Surgery

It has been a few days since I have posted. I have had a very busy week. I started out the week returning to work to have teacher in-service days. After 20 years of teaching I am an old hand at this.

Wednesday started out bright and early traveling to the hospital to have surgery. I had to check in by 8:30 am. After checking in and getting my wrist band; I was taken to have an injection of radioactive material. This was NOT a good feeling to have a needle pushed into my breast! I do not recommend this unless absolutely necessary. The material that was injected would travel through my breast and into/trough my lymph nodes. This created a road map that Dr. Bradshaw could follow with his Geiger counter to locate the lymph nodes closest to by breast.

After this was done I was taken to Surgery Pre-OP. Here I was given one of those lovely medical gowns that tie in the back. I met with the Pre-OP nurse who asked a multitude of questions about my medical history. After meeting with the Pre-OP nurse I had the opportunity to change and take a few pictures in my new attire. After the laughter and picture opportunity I had 3 visitors. First, I met with the OR Nurse who asked a series of questions, very similar to the same questions asked by the Pre-OP nurse. She left and I met the Anesthesiologist who also asked a series of questions and asshured me that he would take very good care of me. He explained that he would give me some medicine that would put me to sleep. Then he explained that he would have to place a tube in my mouth/throat to assist me with breathing. He did say that my throat would be a little soar after surgery. Finally, I met with Dr. Bradshaw who drew pictures with purple marker on me. He drew a circle to identify the location of the lump on my breast and then where he would make an incision. He did the same thing on my underarm. This was again a photo opportunity.

After all of this was done I had a short wait for the Pre-OP nurse came back in to start the IV. I have always had veins that like to hide and today was no different. The nurse worked for what seemed a long time to find a vein to insert the IV. Then I was given some medicine and wheeled off to surgery. The surgery lasted about 90 minutes and Dr. Bradshaw had some good news. First he said that he only removed 3 lyp nodes and to the naked eye they looked clear. This was great news. Next Dr. Bradshaw removed the lump from my breast. After the surgery Dr. Bradshaw informed me that he removed approximately 20% of my breast tissue. Overall, Dr. Bradshaw felt that the margins are clear but that we would be positive after the pathology report completed and sent to him next week.

After the surgery I was wheeled into Post-OP where I slowly woke up. Mom came in and sat with me as I woke up. The Post-OP nurse came in with my paperwork about how to care for my incisions, my prescription, and when to schedule a follow-up with Dr. Bradshaw. I was released from the hospital about 3:00 pm and I realized that I was hungry! So off to find food I went and then on home to rest and recoup.