My checkin time was 10:30. That makes for a hungry day. But it was nice to have a "normal" morning with the kids, and not have to find someone to come early in the morning and get them off to school. We checked in at the hospital, did all my vitals, changed into hospital gown, and went over the procedure. Oh, and I had plenty of warm blankets, because hospitals are freezing! I had an amazing nurse!!! This really makes such a difference. She has been a nurse for 40 years! Such a positive personality and she got my IV in on the first try :) That is a good day! I don't do well with IV's. They put fluids and antibiotics running in my IV, which made me need to waddle to the bathroom. What a pain IV cords are! Dr. Chen came in and wrote all over my chest with surgical marker. She discussed post op care and medications. I will continue to take antibiotics when I get home. And we opted to not fill any pain medication, because I still have plenty of pills left from my last surgery.
Then we waited. The Operating Room was scheduled for me to start at 11:40. But the previous surgeries in that room went long. We stayed in a tiny room and watched TV, trying to distract myself. The anesthesiologist finally arived about 1:20. I discussed with him my major nausea issues. He put a patch behind my ear that helps nausea, but also creates blurry vision, groggy feeling, and major dry mouth. Always trade offs. He also ran a few different anti nausea drugs in my IV. I walked back to the OR about 1:30, put on a hair net, and got situated on the table/bed. That's the last thing I remember.
Surgery lasted a couple of hours. It was 4 something when I remember being sort of awake. It took me a long time to become even slightly alert. But, no nausea! I was so grateful.
Dr. Chen said everything went really well. She is so good at what she does. I hung out in post op for awhile and ate Lorna Doone's. I texted my dad and told him that this is the ONLY good thing about being in a hospital.
Somewhere around 6:30, i checked out. I got a sweet ride in a wheelchair to the car. I was still super groggy, dizzy, and tired. We drove to Appolo Burger, because I had heard they have good onion rings (my favorite) and I was starving. Cookies only take you so far.
We brought our food home and ate in a quiet house. My mom was so kind to come after school to take care of the kids. When we got home, they were still out at Pizza Pie cafe for dinner. Spoiled rotten! And they all had homework, piano, and reading completed! They said if I take them to Pizza Pie cafe for dinner every night, they will work that quickly for me too! Ha ha!
The worst feelings so far are these sharp, burning, shooting pains from my incision lines. Each breast has about a 4-5 inch incision. 3 layers of dissolvable stitches, followed by this crazy glue stuff. That area is definitely the most bothersome. And I have this crazy deep itch inside that I cannot get rid of! It's driving me nuts! Because I have no feeling, just numbness, (all over my chest) itching doesn't really help.
And my throat is ouchie! The breathing tube during surgery really irritates it. Plus, the nausea patch makes it dry. And I can only sleep on my back, which dries it out, too. This too shall pass.
My next appointment with Dr. Chen is in two weeks. I will wear a compression surgical bra at least until then. I'm so grateful that I didn't need drains again! I was able to shower easily this morning, though with some pain. The most difficult thing is getting to and from laying down/sitting up. And I'm on lifting restriction for awhile, which is annoying.
Overall, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude and feel so blessed. My husband is amazing. My kids are so thoughtful and caring. I have wonderful doctors and hospitals at my disposal. We've met my out of pocket max for the year, so this won't cost us anything additional. I'm healthy and seem to heal well. And I'm almost done with all of this!!!
Now I just need some sleep. I can't seem to get more than a couple of hours in without being restless and choking on my dry throat. I hope that will improve soon :)
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