Pagers, IVs, and Johnnies

Today was the day for my lumpectomy and biopsy of the sentinel lymph node. I had to smear some numbing cream on my breast before leaving for the hospital at 5:30AM and cover it with an occlusive dressing (plastic wrap). This is because Dr Greaterex wanted to trace the drainage of the breast to and through the lymph node system so she could find the sentinel or first lymph node. She wanted to biopsy it to see if there was any evidence of cancer cells- if not, then the cancer has not spread. Before going to the day surgery center in Scarborough, I was sent to the radiology department and they injected 4 doses of radioactive isotopes which could be tracked during surgery. The numbing cream was to make this more comfortable. All I can say is I am really thankful for the numbing cream because each of the four injections really hurt and burned. When I came out of that treatment, John said that it didn't take long. I said that it does not take very long to inflict pain.

Then we checked in at the surgery center - a very nice facility. They gave me a pager, just as they did at MMC for my hysterectomy. When they were ready for me - the pager went off. I was prepped and got visits from the pre op nurse, the anesthesiologist, the nurse anesthetist, the surgical nurse, and the surgeon. Dr. Greaterex asked if I was prepared and I asked her how she was doing as she had already performed one surgery and I was planning to sleep through the whole thing. She said that she wasn't planning to sleep and I told her that there were a lot of people praying that she wouldn't. I was wheeled into the operating room, transferred to the operating table, and evidently put right to sleep because the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. I felt great upon awaking. Within an hour I was dressed, had eaten a muffin and consumed a can of gingerale and two glasses of water, had my first painkiller tablet, gone to the bathroom, and walked to the car. We stopped at Subway on the way home for BLT subs and at Walgreen for my hydrocodone prescription and then came home, ate, and watched an episode of The Mentalist. My surgery was at 9:20AM and I was sitting in my chair at home at 2PM.

We are still praying for good results from the pathology report. I will find that out next Tuesday when I meet with Dr. Greaterex again.

 A cool side effect of the isotope - blue urine. :)