Hi. Well, I got through it of course, as we all have to do.
I had to get to the hospital for 7.30am. I got to see the nurse first of all to get my lovely wrist bracelets and super stylish stockings and had blood pressure done. Then got to see the surgeon who I had not met before. The consultant I had seen when I got my results was on holiday. I had re-read my letter and he was not on the breast units staff list, so when I saw the nurse and she asked if I had any questions I asked who he was and found out he was a locum and had come from the Royal Marsden, so I said 'that's good, he must know what he's doing then!'. I do tend to start gabbling when I am nervous.
After this I met the anaesthetist and we talked about the fact that I had been on oxygen for 24 hours after a previous operation. We agreed that I would probably need the same this time and it would mean an overnight stay, but I was prepared for that anyway.
After this I had an injection into my stomach to help prevent blood clots. Once this was done I was then waiting to have a wire inserted and an isotope injection which would show up my sentinel node in the op. At this point I told my husband it was ok to leave, and I suspect he was very grateful to get out for some fresh air! The poor thing is quite squeamish. He can't watch medical programmes on the telly. Men eh??
When I had the wire inserted it was ok. The worst bit was then deeper injection that went in, but it soon enough goes numb. I then had to wait with another lady in a room while they were waiting for the isotope injection stuff to arrive from another hospital. This injection had to be done at the edge of the nipple. The nurse warned me that some people say it stings a bit - all I can say is a bit!!!! Ouch it stung so bad. The nurse said I was more than allowed to swear if I wanted to, which was good!
I then went up to the women's health ward to wait for collection for surgery. It wasn't until nearly 3.30pm that I got taken to the theatre. Bearing in mind I hadn't had anything to drink at all from 6am my mouth was well dry, and this in turn caused a problem as my veins had shut down as I was so dehydrated. Several attempts were made in the back of my hand which didn't work. They then tried a tourniquet and kept patting my hand to get the veins to wake up. Finally the anaesthetist managed to get it into the side of my hand. This had all taken about 30 minutes. I was fine until I got into the room but after all the extra time my bloomin' veins were taking I was getting upset and couldn't stop crying. I felt like a right baby. I even thought about my Dad and said to him in my head, come on Dad wherever you are up there give me a hand will you! A drug went in first which I think was a sedative and I was asked if I felt better and I had this stupid grin on my face and was nearly laughing - wouldn't mind some of that again, ha ha. After that my next memory was waking up in recovery.
Getting back to the ward was good. After a couple of hours I was feeling better and my husband and son turned up for a visit. I realised I needed the toilet and we asked for a nurse but they were just doing the shift hand over. I couldn't wait so I sat up and was pleasantly surprised to not feel light headed, so off I trotted with my drip. My husband had to lower it so I could get into the toilet door, so we had a bit of fun with that.
I was alright the next morning and was taken off the oxygen and later in the morning off the drip too. Blimey, it is some bruise I have covering the back of my hand from the attempts to get into my clapped out veins! I have to say I was feeling a whole lot better. Asked for porridge for breakfast as I thought I would be able to swallow that ok. The night before I had come back from recovery long after dinner had done the rounds so I was offered a sandwich. I had about 3 bits and gave up as it was a real struggle to swallow.
Hey, I guess I am going to lose a bit of weight for now which can only be a good thing. I still have a killer sore throat and hot drinks hurt too much so it's icy water and soft food for me. I am trying to take any positives out of this situation as I can.
So, I am now at home religiously doing my exercises and doing the dreaded 2 week wait for results again. I am hoping for no node involvement and then it will mean getting ready for radiotherapy. The last thing I want is for them to have to go back in and get more out. Am crossing my fingers.
