I have heard from several survivors that the surgery is the worst part of treatment, and that it's good to get it over with. I'm certainly feeling that way now! I am also thinking that opting to do everything at once (both sides and reconstruction) was a good idea, since I'm not really keen on doing this all again.
As far as reconstruction, to over simplify, you can get synthetic new breasts (saline-filled or silicone or a newer silicone model called the "gummy bear") or you can have a fat transplant from another area on your body. I was surprised to hear that I don't have enough excess body fat to make two "good breasts"--maybe one. So I really listened to my plastic surgeon and went with his recommendation of the gummy bear implants. Among other things, they're supposed to be more natural looking and cause less chance of encapsulation--which sounds decidedly awful!
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I ended up not getting out of recovery until almost 11:00 pm Thursday. Obviously time meant nothing to me, but poor Greg was stuck waiting for hours. We still don't know why he wasn't able to come down to recovery, as I think I was the only one in recovery by that time.
Several things slowed everything down, making the surgery itself about 7 hours long. First, they got a late start. I know that the surgery group had FIVE women getting mastectomies yesterday and my surgeon (Dr. Lal) did at least three of them. She is amazing! She spent time with Greg while I was still under, she visited me numerous times in the hospital, and she had others from her team check on me when she had to do surgery at another hospital on Friday. If any of you are ever in this unfortunate position, I cannot say enough positive about my entire team--including the hospital nurses.
Then my sentinel nodes turned out to be positive, so Dr. Lal had to go back in and remove more nodes. (I don't have the info on how many more she took, and the pathology isn't back yet from them, so don't know if the cancer spread more)
Finally, they did have to give me a platelet transfusion. I've had ITP (low platelets) perhaps all my life, but certainly since I was pregnant with Travis and it was caught. Rather than give me steroids pre-surgery (which can increase the risk of infection), my surgeons decided to just have platelets on hand in case they needed them. So thank you to anyone who has donated platelets in the past. I think it's much more intense than just donating blood.
I can remember being wheeled into the surgical room (it was so cold) and seeing two tables of surgical instruments, lots of bright lights, and a bunch of new people (surgical tech, nurse, anesthesiologist, etc.). The last thing I remember is, "Lori, I'm going to give you medicine in your IV to make you relax" and then nothing till I woke up in recovery.
I had meet with the anesthesiologist prior to surgery and told her about my concerns about both anesthesia and nausea. She gave me a Dramamine patch behind my ear and also anti-nausea meds in my IV. That, combined with taking Deb's tips to eat whenever I took the pain pills has been great!
I was awake briefly after recovery and got to see Greg and then had all my vitals taken and some pain meds in my IV, but then I was ZONKED out. At 4:30 am the nurse came in to check on me and ask if I wanted to use the restroom (can't tell you how happy I was to NOT have a catheter in), so I did. But sitting up from the hospital bed made everything go crazy blurry, tingly, and fuzzy. The nurse brought in a second person to get me to the bathroom, but then just by looking at me, they decided I shouldn't even walk back to the bed. That was really scary, and set off a series of more visits from doctors. I had blood drawn and all my counts were low and the resident wanted to give me a blood transfusion, but I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. So I pushed fluids--both IV and orally. And I ate, and I walked a lot around the ward. Since that first time getting up, I've not been dizzy or lightheaded--just fuzzy from narcotics (yuck--I cannot imagine people choosing to take them unless needed!).
I've heard that days 2 and 3 post-surgery are the worst in terms of pain, so I'm following everyone's advice and keeping up with meds every 4-5 hours. Today I feel much more bruised and no sharp pains. I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll be in even less pain and can wean off the percocet so I feel more like myself.
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I know I've said it before, and will likely say it again, but I am just blown away by all of my friends and family. Messages, texts, cards, flowers, little gifts, BIG gifts... Greg's parents came in yesterday to play chauffeur and feed the kids so Greg could stay with me all day. I feel like a spoiled child! I really truly believe that all the positive thoughts and prayers and vibes are what has made this recovery so smooth (so far). I don't want to disappoint any of you, so I'm working extra hard to get back to normal ASAP. :) I am bummed by the positive lymph nodes (meaning more intense chemo as well as 6 1/2 weeks of radiation), but not frightened. It's just one more thing I have to do to emerge on the other side. One more stop for the cancer train, and I'm sure I'll meet more riders there--yet another silver lining.
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