Round #2 Down

Well, I'm home from surgery - recovering comfortably. I do not have any interesting dreams to report, as I'm not sure I ever got into a deep enough sleep the night before to have any dreams at all. As a result, I was very tired and grouchy on Tuesday. Adding to that the fact that I could not eat at all, and could not drink after 11:00am led me to the decision to get under a blanket and watch tv all morning. Do you know how many commercials during the day are dedicated to food and/or food products? ALL OF THEM! After about noon the hunger went away and all I had to cling to was anxiety. Fun.

The good thing was that I did not have to do any of the other pre-procedures. Just show up for the 1 hour surgery, get prepped, go to sleep, wake up and go home. I even got to choose which type of sedation to use this time. Either general anastesia (completely out, breathing tube, no chance of waking up or remembering anything) or deep sedation (awake but so deeply sedated that you think you are asleep and don't remember much if anything). I had a very hard time deciding because I am basically afraid to feel pain. It's funny because I think that I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, but it still scares me. I asked the prep nurse, Candice, for her opinion and she figured if she had the choice it would be deep sedation. Hmm...still, hard to decide. Eventually, I was there looking the anastesiologist in the face and still had not decided. In the end I choose deep sedation and it was great. I have a vague recollection of some sensation but no pain. When it came time to wake up, I woke up quickly, no nausea, sore throat or dizziness and was home an hour earlier than I anticipated.

I hate to say this, but I'm getting kinda used to surgery. I think that Dan is also getting used to taking me to surgery. He knows to be ready to go out the door the minute I say so, and not to even try to talk to me on the way there. Once we get there, I relax and can be quite chatty with the medical personnel. Go figure. I've been dealing with the Everett Clinic and they really go out of their way to make sure that patients are comfortable and happy. I appreciate it tremendously and try to treat them in kind. Plus, it's a good idea just to get out of the way and let them do their job. Let them focus on the procedure an not on appeasing a grouchy patient.

Our next appointment is May 12, with the surgeon to discuss any results from this last surgery. He removed another 1mm area around the tumor site and it will go to pathology to make sure it is all clear. If there is no cancer found in that tissue, then he will refer us to the medical oncologist with whom I will be spending the next several months. We will have discussions and make decisions on the best treatment for my case, to make sure that the cancer does not return in the same breast, the other breast or anywhere else in my body.