Ding Dong The Witch is Dead - Part C

There I am laying in bed, talking to John and the nurse.....ready to get this show on the road.  The surgeon and his assistant came in and explained again what they were going to do and asked if I had any questions.....When will I know the results?  Sometime next week.  My follow up appointment is December 2nd....do I have to wait until then?  They said they would schedule an earlier appointment as soon as the results came back.  Then  another anesthesiologist came in....young and handsome.......Hubba Hubba.  WHAT? I may be 65, but I have eyes that see perfectly fine!  :)  
 

 "OK...are you ready?"  

"Yessss I am!"  

"I'm going to give you some meds that will help with nausea and that will make you comfortable....they will work pretty fast"

" Okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk".........
      zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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                                                                                                     ..........

I do not remember them taking me out of the room. I do not remember going into surgery. I do not remember going into the recovery room. I do not remember being brought back to my room.  I can pretty much say with great confidence that the medication they gave me worked!!!

What I am told they did in the surgery room was to make about an 1 1/2 inch incision right at the spot where the wire was sticking out; the wire being the center of that cut.  They removed the cancerous tissue that was not taken out in the biopsy and they removed margins around the tumor to make sure the cancer had not spread.  A pathologist was right there in the room (so I am told) and he was doing preliminary tests to make sure they got to a place where the tissue was 'clean'.  They also made an incision (also about 1 1/2 inches right at the beginning of my armpit to remove the first 3 lymph nodes to make sure they were also 'clean'.  From videos I watched and from what the guy in nuclear medicine told me, once that cut in made, a stick-like probe is put into the cut and when it makes a Wrrrrring sound, and they see it register on the machine, they know they have hit one of the radioactive nodes.  They have to slice the nodes and send them to a lab for more exact testing and I won't get those results until next week.  As I've mentioned in a prior post, the results of that tissue test will determine if I need to do chemo.......as will a new  procedure they do -- that calculates the percentage of possibility of recurrence.

I woke up in my original room, not nauseated and not crying............yet....

Head on over to Part D (as in 'DONE') for the conclusion of this adventurous day.....

Ding Dong The Witch is Dead - Part B

 If you haven't read it....go back one post to 'PART A' to catch yourself up....


So back to where I was......excruciating pain in my left foot finally subsiding and I'm left in the room to wait.....I look around the room and observe (I do that a lot because it gives me food for thought for my writing).  The room is multicolored.  One wall section is a pale olive green and the other wall is a Mediterranean blue....you know, a blue that is aching to be turquoise but needs a few more squirts of green mixed into the paint can, to make it so...... I'm guessing they were going for soothing colors.  The floors in that room, in every room and down every hallway in the hospital is like "fresh wax" shiny, giving the sense of sterile and clean. I'm waiting, observing and wondering what will happen next.  I've never had a "wire pinpoint procedure" done.

Oh I forgot to mention that they had covered me with toasty warm blankets



........ sometimes you don't even realize you are cold, until a nice warm blanket is put over you....felt soooo good.............and I wait.......

Then the anesthesia man came in my room and asked all the questions you should never ask a woman...How old are you?  How much do you weigh?  What kind of reaction do you have to anesthesia? Question 1  65, Question 2  I told him, I won't tell you! :) Question 3  Some nausea and I always wake up crying

 He assured he'd give me "stuff" in my IV before surgery that will help alleviate some of that.
He leaves......and I wait.....

Then Billy the original tech who took my vitals, came in with a wheel chair to take me down to Mammogram/Radiology to have me "wired up"....well actually it's called a Wire Localization Procedure.  I'm here to tell you that was quite the procedure.  I think it must be a prerequisite that the doctor (radiologist) that does this procedure can be no taller than 5' and weigh 100 pounds or less....For the women reading this (and the men, if you've had a mammogram), you are familiar with the mammogram machine.  It's big and cumbersome and once you get in front of the machine and get the machine wrapped around you so the slides can be taken, there is not much room for anyone else right in the machine area.  They deaden the area with a numbing solution (didn't feel anything, but a tiny stick)....and I guess it worked because I didn't feel anything but pressure when he put the hollowed needle into the breast and down to the spot where the cancerous cells are.  The procedure is done to pin point the exact spot so the surgeon can go directly to the cancer site.  A hollow needle is put into the breast....and you are being compressed by the machine at the same time.... and the doctor has to get under the machine (literally on his knees) to place that needle in.  Then pictures are taken to make sure he got it right to the spot.  If he missed even slightly, the needle placement has to be adjusted.  The doctor said the one thing they ask of their patients is that they close their eyes, stay perfectly still and say nothing                      but unlike a mammogram, you don't have to "hold your breath".  He comes back in to make any adjustment....then leaves again and more pics are taken.  He comes back in to put the wire down through the hollow part of the needle and removes the needle.....so you are left with a wire sticking out that is taped down and remains their until you are taken to surgery.  I am then taken back up to my room. John's allowed to come in at that point..........
. for the rest of the story                                                                                                                   

Ding Dong The Witch is Dead! Part A

 

Good morning my little Munchkins!  Boy what a day I had yesterday....it was pretty interesting....I'm writing this for anyone who might stumble upon this blog and is getting ready to have breast cancer surgery.  It's kind of a step by step (on the parts where I was coherent enough to remember) of what you might expect. I know my friends and family will be reading it too and it is my fervent prayer that you don't need to know what to expect....I'll divide it up into 2 or 3 post...so you can take a break :)

To all my breast cancer sisters (and/or brothers) who might be reading this to try to get information on what to expect or to try to get some calm to your mind that is running in all different directions, I hope I can give you that information and I hope my thoughts will bring you some calm.

If, like me, you made it through the Sentenal Node procedure the day before then your day of surgery is pretty much a walk in the park..........well except for...........oh and then there was....OK OK....let me just relay it to you as I remember it....

Those of you who know how much I like to write, are probably already shaking your heads knowing this may get lengthy.  For anyone new here....go get a fresh cup of coffee (we'll wait for you) and if you are reading from a laptop or an iPad take it to a room where you can plop yourself in your favorite comfy chair or bean bag  






I got to the hospital at 6:00 on the dot....can you guess what I had to do..........yep......... Only one young lady was checking people in and there were 3 or 4 people before us....so just like in the military...hurry up and wait.  I was so jealous of this little boy that was there to get his tonsils removed.  He had on alligator slippers like this
and every time he'd take a step, the mouth would fly opened.  And he was holding onto his Mario Brothers stuff toy with dear life.  I am sure those two items made his surgery go a lot easier.....not to mention that last night he probably got ice cream.....oh wait....I did too (just a little)!

So back to the lobby.  I got checked in an they sent me up to the surgery department (even though I was suppose to go have a procedure done in radiology/mammogram department before that).  I found out the procedure is that the nurses/staff in surgery get you all prepped and then they wheel you down to the radiology department. A tech named Billy came in and took my blood pressure and temp and strapped my left pointer finger (to measure my pulse) and I felt just like ET  Phone home........



And now the fun begins....come on don't click me off when I'm just getting started.

So some quick background.  As you may or may not remember, I had breast cancer on the left side in 2002 and had part of my surgery done at The Medical Center in Dallas and the remainder of it and my chemo and radiation treatments done at Wilford Hall Medical Center - Lackland AFB - San Antonio, Texas  At the time, they supposedly did not have the blue dye to do the Sentenal Node, so they had to do the old fashioned method and took 21 lymph nodes (all clear) hmmmm??? Anyway when you have several lymph nodes removed, it puts you right up at the top of the list for people who are eligible to get Lymphodema (not fun).....you can not have any blood work, IV's or blood pressure in that arm....ever...  ever....  ever and when you are flying or doing strenuous work, you are suppose to wear a compression sleeve....so that your arm does not swell up (and is not able to get rid of the fluid)....anyway....left arm, 21 lymph nodes removed...No IVs  - No Blood Pressure in that arm for this surgery.  And since they would be working on the right side and under the right arm  I couldn't have the IV or blood pressure in that arm either. So what does that leave?.........  yep you guessed it your legs and feet. This very sweet young nurse named Kayla came in and told me she had spoken to the surgeon and to be on the safe side, they were going to do the IV in my foot....Oh OK...fine by me...

"Have you ever had an IV in your foot?"

"No...not that I can remember"

"Well, you are not going to like me when I am done"

Now you know that's not something you want to hear a nurse say when she has a needle in her hand.
She  tied a tourniquet above my ankle and tapped on the top of my foot.  Then she had me swing my legs over the side of the bed and sit up.  My feet are hanging down and she is squatting in front of me. (I don't remember her saying that the Lydocain used to numb the foot would burn). She said here we go...........................I about passed out and almost kicked her right in the face.  I am here to tell you, that burning was 100 times worse than the Sentenal Node burning.  As the young people these days say OMG ! 

But eventually, the burning subsided and by the time she actually stuck the IV in, my foot was numb and I didn't feel a thing.  She said it burns so bad because the foot is so boney.  Compared to that one procedure, the rest of the day was a breeze (well almost all of it).  And she thanked me for getting a pedicure just for her!! I knew that was a good idea. :)

OK....I'm going to go lay down a little while.  I'll be back with Part B a little later.

Done...

I'm home...it's done...I've slept all day and into the evening....check back tomorrow for more details......more than you'd ever want to know :)

THIS VERY GOOD MORNING!

Friday, November 15, 2013

Short little message before I go get ready to go.  It's 4:25 AM according to the clock on my computer.  I've been up and down all night....in and out of sleep.  I went to bed around 9:45 knowing I had to get up early and also knowing that after midnight, I could have no food or water....food I can do without (for weeks Ha Ha!), but water...uuuuugh that's tough, cause I'm used to drinking 8-10 glasses a day.  So my built in body alarm must have noted that in my subconscious, because I woke up - full awake - at 11:45 and got up and had about 1/4 cup of water....it tasted sooooo good!

I went back to bed wondering if I would be able to go back to sleep.  I guess I did, but then woke up at 3:45, so at 4:00 I got up knowing it was THE MORNING when once again I was going to have surgery to remove some cancer cells from my body.  So this is a good morning.....come on....say it with me....THIS IS A GOOD MORNING!

The gentlemen who was in the room with us yesterday and prepped me for the Sentenal Node dye injection told us a story about a surgeon he used to work for who himself (the surgeon) had lymphoma and everyone who worked in his office happened to be cancer survivors.  The first time he had lymphoma, he did fine, kept a positive attitude and bounced back.  The second time it hit him, again....positive attitude and bounced back.  The third time it hit him, he found it hard to muster up the positive attitude ....so he called his lead secretary...or main person in the office into his office and  told her he was thinking of selling his practice because he just wasn't feeling real positive about his situation.  Her reply to him was.....no way.....if you want to feel sad...do it for a while and get over it...we are all cancer survivors in this office....that's why we work for you....your positive attitude about cancer is why we love working here.  I am not going to tell your patients to you gave up.

That story really hit home with me.  Yeh this is the second time.  But 11 years have gone by since the first time and there are so many new things out there....so many strides they've made in the world of cancer.  I am surrounding myself with positive attitude.  I am infusing in my brain....with positive attitude. I will be just fine.  I keep thinking "Cindy Bishop".....Cindy is a dear sweet lady that I used to work with ....I hold her up as my model, the person I can not praise enough.  I don't know how long she's been battling cancer....for sure over 10 years.  It keeps coming back, but she does what has to be done....surgery, chemo, radiation and always always always, she manages to smile and keep a positive attitude.  Cindy, you're my hero....in my eyes you are Wonder Woman and I love you for the example you have given me to follow.

Well I need to go get showered and ready to go.  I'll be back this afternoon....healthier than I am this ...............THIS VERY GOOD MORNING!
                                                          

Glow Little Glow Worm!

 

Well I got that procedure over with!  

So I walk in and this very nice guy calls us into an office and starts to explain exactly what is going to happen....4 shots of nuclear blue dye will be injected by needle into my breast around the nipple.......

Me-- "OK, that's after you numb my breast right?"

Him-- "NO...we've found that the numbing solution does not let tissues absorb and move the dye they way it needs to move to get to where it needs to go....the Sentenal Node".

Me-- (as my eyes widen like saucers) "Are you serious!?"

Him-- "Yep"

Anyway, I calm myself....after all I have my Big Girl Panties on...I can get through this....as the agony of hot grease falling on my toes, the pain of my torn Achilles Tendon, the removal of the drain tube from my axillary under my arm (on the last breast cancer), the burning pain of having Shingles...all flashes through my mind.  I got through those, I can get through this.  He prepped me and then called the radiologist to tell him I was ready.  The young radiologist came in and asked if I understood what he was going to do.  I said yes.  He looked at me very seriously and said "I am not going to lie to you....these are going to burn.....A LOT!"  "You can punch me if you want to afterwards, just don't punch me while I'm putting the needles in".  He said some people take it in stride, some say it really really hurts, and some scream out....."feel free to scream if you need to"...

OK....this is number 1......not much more than the stick when they draw blood....OK I can handle this...

OK...this is number 2.......oh wait number one is starting to burn...                                       
OK...this is number 3.....holy o moly.....1 & 2 are burnnnnning  ...and now 3 is burning too...
   OK...you're doing great, last one.....there you go....are you OK?

 Yehhhhhhh.....fine!!!  Super....Juuuuuust Great!

  My breast feels like someone opened the gates....and it wasn't the pearly ones!   
      
 Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration....but it really was burning.....uhhhh mama!

So now it has to be massaged (by me!) for 5 minutes to get the dye to start moving and then I get to walk up and down the corridor for 10 minutes....which felt like 20 minutes (oh well, guess I got my walk in for the day)  

By the time I finished walking, the burning had subsided....thank goodness.

Now I get to go in and  get my glamor shots....put your hands here, turn your head this way, click click.....click click.....and you can see the hot spot where they injected the dye and you can see how it's traveled to the Sentenal Node......and then they mark the spot (where that first Node is) with a lovely body maker  right where it is they put a big fat ..........so the surgeon knows just where to go in the morning.  That sounds good to me....let's not cut away any more tissue than we have to.

So that's about how my afternoon went.....

Rest assured we won't have to have any night light on in the bedroom tonight.....cause the guy in radiology said I'll be glowing all night!!!   


I'll be leaving here about 5:30 in the morning....so I probably won't be writing much before I go....but I should be back home tomorrow afternoon and If I'm not completely zonked, I'll let you know how I'm doing...

I can do this....with all the warm thoughts and vibes I'm getting, I will be fine!


 I am ever so thankful I had John right there with me today...he'll be right there when I wake up in the recovery room tomorrow...and there's no doubt in my mind, he'll be the best nurse I could have when I get home and when I start my treatments.  With him I'm not afraid, with him I am confident I can get through this.....that means the world to me....he means the world to me!!


 Glow Little Glow Worm Glow!

 One day closer to recovery.....See you tomorrow.....I better get some sleep...5:00 comes early!




 

Step 1J

 Thursday, November 14, 2013

Well I am off.....in about 20 minutes I will drive the 15-20 min. ride to the hospital and at 2:00 they will begin the procedure to inject the blue dye that will find the first lymph node that WE HOPE tomorrow, they WILL NOT find any signs of the carcinoma spread to....

I call this Step 1J cause it's not really the 1st step....I count the 1st step from when I got my yearly mammogram on October 8th....and then the following days when I got the unpleasant news.

But I just took a shower and as my dear sweet friend Jane Esty says....put on my Big Girl Panties and I am ready to get this done and move forward.....and get right back in step to getting healthy again and fit.....and to continue that program at least until I'm 99.

Gotta run (OK OK...I'll take the car)....but I'll be back this afternoon and I'll let you know how it goes....I can just see those hands flying up right now as I write... of those of you who wish they could take my place.....thanks, but you can't......I've gotta do this one on my own...

I'll be back this afternoon and let you know how it went....


It's really not suppose to be toooooooooo bad! 
One more chance to show that I'm a tough old broard!!!(she said as she grits her teeth and flashes a fake smile).