Last Wednesday, I met with Dr. Rourke, (oncology surgeon) for my pre-op appointment. We went over the surgery and what I can expect. As she usually does, she drew me pretty pictures and spelled it all out. Quite literally. I am having only my right/bad side removed at this time. I have enough tissue/skin on the left/good side and really don't need the expander. I will have it removed at the time that I have my reconstruction surgery. I talked to both surgeons and weighed the pros and cons of each scenario.
I will have:
- Injection of a dye that will drain from my breast to my lymph nodes. This will "map" the route that the cancer would take if it were to spread
- A right skin-sparing total mastectomy (removal of breast, nipple and areola).
- Sentinel lymph node biopsy.
- Possible intraoperative lympatic mapping (It's a blue dye backup in case the first dye doesn't drain into my nodes. This dye will make my pee blue. It could also give me hives if I have an allergic reaction. Yay.)
- Possible auxillary lymph node dissection (removal of rest of lymph nodes ONLY if both dyes fail to drain into my nodes OR if the sentinal node is positive for cancer.)
- Removal of my port
This portion of the surgery will be done by Dr. Rourke and is expected to take 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours.
Risks:
- Bleeding
- Infection
- Numbness
- Lymphedema (swelling of the affected arm)
- If just the sentinal node is removed - it's a 3-5% chance.
- If I have a full node removal - it's a 25-35% chance.
- Swelling at the site
- Wound complications
- Need for additional surgery
Once she's done, my plastic surgeon, Hottie McHot Pants... I mean, Dr. Gordley, will put the expander in my right/bad side and will stitch me up. His portion should take approximately an hour. All told, I'll be in surgery for 4-5 hours.
I'll be in the hospital for 2-3 days. I will be on a leave of absence from work for 4 weeks. During that time, I will not be bed-ridden and will be expected to walk around and do specific range-of-motion exercises with my right arm. I won't be able to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk for several weeks, either.
Because my resting heart rate is normally around 100, both of my surgeons were a bit concerned and wanted to have me checked out by a cardiologist. As I've mentioned in a previous post, because I have a very strong family history of heart issues AND chemo can badly damage the heart, I wanted to see one, too, for my own piece of mind.
Last Thursday, I saw Dr. Kantis. I filled out what seemed to be a reams-worth of paperwork. After that, I talked to a chatty Kathy nurse (who was very nice, by the way) and had an EKG. Dr. Kantis came in afterwards to discuss my cancer, my concerns, my mitral valve prolapse, etc. While my EKG was normal, he wanted me to have an echocardiogram just to ensure that I don't, in fact, have any damage from the chemo. He gave me clearance for surgery and told me that based on the EKG, I was good to go. I know that they'll be monitoring me the whole time, but it made me feel better. He'll pass along the echo results to my doctors.
He also put me on Inderal, which is a beta-blocker used for high blood pressure, mitral valve prolapses and... (wait for it...) prevention of migraines. I was on it in my early 20s. He put me on it so that my heart can regulate and my rate can slow down a bit. I'll continue to take it until I have surgery and then slowly wean myself off of it. I've been on it since Friday and my heart rate earlier this afternoon was only 76. ("Only...")
On Friday night, I started to get a bit of a scratchy throat. REALLY?? I can't afford to get sick just days before surgery! I'm pretty sure it's just allergies since we've had a cold front and the counts seem to be pretty high. I didn't take chances, though, and saw my primary doctor who gave me a Z-pack so that I don't get sick since my immune system is shot. Good times.
By the way - I did get the jammies I was looking for at Walmart. Two of the sets were only $10 and the third was $15. SCORE! They're only mildly frumpy, so I considered it a win there, too.
I have my Ta-ta to the Ta-tas Happy Hour at Hooters (yes, that's on purpose) this coming Friday. I won't be drinking, but I'm thinking that a designated drunk might be fun for me. I'll keep buying them shots and let them do all the obnoxious things that I can't. I'm sure I'll post a few pics...
Without going too deep - this week will definitely be one of a great deal of reflection. This is the last time that I will have a "whole" body - the one that I was born with. I will never be the same, even if I DO get to have perky boobs and a flat tummy. I didn't elect to do that stuff. I didn't have a choice. I pray that things turn out okay and that in just over a week, I can officially say that I'm a cancer survivor. Woo hoo!
xoxo...
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