The best protection is early detection, friends. Schedule and get your mammogram.
This is a very long post. Pace yourself.
Below, I'm writing about what I've been told to expect from my breast cancer surgery tomorrow and the days immediately following. This post is for you and me, really. Even though I've explained it a number of times to loved ones and dear friends, it won't be "real" until it all happens tomorrow morning.
But let me catch you up a bit first.
A week ago, my brother Jorden and I attended a pre-op class at the Astera Breast Center at St. Peter's. It was helpful and scary. My surgeon, another doctor, two nurses, and a physical therapist spoke to a room full of about 10 of us patients and our people. They answered our questions and provided packets of information. The packets were designed to cover both mastectomies and lumpectomies, so there were some handouts not meant for me specifically. For instance, there was one on drains. It's highly unlikely that I'll need one for my surgery.
There was a lot of discussion about lymphedema that had me pretty anxious. The physical therapist said that from now on (read: the rest of my life), I need to be really careful about my left arm (surgery is on that side) because I'll be missing a lymph node. No more blood draws or IVs in that arm. I'll have to wear long sleeves when gardening, even in the summer, to avoid bug bites and small injuries. All this to try to prevent infection which could lead to lymphadema.
I got a bit stuck on that because, well, I'm a bit of a klutz. I love the outdoors, and am no stranger to the small injuries that come from being a gardener or hiking. So, now I need to be careful and not take my good health and general sturdiness for granted. For the rest of my days. I know I'll get used to it because it's small potatoes compared to the breast cancer, but for now, I'm going to complain a bit about it.
Here's the part about the surgery.
Early tomorrow morning, Jorden will take me to the Breast Center where we'll do a bunch of paperwork. Then, I'll go for a 45-minute procedure to insert a guidewire to the ribbon-shaped marker where the doctor who did the biopsy left it. A radiologist will put me into a mammography machine, numb the squished left breast, and insert the guidewire. The purpose of the guidewire is to get the surgeon precisely to the tumor (because it's tiny and I'm not). Afterward, I'll be taken to the operating room for the surgery.
While I'm under general anesthesia, my surgeon will remove the tumor and some tissue around it, while being very thorough to check for any other abnormalities. She'll use internal stitches with dissovable sutures so that scarring will be minimal. Then, she will inject me, behind the nipple, with blue dye to locate the sentinel lymph node. I'm told that I'll appear blue in that area for a couple of days and pee blue. Bonus!
The sentinel lymph node is in the area of my arm pit, so the second cut might irritate me a bit. But it will be a small incision because lymph nodes are small. The surgeon will remove the lymph node and send it to pathology. The pathologist will see if the cancer has moved beyond the breast. We should receive the "final pathology" in a couple of days. That will determine if treatment other than radiation and an estrogen blocker (because we already know that my cancer loves estrogen) is required.
For all the medical procedures I've experienced since early September, the results have come quickly. I'm grateful for the speedy turnaround, although I have a solid 3rd step in this area. (For those of you not in recovery, that's about faith, giving the results to a higher power, and believing that everything's going to be alright even if the result isn't good. It's a journey, to be sure, and sometimes there's ugly crying before getting to the other side.)
After the surgery, there will be two levels of recovery: 1. waking up with lots of monitoring and 2. getting functioning with less monitoring. During the second level, Jorden can visit. The nurses will focus on getting me to drink and eat (I'm bringing my own gf crackers), walk, and pee.
I'm one of those folks who doesn't recover well from anesthesia. It takes me a really long time to come up out of it. When I do, I feel very sick and puke. I've let the medical professionals know, and I'll do it again tonight when they call and tomorrow during the pre-op prep discussions with the anesthesiologist. During the class, the nurse said they can medicate me to try to prevent it. Hopefully, that will work.
After I'm released, Jorden will take me home and stay until Patty comes to keep me company and help me out until I don't need so much help. It's difficult for me not to want to play hostess with the mostess because it's what I enjoy (and I'll be baking a pear and cranberry pie today because I can't help myself when it comes to guests. THERE WILL BE PIE.). But, I'll just have to get used to asking for help and letting folks do for me for a bit.
The scheduler said not to expect a huge amount of pain, but to know that I'll be wiped out. I also won't be able to use ice on the breast because it will slow down the healing there. It will be Alleve and many distractions for me. I'll need to do a series of exercises and lots of deep breathing, but will not be able to raise my left hand above my head for a week. At my request, Thom gave me a crew cut (which I dyed purple), so dealing with my hair won't be a worry for a while.
After the second day, I'll be taking lots of walks. Also after day 2, I'll be able to shower and remove the pressure dressing on the wound. 24-hours a day, I'll be wearing a sports bra to help with healing. During week 2 and forward, there will be additional exercises.
It's going to be 6-8 weeks before I can do things like lift anything heavier than 10 lbs (laundry will be very light loads and not very ecologically friendly for a few weeks). When I'm back at work, my wonderful intern will be lifting the archives boxes for me and pushing the carts around for a bit. When it is time to restock groceries, my work friend and walking partner has volunteered to take care of that for me.
I'm most concerned about cleaning my house. Those of you who have visited know that I keep the place really tidy. It's going to drive me a bit nuts not to be able to do it. I'm not going to hire someone I don't know to be in my home, mostly because I'm now in the highest risk group for covid. I know, keeping the place ship shape is small potatoes compared to my health. Still, I have a feeling I'll be doing what I can with my right arm. And today, you know I'll be cleaning like a person on a mission.
Some friends have asked what they can do. My answer is, "I'm not sure yet, but I'll let you know. In the meantime, please think positive thoughts or pray for me and all the medical professionals who will be treating me, if you like." That's it for now. I'll post another update when I feel up to it after the surgery.
Oh, and go get screened.
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