How quick should I have surgery

lumpynurse80

So I am now 4 weeks post-op. I had a double mastectomy with reconstruction on January 9th. I don't think that I was really prepared for the overwhelming feelings I have had since surgery. I think before surgery I could compartmentalize it and separate myself from it all so that I was able to function normally, but now it's real and at times its emotionally overwhelming. I worked up until the day before surgery, and then picked my sister and niece up at the airport. They flew in for my surgery and to help me afterwards for a few days. The day of surgery Jeff and I left around 5 AM to get to the hospital on time. They had trouble getting an IV on me which I was expecting because I have small veins and they're deep. Then the nipple injections of dye to figure out which lymph nodes needed to be removed. Let me just say that even with Lidocaine to try to numb me, it felt like he was injecting battery acid into my breast. Rolling to the OR and having to say goodbye to Jeff, I started to cry because it all became so very real. Waking up in the OR that afternoon, the very first thing I did was start vomiting and that continued in the PACU, it was AWFUL! I hate throwing up. I had a room full of people waiting for me when I finally got to my room. It was nice to have people there but I was wiped from surgery and all the medications they gave me for the vomiting. Pain was not as bad as I had anticipated it to be. The worst part was not being able to use my arms right after because they were so sore, I'm guessing from being strapped to the OR table for so long. Jeff stayed with me the first night, and I still had a catheter so I didn't have to get up through the night. The next morning I was ready to try walking the halls, so my nurse and Jeff helped me to get up and oh my gosh I felt like an old worn out rag. I found out that I lost a lot of blood during surgery and my hemoglobin dropped to 8.4 which increased my weakness. Jeff stayed with me until lunch time when I sent him home to get ready for his fishing tournament the next day. I refused to let him miss it, and I knew my sister was going to be coming to stay the night with me. After Jeff left, my cousin Patrick showed up. He brought me flowers and two balloons that said "It's a girl!". I started laughing, and he said they were to celebrate my new boobs. He's crazy but he has a huge heart. He stayed and visited with me for a while and then I napped until my sister came back. I was discharged home the next day and went home where I got into the recliner in the living room and then couldn't get back out of it, which caused me to cry in frustration. It took about 3-4 days for me to get strong enough to get out of the recliner by myself. Thankfully, my sister and Jeff were there to help me out. I went home with the typical 4 drains....ladies can we talk about how annoying the drains are....they were not fun at all. The doctor took the first two drains out at my 1 week follow-up appointment and the last two the following week. I went back to clinicals after a week and a half. I was exhausted but I knew that I needed to get moving to build up my strength. It felt good to get out of the house and since I only had a few weeks left of the quarter I had to keep going. I'm finally back at work, probably too early but my bank account says I need to work or win the lottery. Jeff has been amazing, he took really good care of me and handled all the financial stuff for me. I really appreciate him even more than I already did. While I was recovering, my best friend's mother found out that she has a mass in her colon, which is devastating because my best friend's father died of colon cancer 2 years ago. After much testing, it turns out she has peritoneal cancer with mets. She is still trying to figure out her treatment plan but I'm hopeful that she will win her battle. I think the hardest part of this whole thing is finding out who really cares about you. People who you thought were your friend seem to drop off the side of the earth. Its a painful discovery but I guess its better to know who your true friends are that you can count on. So I go for weekly "fill ups" with my plastic surgeon to fill up my tissue expanders slowly over 2-4 months. I see the oncologist on the 13th. They said that even though my margins were clear and all the lymph nodes were negative that I still may have to do chemo because of the size of my tumor. We shall see I guess.

Sunshine99

Lumpynurse8, just checking in on you to see how you are progressing.