Thursday April 7th 2011- Day 94

This is it..today is the day I'm having surgery. It feels like I've been waiting on this day since forever. I really didnt sleep that well through the night so when my dad calls at 6 am I am already awake. I just lay in bed tl 6:30 because I already took a shower the night before, I'm not wearing a wig and I'm not wearing contacts so it will only take a few short minutes to get ready. I wash my face, brush my teeth and get dressed. I throw my laptop and my pooh bear in my backpack just in case I have to stay the night. I'm still not clear if I will or won't so I prepare either way. My dad arrives and I leave for the hospital. We get there around 7:30 and we finish all the paperwork and sit in the admissions waiting area. While sitting there I remove my hat so just my pink ribbon headscarf is visible. My dad looks at me and asks me to remove it. He has not seen my baldhead and I'm scared to show him. I take a deep breath and I take it off. Tears slide down my cheeks but my dad just smiles at me and kisses the top of my head. I slide the scarf back on and wait. After an hour they finally call my name. One nurse asks if I had the procedure done. I'm assuming she's talking about the nuclear medicine injection from the day before. I say if that's the one you are referring to then yes. She walks away and we are lead upstairs to the 2nd floor where I change into just a gown and toss all my clothes in a bag. While I'm sitting and waiting my phone rings and it's the hospital number showing up. It is Dr McSwain's office calling to ask me where am I. I tell them I'm in the hospital. They tell me I'm supposed to be at MFA building a block away. That I'm late for an appointment to have a wire put into my breast. Without the wire Dr. McSwain cant perform the surgery. She asks where have I been..I tell her I've been in the hospital since 7:30 am and no one told me that I was at the wrong location. She asks how long will it take me to get there. I tell her I just need to redress and walk over. I tell my dad what's happening and he looks as agitated as I feel. I throw on my clothes and grab my backpack..I tell the nurses what's happening and they call over to get clarification. They tell me I have to go. I leave and head ove to the MFA building. I am furious that I have been sitting in the hospital for over an hour and a half and no one had called me or checked on me or even informed me I was in the wrong area. I get over to the radiology in the MFA building and they rush me through to get me to the mammography area. A nurse comes to get me who explains they are going to take a picture to find the tumor and then place a wire into my breast to mark where it is as a guideline for Dr McSwain to follow. They take the pictures, then numb my breast and finally put the wire in. She takes a pic while the wire is in and then adjust it til it is perfect. They take a final photo and then tape down the part of the needle that is sticking out my breast. She tells me not to put my bra back on and to go out to the main waiting area to wait for someone to walk me back over to the hospital. We get back over and we are lead straight back up to the 2nd floor. They kept my same waiting area #8 ready for me. I hurry and change back and wait for my doctor. She comes in shortly after and I introduce her to my dad. She explains everything to me that is going to happen today. When I asks her about having to stay the night she tells me it will be determined what they find when they remove the lymph nodes from my armpit. Whatever. She leaves and a series of nurses come through and asks me to keep signing paperwork. Authorization for surgery, power of attorney, etc etc. The next nurse, Moon, starts the IV line in my left wrist. When she leaves I start to cry..my dad comes over and hugs me. I lean into him. I tell him I just want this to bo over..I dont want to do this anymore. He consoles me while he holds me til I stop crying. The next person to come in is the other doctor who will be working with Dr McSwain..I dont remember his name but he's a surgical resident. The next person is my anesthesiologist Dr. Lee. He has me sign more paperwork. He goes off and another nurse takes all my stuff away and puts them in a locker. For now I keep my glasses on but they give me a bag to put them in so they can take them away. Dr. Lee returns and gives me a shot. Shortly after they make me give my glasses to a nurse who puts it in a locker with the rest of my stuff and then they wheel me away. I get to the surgery room and I get on a table for surgery. I wake up in recovery..I feel groggy, dizzy and lightheaded. I lay for awhile til I can open my eyes. The first nurse asks me how I feel. I just nod at her. She asks me if I would like something to drink and I tell her apple juice. She goes and grabs me 2 small containers of apple juice. They are cold and feel so good going down my throat which is now raw from having a breathing tube down it. I asks how did it go but she tells me she doesnt know I will have to wait on my doctor. I asks her if I was going home that day. I know if she answers yes that the test on the lymph nodes went well. She tells me yes I'm going home. I cheer to myself a little. They go get my dad who tells me what Dr. McSwain told him..that they removed a very small almost pea sized tumor along with just 2 lymph nodes. The lymph nodes tested negative for cancer so they didnt need to remove the rest of them. We are both happy and he hugs and kisses me. He gets to stay with me for awhile but eventually they send him back downstairs to wait for me. They switch me from a bed to a recliner so I can sit up while I'm recovering. I start to get dressed and as I stand up the room starts to tilt and I feel my stomach lurch. I sit back down and take a deep breath. The nurse explains that they have given me a large dose of anesthesia and that it will make me very sick to my stomach and vomit. She gets me a dose of a nausea med and injects it into my iv line in my wrist. I sit and wait while my stomach settles. They move me to another recovery area. Over here she gives me a bottle of water and puts a motion sickness patch behind my left ear. She said it should help with the nausea. She finally takes the iv line out my wrist and bandages me. They call down to my dad to tell him to get his car so we can leave. A nurse finally comes to wheel me downstairs. I have a bag with a litle thing to vomit in and some gauze pads to wipe my mouth if I do. I get in the car and even the motion of moving my eyes back and forth gives me motion sickness. I keep my eyes closed during the ride home. I'm trying hard to keep from getting sick. Every bump in the road sets my stomach to lurching. I dont know if I'm going to make it. As we are almost to my apartment I feel sensation that I'm going to vomit..I know I'm not going to make it home. I feel the warm saliva fill my mouth. I open the bag with the little vomit dish and I dont bother to pull it out I just cover my mouth nose and chin with the plastic bag. I feel my stomach give one final lurch and I vomit up all the apple juice and water I just finished drinking. My dad hands me some wet wipes to clean up my face. I apologize to him but he says it's ok..I didnt vomit in his car atleast. We get to my apartment complex and he takes the bag and throws it in the dumpster. After vomiting though I feel a little better. My stomach isnt lurching and I can move my eyes without getting dizzy. My dad walks me into the building. I point out my next door neighbor Ms Tweet to him. He doesnt want to leave me alone while Miguel is still at work but I tell him if he asks Ms Tweet to check on me she'll come knock on my door and make sure I'm ok. He says ok and leaves. Shortly after Ms. Tweet knocks to check on me. I tell her I'm fine and that I'm just going to lay down. She leaves. Miguel text me & asks for an update. I tell him I'm home resting and explain the procedure. I tell him I need to get my medicine so he agrees to rent a car so we can do it that night. After I finish texting him I post a message on Facebook letting everyone know how the surgery went and then I text everyone else in my phone and tweet it as well. I get lots of well wishes for a speedy recovery and I feel good. I doze off and when Miguel gets home I sleep some more til he tells me that we're going to get my prescription filled and go to the grocery store for more food for the apartment. Ok no problem. First he runs to his office to get some boxes shipped to him. Afterwards he comes back to get me and we drop the prescription off at CVS while we run to Giant. We get some groceries and then we head to Wendy's to get some dinner. We stop by CVS and grab the prescription and head home. I eat my food take some pain and sleep meds and I call it a night by midnight.