No news yet...Update..Just got the call

The nurse just called to say that everything was benign so that is great news...thanks for all your prayers and support...I am sure I will need them again someday...that's just how something like this goes!!


Well, I am still waiting...hoping to hear something this morning...I even shot an email off to Dr. B. on the off chance that they might have sent him a copy of the report.

The kids are off from school again today...they think that's great but it won't be long and we will be talking about a longer school year to make these days up...

I thought I would take the time to today to go over the surgery on Monday....as soon as we walked into the waiting room the nurse came out to call me back. We went over the basic medical info and it was time to put on the lovely gown....since I was having surgery in the Outpatient treatment center I actually got to stay dressed from the waist down which is kind of nice. The nurse said Dr. K. wanted to do an exam prior to the surgery...I guess he was hoping the lump would be gone...it wasn't. When the nurse started talking about IV sedation I told her about the issues I had when I had my port put in...kind of "off the cuff" she said, " well, if you want to try it while being awake we could probably get him to agree to that." I felt like that was a big decision and not much time to think about it so I said yes, I wanted them to just numb the area. She walked me back into the OR and got me settled on the table...my left arm was strapped down and they also strap you down across your waist...OR tables are very skinny if you didn't know that..they don't want you falling off...another thing they do is put a big sticky pad on your stomach - the nurse explained that this is to "ground you" when they have to cauterize something with an electrical instrument..(I was just hoping that I wouldn't smell burning flesh...that would make me SICK!)... the surgical tech and Dr. K came in and then another nurse came in. As soon as she spoke I thought I recognized her voice...it was sweet Pat...my wonderful nurse from when I had my port put in. She came over and held my hand and talked...such a sweetie! Dr. K is very calm and very courteous to the surgical staff..when he would speak to me he was very supportive and calm...they had top 40 music playing in the background and we we all just chatting...seemed pretty odd! Once he marked up the area he wanted to remove it was time to numb the area...that stings pretty bad and hurts a little. They had a "tent" up by my face so that I couldn't see what he was doing and the nurse stayed up by my head...Oh, I forgot to mention that I took my lucky Ladybug surgical hat that Carissa had given me when I had my mastectomy...everyone loved it! Anyway, things were moving along ok. I could just feel some pressure where he was cutting and then he hit an area that wasn't numbed! OUCH! I winced from the pain and he instantly stopped and had the tech add more numbing to the area. Things got a little wacky after that...my blood pressure dropped, I felt like I was going to get sick and I was sweating like crazy...as nuts as things were I remember one drop of sweat running all the way down my side because I was in a half sitting up position...the nurse was great and kept getting a cook washcloth to put on my head and just kept trying to talk to me about things like kids, work, etc. Finally, he said he was done. I noticed that I could not move my hands...they were both completely numb...not sure if that was from the blood pressure crash or what but it was an odd feeling. Dr. K. talked with me and told me that he really didn't think it was a cancerous tumor and then he was off on his way to do another surgery...he is a very sweet man. The surgical tech finished things up while the nurse kept trying to cool me down. After a few minutes I started feeling much better and told her I was ready to go. She put me in a wheelchair and took me out to recovery. Pat brought me a Pepsi and a graham cracker and they called Bret back. Within a few minutes I was ready to go...I didn't even have to go out in a wheelchair this time which was different! I just got up and walked out. I think I had some BP issues throughout the day....I don't know if that is your bodies way of reacting to the stress or maybe the pain but it's odd for my BP to be low since it normally runs a little high but this has happened with other surgeries. The incision hurt pretty bad most of the day...I think he had to cut pretty deep to get it out and he had to go thru the muscle...I took one pain pill and it made me sick to my stomach so I decided to just deal with it....I found that as long as I wasn't moving I felt pretty good....watched a lot of boring TV that day and night. I am glad I made the decision to not use IV sedation...I was pretty nervous and it seemed like time went very slowly in there but looking back at it I think it was the right decision for me and it let me see what really goes on during surgeries which I have always been a little curious about....

As always, Bret took wonderful care of me...he takes care of my every need...even went out in an ice storm to get me a McD's iced tea...now that's a great guy!!! Heather kept Jillian with her that night so by the time she came home the next day we didn't even tell her that I had surgery.

I took off the bandages on Tuesday....under the steri strips it looks like the incision might be almost an inch long...it's right next to the incision I had when I had a cyst removed in that area many years ago...I think it's time to name this foob the "Frankenfoob"! It now has 5 scars (CORRECTION 6 SCARS -FORGOT ABOUT THE PORT SCAR))...what a mess...poor thing!