Day 5

Funny how what you think is going to be the most challenging thing turns out to be a breeze and what you didn't give a second thought about can be a bit off putting. But I am getting ahead of myself.
We took off for Kaiser Antioch yesterday morning about 7:30 a.m. Well fortified with heart pillow from the Order of the Eastern Star and my CD of guided imagery and my cute little nano ipod. Arrived ahead of schedule and checked in with a very friendly receptionist. Waited a few minutes in the waiting room and then I was led into the pre-op area. I've been in places like this before with Andy and Becca so it didn't look at all foreign to me. Got into one of those silly open-up-in-the-back gowns and waited for them to take me to mammography where I was to have the wire inserted so surgeon would know where to go. Got a ride in a wheel chair pushed by a nice young lady named Olga. She picked Andy up on the way to mammography and we made a nice little procession down to the first floor. Andy gets dropped off at the waiting room there and I am whisked into the mammo room. Dr. Preston and her able assistant explain that they will do the mammo with me sitting in the wheel chair and with them sitting on the floor. After numerous attempts to get a good image and me getting squashed like a used beer can over and over again they decide that this isn't going to work. They try it with me standing, better, but still no good image. So off we go, across the hall to ultrasound. It takes them about 30 seconds to locate the tumor and another 20 minutes to prep and insert the wire. One more mammogram (sigh!) and then back to pre-op. I hadn't given the mammo appointment much thought but it turned out to be the most uncomfortable part of the whole day! I wait again for maybe 10 or 20 minutes with Andy by my side. The surgeon comes in checks to make sure we both know what he is doing. X marks the spot (there are now enough diagrams scrawled on my breast to guide a football team to a successful touchdown). My nurse gives me a pepcid tablet and a tablespoon of water to wash it down with. I guess she thinks we are going to party over in the operating theatre. 20 minutes later I am wheeled into the operating room. As I am wheeled in I think about the cheering angels and friends that the guided imagery CD said were there and sure enough I feel their presence. I'm not worried at all. Just curious. The room is bright, metallic and cold. But the people in the room pile me high with warmed sheets. They wrap my midsection with something I think they called a bear hug. To keep me warm, I guess. They also put two long cuffs on each leg so I get a gentle massage as the surgery proceeds. Between the two leg cuffs and the blood pressure cuff and the bear hug I really feel like I'm lying on Jen Hurd's massage table getting an after marathon massage treatment. The anesthesiologist comes in, puts a mask half way on my face and then says "I'm going to inject you with something that will sting for a few moments and then you will go to sleep". I'm pretty sure I said okay or something like that but I remember nothing after that.
Until I am aware that someone nearby is talking about going to Greece. Hmmm, I think. Me too, I'm going to Greece in the summer. And then I kind of realize that I am waking up from surgery and I feel pretty good. No nausea, no pain, nothing negative. So I volunteer to the person who is speaking that I love Greece. And we chat a little. He is about to have surgery I guess. Then the nurse comes over to ask how I am feeling. Terrific, I think I said. Anyway. I am so not incapacitated that they decide to release me rather quickly. Andy has gotten me some prescription pills for pain but I think I won't use them. I am released. We drive home. I have something to eat and decide that if it does get painful I'll be sad so I take a vicadan but only as a preventative measure. 9 o'clock rolls around and we decide to call it a day. I take one more pill and go to sleep. Wake up a couple of times during the night. Still not in pain. Maybe a little sore but no pain. And that is that. We will now wait for the results of the lumpectomy and the biopsy of the sentinol node and see what happens next. I'm told to take a week or two off. When I got home I thought that might be excessive but today I am definitely weary and sore. So maybe a week or two isn't a bad idea.
Stay tuned.