Post-surgery

I am home and recovering from surgery! I was at the hospital Thursday from 7am to about 4pm. The surgery itself lasted about 2 hours. I haven't spoken to my doctor yet, but she did find my husband in the waiting room. She told him the surgery went well. She is fairly sure she was able to remove all of the cancer, but we won't know that for sure until the pathology report comes back from the lab. My doctor also told him that the lymph nodes were okay, which is a great relief to me, because it means the cancer hasn't spread to other parts of my body. Again, we will get confirmation of that from the pathology report.

She also removed a non-cancerous lump containing "atypical cells" on my left side which will also be tested to get more information about it.

I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor scheduled for July 24th, a week and a half from now. By then, she should be able to give me the pathology lab results.

I was in the pre-op prep room for quite a while before the surgery, so I had time to ask the anesthesiologist what I was going to be given. First I would get a relaxant and an amnesiac drug via IV to put me out. Then I would get a tube down my throat for the gas. (That gave me a sore throat for about a day.)

I got a small dose in the IV before I was wheeled to the OR. I was only in the OR a for what felt like 5-10 minutes before the anesthesiologist said, "This is it." I started saying my relaxing mantra--"Humme Hum Brahm Hum"--but I didn't even make it to the last Hum!

The next thing I knew someone was waking me from a dream where I was at a party, telling a friend that I'd had "A lumpectomy, both sides." (I'm sure now that I was actually responding to a nurse's question). The nurse called my name to wake me up and asked me if I felt any pain. I was being wheeled down the hallway to the post-anesthesia care unit. I think I was out for about 5 hours.

I was pretty dizzy coming out of the anesthesia. I was given an anti-nausea drug, which kept me from throwing up, but the dizziness had to wear off on its own. I sipped water and snacked on crackers and banana until I finally began feeling myself around 6pm and ate a normal dinner. I was wide awake by 8. And 10. And 12.

To try and get sleepy, I finally took some of the Percoset I'd been given for pain, but I was afraid of taking too much and getting dizzy and nauseated again. So I took an 8th of a tablet at a time until I'd eventually taken half a tab, which finally put me out around 3am. Yay insomnia!

I took another half tab last night at 10pm. I slept all night, but woke up parched and with a crazy headache. I downed three or four glasses of water and the headache subsided. The bottle says the dose lasts about 6 hours, but honestly, it's been 20 hours since I took it, and my brain is still foggy and loopy. No one ever needs to worry about me getting hooked on opiates. I'll stick with wine, thanks.