Mastectomy

Going for the antibiotics every 8 hours was a real PITA and by Monday I was a mess. I was worried about not getting the surgery and then worried about getting it. I needed a new IV line since the first vein went. I had to have my IV done at 8 and then come back at 11 to see the on call doctor. He left without seeing me because he didn’t want to be the one to make the decision about my surgery so at noon they set things up for me to see Dr H in Saskatoon at 4 o’clock. That didn’t leave us much time to have something to eat, pack up and drive into Saskatoon but we did make it on time. He didn’t think I had an infection at all. He said I probably had a second bleed (hence the bruising and swelling) which raised my white cell count and that in turn raised my temperature. He asked if I wanted to wait to have the surgery and I replied with an emphatic No!

Originally I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma (meaning the cancer has gone beyond the ducts). The pathology report showed that I also have lobular carcinoma in-situ (in-situ means it is non invasive and hasn’t spread beyond the lobules). With lobular carcinoma I have an increased risk of developing it on the other side so when I decide to have reconstructive surgery they will remove the other breast and reconstruct both sides at the same time. I asked him to take them both right now but he said he said no. He said this is a rather aggressive cancer and he didn’t want to risk me developing complications on the other side that might delay my treatments. The chemo will cover any risk of me developing it in the other side for now. The report also showed that 9 out of 14 lymph nodes had cancer.

I had a much nicer anesthetist this time. I told him not to be offended if I swear at him when he is looking for a new vein since I’ve had so many of those in the last week and my arm is sore up to my elbow. He tried one place and that didn’t work so he said we have to go to plan B and put me to sleep like they do for the little kids. He explained that this is where he sits me on his knee and tells me a bedtime story. LOL but since he can’t sit me on his knee though he will use the mask to put me out (and then he could find a vein when I was sleeping) and so he put that mask on my face and he said it instructs him to say Once upon a time there were three bears…. He stopped there but it took a long time for that stuff to put me out. I tried hard to relax and just breathe deep but I was starting to feel very claustrophobic and panicky.

The actual surgery went well. I woke up quicker this time but it is much harder to bounce back. It takes a lot of energy just to stay awake but at least so far I am not feeling too much pain (even without the drugs!) They took both my drain tubes out in the hospital so that was great! They wanted to send me home after one night but I dug my heels in and got to stay another night. It set me back a bit with arm mobility but this isn't as bad as the lymph node surgery. My snow angel is back to 1/2 a wing.

I want to thank everyone again for your kind thoughts, letters, cards, emails and gifts. Also the staff at Central Park School who sent us a care package of casseroles, cakes and cookies. It is an honor and a privilege to work with such a kind and caring staff and I miss you all very much. Your generosity is overwhelming!

Also if for some reason you are unable to post comments on this forum, I welcome all phone calls and emails!