taken so long for my next entry but I have been really busy.

To continue bringing you up to date, on June 14th I had a Mastectomy of my right breast. As a person that had been fairly healthy all her life and never had any type of major surgery before, the experience was daunting. I went into the same day surgery area at 8:00 am, got into my little gown (actually I am thankful that they had a big gown, as I am almost 6' tall and not a little girl), and waited. The nurses were wonderful as my husband and I were pretty nervous and scared about the whole thing. I was sent down to surgery about 10:00am and back to recovery by 11:45am. I was given morphine in the recovery room to help with the severe pain and it knocked me out for a while.

We had to wait for a room since the hospital was very crowded that day, and I got to my room about 5:00pm. I was surprised that it was not more painful (after that episode down in the recovery room), but I was not going to do a lot of moving to see how far I could push it! I really am not into pain! My poor husband slept on a little pull out chair bed in my room that night and I think he woke up in more pain than I did. I went home on the 15th at around 4pm. I was very pleased with the care I had gotten. I was surprised that I got to go home so soon because originally, I was told it would be a two to three day stay. However, I was glad to get home. My husband took wonderful care of me. I would be lost without him.

I would like to thank the young lady for the American Cancer Society "Reach to Recovery" program, Kay Camp, that came by to see me at the hospital. She was very helpful in answering all my husband's and my questions, bringing booklets that gave me further information on what would be going on from here. I found the information gave me answers and also questions to ask my doctors. I understand that all the "Reach for Recovery" women have been through breast cancer surgery so they know first hand what you are experiencing and you are free to ask them anything. Kay was wonderful.

On June 23rd I went back to the surgeon's office to have my surgery checked. He took out the drain. My comments on the drain are:
1. Be sure you are careful not to pull on the line. It is sutured into your skin and will hurt if you pull on it, OUCH!!!
2. The "Reach to Recovery" pack has a little sack that ties around your neck for hanging the drain at a comfortable height so you do not have to pin it to your clothes. This works pretty well but can make you neck tired.
3. Be sure to hang it low enough that you get good drainage. I was getting 75-100 cc for the first 4 days then it started tapering off to just 50 cc.
Dr. Smith took the drain out on this visit. When he pulled the tube that extended under the skin out it hurt quite a bit.(again OUCH!!!!!!!) He also took out about 2/3 of the staples. I think I was more scared of this than having the drain out because I could just imagine a big staple remover like I use in my office pinching the staples out. Fortunately, except for a little pinch on some of the staples all went well. I went home with 22 staples still in and a bandage over the tube hole.

The "Good News" that came from this office visit is the lymph nodes that were tested by pathology came back clear. They took out two lymph nodes at surgery (I forgot to mention the blue radioactive dye they shoot into your breast about an hour before surgery so they can find the sentinel nodes with a geiger counter. This also makes you pee green for a couple of days) and did a frozen test to let the surgeon know if all the nodes had to be taken out. Mine did not. This means I will be less likely to have Lymphedema (numbness in the arm, swelling, dry skin, fluid backup, problems with fingernails and more due to the circulation of the lymph fluids through the arm) problems in the future.

I AM determined to be upbeat about what we are going through. I WILL NOT let this beat me. I will fight it tooth and nail. I had an appointment with my Chemotherapy Doctor and will go into that in my next entry.

I want to thank my sister, Dedie, for coming to the hospital to sit with my husband, visit with me, and for coming to the house and visiting so he could take a nap and run errands. We have had a great time playing cards (canasta) and backgammon. We really appreciate her help during this time and always.

Please keep your well wishes coming and your prayers as they are greatly appreciated.

If you think you may have a lump and you are not sure what to do-GO TO YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY. Do not hesitate even a week as it often takes some time to get into the doctors office. If they give you a hard time about seeing you, Tell them it is an EMERGENCY, that you think you have found a lump and you need it checked now!! If you still can not get in to see the doctor within a reasonable time then it is time to find a new doctor!!!!

That's it for now! Next time I'll go into my experience with the “horrors” of the “red devil” and the rest of Chemotherapy.

I hope you will check back as I update this blog with reports on My treatments, My prognosis, My feelings, Information I have learned (that hopefully can help others as well as myself), and anything else that comes "Popping" into my mind.

Any comments, information, or thoughts are welcomed.

P.S. Because we are some of the millions of Americans who could not get Health Insurance, we are asking anyone who may desire to do so to donate towards our ever increasing medical costs. Go to http://www.fyitoday.com/cancer/donate.html