14 July 2023
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.
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.
Stay tuned!
I’m so thrilled that you are doing so well. You sound so good and your news is great. It never occurred to me that the chemo may have made you more susceptible to Covid, but that makes sense. Did the second test indicate positive also? Glad that the hospital food is not bad and that you have a good appetite.