I spent a fairly restful night last night in spite of a vitals check every four hours. They gave me a Benadryl to help me sleep and ibuprofen for any pain associated with the surgery. I finally started to stir around 5:30 am.
An associate of Dr. Burgers came in and had a long conversation with me about the surgery, how to take care of the drain, and what to do with home care. He also said further analysis of the lymph nodes and the tumor might alter the treatment for the better.
Dr. Burgers came in later with the same associate and checked the surgical area, made some comments about how well it went. She also cleared up a question I had about whether chemo with Herceptin and Taxol was 9 individual weeks or simply three sessions separated by three weeks. It’s 9 individual weeks because Taxol is generally given weekly.
The surgical wound looks pretty large. You may not want to look at the photo.
I no longer have an areola or nipple. The length of the scar shows how far they had to go to find the sentinel lymph nodes. You can also see some bruising near my arm pit. She reiterated that the nodes looked clear of cancer and she didn’t anticipate further analysis of the lymph nodes to show anything cancerous.
Again, Holy Cross is an excellent facility. In a direct line of sight from your bed is a Nurses’ Board which the name of each nurse and the telephone number you may reach them. They actually answer their phones and come as quickly as they can.
When they change shifts, they erase and add the new night team or day team.
The food is still hospital food but edible. If you don’t call down with your requests, they call you and ask you for your choices. They don’t call themselves food services but “Room Service.” I’m amazed the food is as good as it is.
They provide five entrees, some custom orders, like hamburgers, and a long list of sides.
My lunch was lemon sage chicken, garden salad with Ranch dressing, iced tea, mixed fruit and apple crisp. I ate my entire breakfast and lunch. I usually don’t have that much appetite.
The nurse came in and gave me another Covid test. She didn’t understand why because once you test positive they assume you are positive. Dr. Burgers requested an infectious disease physician to come examine me so that may be the reason for the additional test. Both were PCR’s so they are the most accurate of tests. Even so, some PCR tests give false positives. Dr. Burgers agreed that I may have been more susceptible to Covid because of that first round of chemo.
My hope is to be home by this evening some time. I have a prescription for Tramadol for pain ready at Walgreens. I’ve been trained in how to take care of the drain. I can actually shower on Saturday.
The one bit of great news is my diarrhea has stopped. It may return after some of the anesthesia is out of my body but right now I’m pleased.
What a day. Holley stuck with me through thick and thin. See arrived at the house at 8:45 am and finally left and the only way 6:45 pm. She’s a trooper! She spent 10 hours at Holy Cross with me. I figure she colored quite a few pages in her adult coloring book!
Preop. Didn’t realize the hair net looked like a French beret.
First order of business after checking in was to go down to imaging for preop for a Lymphoscintigram which is a fancy way of saying they wanted to inject a radioactive substance into my sentinel lymph nodes. The idea is to pinpoint the lymph nodes so they can biopsy them during the mastectomy without having to explore too much. They take photos where the areas glow on a camera photograph. It takes 15 minutes for the radioactivity to find the nodes. Then they take five minutes of photos so they technician and doctor can mark them on my body with, get this, a Sharpie.
Lymphoscintigram machine. It was hell keeping my left arm in that position for 20 minutes. The technician called the room the Meat Locker because it was so cold.
The doctor was a wit. When he found out my name was Searcy, he asked the tech who that was. The tech didn’t know so when he asked me I said a Demi-goddess who turned Odyessus’ men into pigs. Of course, the demigoddess is spelled Circe. The doctor was impressed. Then I explained the origin of my name from the province of Cerci in Franc and the Huguenot emigration to England.
I won’t lie and tell you the procedure didn’t hurt. It did. He said he does this numerous times of day with women and they never bat an eye. Only men express pain. I said “what did he expect – anything different.” My sentinel lymph nodes were in the arm pit region.
Isotope lit up the picture for the location of the sentinel lymph nodes.High tech method of determining the location of lymph nodes – a Sharpie. Of course, they did this in conjunction with the radiographic imaging.
In part of the conversation with the orderly who wheeled me into imaging, he talked about masks and the need to wear them (we were) and how he needed to get back in the habit. There were eleven Covid patients in Holy Cross and it looked like the number was increasing. It did.
After that, things moved rapidly. I was taken back to preop.
You know how hospitals provide heated blankets. This was new to me and Holley. It’s like an air mattress they pump warm air into. It was heaven after the Meat Locker.
I was wheeled into surgery at 1 pm. Poor Holley. They made her go to the waiting room. The surgeon, Dr. Burgers, came by and explained everything to Holly and me prior to surgery. Holley wanted me to stay the night because it’s easier to treat pain in the hospital through an IV line than at home with pills. The nurse suggested Dr. Burgers was adverse to the idea but she immediately agreed to admit me after the surgery. I guess I didn’t have to tell her men can’t tolerate pain as well as women.
Holley was on pins and needles while in the waiting room but Dr. Burgers came to explain everything. The lymph nodes were not cancerous. They will continue to do tests and I have a follow up appointment next week with both Dr. Burgers and the hematologist/oncologist Dr. Velez. Dr. Burgers is pretty certain nothing will show up on the extended tests of the lymph nodes. That was great news that the cancer had not spread. She also told Holley (and probably me but I don’t remember anything) that the tumor was easily detached and dispatched.
I was taken to recovery and was loopy for quite a while. Then they rolled me up to fourth floor for my night in the hospital. The nurse came in later and said there’s good news and bad news. The good news was things looked good surgery wise and the bad news was I tested positive for Covid. She said they would send me to the Covid floor on the second floor.
On my door on the fourth floor before they took me to the Covid floor. Gloves, gown, and mask required.
What’s so strange was four weeks ago I tested negative when I was in the emergency room from dehydration. I also show no symptoms. I found out tonight they will maybe keep me a couple of days for Covid observation so I guess it was a good thing they reserved a room for me post surgery. I may be in the hospital for a longer stay than I thought.
I do have a little pain from the surgery but they immediately gave me some happy juice through the IV and it’s manageable. I also have a bra to keep pressure on the wound. I knew they would put a drain into the wound to keep fluid from building up but I did not anticipate the size of the bulb used to collect the fluid. I imagined a small bulb like on a pipette. It’s huge! It has to be emptied once or twice every day for a week, at least.
Drain bulb. Yes, that’s my blood. It has to run clear before they remove the drains.
My new room on the second floor has a scenic view of the air conditioning unit for this wing. Before bringing me down to the second floor, Holley went to the cafeteria and bought me dinner. Just as they took me down, the hospital brought me dinner and it was virtually identical to what Holley brought me.
French beret, a bra, and dinner.
Holley made me pack a bag just in case of a hospital stay and that’s where I kept my phone, iWatch, iPad and laptop. She kept it in the trunk of her car and when she brought it up I had something like 30 texts and messages asking about me and how I was doing. It was very moving.
I actually feel great. Could be the drugs but I’m not in a lot of pain. I’m mobile and I’m hoping for a false positive on the Covid test. My new room is a single so there’s no roommate. Life could have been a lot worse after the surgery today so I count my blessings.
