Surgery is behind me now and it went well, although it was a long day. A Partial Mastectomy was scheduled for Wednesday, February 13th..It's great to be on the other side of surgery. I'm glad it's done and next is the healing process. My pain and discomfort has been minimal and I take the pain meds when I do get uncomfortable. However, I get tired more easily and i sleep on and off all day.
I arrived 8 am at The Royal Vic. The fist step was to check in at the admission office. Before surgery, I was instructed to report to the breast clinic. The breast needle localization, as it is called, was the first procedure in which the radiologist inserted a needle with a fine hooked wire into my breast to map the location of the tumor. The wire remained in my breast, poking out of the skin, to guide the surgeon during my surgery. This took about an Hour. When this was done I sat in the waiting room with Titus & my mother. Things seemed to be moving slow.. By 11:30 I was wheeled up to the 5th floor. My loved ones gave me hugs & kisses then off they went to the waiting area. I was tired and ready to get on with things. Here I was again in the waiting room for patients. I was so bored and anxious and I shouldn't have gave my iPhone to Titus when he left. Then finally the orderly came to get me and off we went to the surgery.
I laid on a gurney in the chilly halls outside the O.R. Preparation was done before the procedure which were pre -medication, give written consent, blood-tests, identification labels & identification bracelets are correct, allergies recorded for notes, and make sure patient has fasted appropriately.. My time came then I was rolled off to surgery. I notice a wall clock read 1:00 pm. However I slid from the one gurney to the narrow operating one. It was freezing in the OR.. Everyone around me was doing their job and One of the nurses says to me i know it feels like were all attacking you all at once..I smiled and I don't remember not one more thing after that. So off to La-la land I went for this much awaited surgery.
The first step in this surgery is the lymph node dissection. Dr. flieszer injects a dye into the tumor area. This dye is used by the surgeon to track which lymph nodes are most closely related to my tumors. So by tracking the dye, the surgeon knows which lymph nodes to remove. They are then immediately sent to the lab for testing. In my case, there was cancer in these lymph nodes so they needed to remove any more nodes,
I awoke in recovery at 5 pm. I was in pain and-sleeping a little bit here and there- waking up every so often to chew on ice chips, get some pain meds into my iv. Right after surgery Dr. Flieszer came to see me and explained everything to me in great detail. Things went just as planned, he mentioned a drain was placed to relieve fluid build up from the surgery. He then went to go inform my loved ones in the waiting room.
I had a hard time getting to the point where I could sit up a bit without getting dizzy and nauseous. slowly raising my head a little at a time, 5 hours later I was ready to leave at about 10 pm. Nurses gave me my Prescriptions to pick up right away before the pharmaprix closed. I still wasn't feeling all that great when we left but I was anxious to get home. The drive home was painful from the bumps on the road.. All in all it was a very long day but I think I did very well :-)
I have to say I give credit to Titus, he has taking such good care of me, he is a great helper with everything..xox
That's it for now, below are some pictures. I'll update again soon..I have a follow up next week with Dr. flieszer.
Psalm 118:21, "I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation."
I arrived 8 am at The Royal Vic. The fist step was to check in at the admission office. Before surgery, I was instructed to report to the breast clinic. The breast needle localization, as it is called, was the first procedure in which the radiologist inserted a needle with a fine hooked wire into my breast to map the location of the tumor. The wire remained in my breast, poking out of the skin, to guide the surgeon during my surgery. This took about an Hour. When this was done I sat in the waiting room with Titus & my mother. Things seemed to be moving slow.. By 11:30 I was wheeled up to the 5th floor. My loved ones gave me hugs & kisses then off they went to the waiting area. I was tired and ready to get on with things. Here I was again in the waiting room for patients. I was so bored and anxious and I shouldn't have gave my iPhone to Titus when he left. Then finally the orderly came to get me and off we went to the surgery.
I laid on a gurney in the chilly halls outside the O.R. Preparation was done before the procedure which were pre -medication, give written consent, blood-tests, identification labels & identification bracelets are correct, allergies recorded for notes, and make sure patient has fasted appropriately.. My time came then I was rolled off to surgery. I notice a wall clock read 1:00 pm. However I slid from the one gurney to the narrow operating one. It was freezing in the OR.. Everyone around me was doing their job and One of the nurses says to me i know it feels like were all attacking you all at once..I smiled and I don't remember not one more thing after that. So off to La-la land I went for this much awaited surgery.
The first step in this surgery is the lymph node dissection. Dr. flieszer injects a dye into the tumor area. This dye is used by the surgeon to track which lymph nodes are most closely related to my tumors. So by tracking the dye, the surgeon knows which lymph nodes to remove. They are then immediately sent to the lab for testing. In my case, there was cancer in these lymph nodes so they needed to remove any more nodes,
I awoke in recovery at 5 pm. I was in pain and-sleeping a little bit here and there- waking up every so often to chew on ice chips, get some pain meds into my iv. Right after surgery Dr. Flieszer came to see me and explained everything to me in great detail. Things went just as planned, he mentioned a drain was placed to relieve fluid build up from the surgery. He then went to go inform my loved ones in the waiting room.
I had a hard time getting to the point where I could sit up a bit without getting dizzy and nauseous. slowly raising my head a little at a time, 5 hours later I was ready to leave at about 10 pm. Nurses gave me my Prescriptions to pick up right away before the pharmaprix closed. I still wasn't feeling all that great when we left but I was anxious to get home. The drive home was painful from the bumps on the road.. All in all it was a very long day but I think I did very well :-)
I have to say I give credit to Titus, he has taking such good care of me, he is a great helper with everything..xox
That's it for now, below are some pictures. I'll update again soon..I have a follow up next week with Dr. flieszer.
Psalm 118:21, "I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation."