Hello from the other side!

Well, I made it. My surgery date came and according to my surgeons, the big event we had been dreading for weeks was… ahem… boring. Which I’m told is what everybody wants but my inner diva is deeply insulted and no longer in the mood for pictures. So, back to me.

I was in great spirits most of the morning, though I definitely didn’t enjoy being hungry, and only got a little emotional right before the IV was put in. I’m gonna blame the sweet nurse, Tracy, for that one. She said: “Oh, your first major surgery? Wow, this is a big day, then!” Yep, that’s all it took. And the tears started rolling gently down my cheeks. Very romantic! But I guess you’d have to be there…

My surgery – the experience

I was really curious about the whole counting backward experience, you know. Weeks before, I came up with this plan to count in Slovak to condition my brain so no one could understand my crazy wake-up talk. However, my personal anesthetist gave me something that would “make me feel different than normal… depending on your normal”, haha. And I must have been out in about 10 seconds because I can’t remember anything else until I saw my husband smiling at me again. He says I had a really rough time waking up but I don’t remember that part, either.

You probably want to read a review of the room and upgrade options now, don’t you? Well, I may have to let you down just this one time. Let me say that as uncomfortable as my stay was, I can’t imagine having nicer people take care of me. All the staff at Saint Alphonsus treated me so kindly, always with a friendly smile, and not once acting as if they had better things to do. To me, this made all the difference.

Back home after my surgery

I was released the following morning and came home to this beauty (plus a concerned Little Butt and one rather upset kitty cat). Yes, I’ll admit, my husband does listen to me every now and then. I love flowers and the cheerful colors of these give me hope every time I look at them. My recovery’s been going well, not much pain at all.

Speaking of pain, I had braced myself for all kinds of post-surgical horror. Okay, I’d really had no idea what to expect but it was somewhere in the realm of give-me-all-the-drugs. Now, it hasn’t been painless, don’t get me wrong, but I was almost game to skip the drugs. I really only took them because I thought they’d help me sleep at night (see how good I am at making up excuses already?) but they didn’t. Do you know what did happen? I had headaches! Isn’t it embarrassing? I mean, here I was ready to be strong and brave and just grit my teeth through level 8 pain in my freshly wounded chest area, and I get a fucking headache! Are you kidding me? Not to diss headaches, they can be utterly debilitating! But I felt kind of cheated… Anyway, I just huffed and whined for two days.

Love and support

I bet you’d like to read about some gory stuff, and I’ll get to that in a minute but first, I want to gush a little about the enormous amounts of love and support I have received from my family and friends. There’s a whole other post in the making on how to be a good friend/relative to a cancer patient so please check back soon. Right now, I would like to send a massive thank you to everyone who reached out to me after they found out. Most often, you hear/read it and have absolutely no clue what to say. Trust me, we all felt the same way when we heard the diagnosis so saying just that creates an instant connection. Knowing so many people are thinking of me or praying for me has helped me feel less lost in fear.

What really surprised me days after my surgery was a thank you note from Saint Alphonsus Day Surgery. I’m sure it’s the standard follow-up to them but kudos to whoever came up with it! The other note, the one from Saint Alphonsus Breast Care Center, actually moved me to tears. It’s hand-written, it has flowers on top, and it’s signed by all the wonderful ladies who cared for me there. They even sent me a little guardian angel, aww! I doubt any of them will read this but I want to say it just in case. Ladies, your kindness and compassion made this traumatizing experience so much more bearable, thank you!

Post-surgical nuisance

I know, you want the gory stuff and you want it now. Well, for those of you who never researched surgical drains and have no idea what they look like, I’m including a picture. I was told long before my surgery there would be one or two drains on each side of my body. Did I google that? Nope, I let my imagination run wild and it returned a picture of these skinny tubes protruding from my body. Where would they drain to? Don’t know, don’t care. So, here’s what I came home with (minus the holder, which would actually come in handy):

My surgeon had warned me about the drains being annoying but it’s the bulbs, not the tubes! They’re a real pain in the shower and there’s really no flattering place to hide them under clothing. Mine should come out on Thursday and we’ll probably know more about any further treatment I might need, too.