One surgery down!

Yesterday, I went in to get my pre-admit done for my sentinel node procedure that was happening today. Pre-admit was pretty uneventful, as originally they were doing to do a bunch of blood work and a chest x-ray, but I had gotten all that within in the last 3 weeks, so I didn't have to go through that again. Yay me! :) Only blood test I got to have was a pregnancy test since I am still of "child bearing" age as they didn't want to put the radioactive dye in if there was a little Joel cooking. :) Happy to report...NOT PREGNANT! :) But, it was probably the most expensive pregnancy test I have ever taken. lol

After my pre-admit, I went to see my friend, Milton, who would be facilitating the radioactive dye that would be injected by the radiologist. Milton was very nice, put my mind at ease, and explained the procedure and how everything worked to my Mom and I. This blue dye gets injected in 4 injections around my nipple. (You ladies can imagine my eyes bugging out a little when he told me this, as all I could think was OUCHIE!) They inject there as that is where all the ducts are that run to the lymph nodes, so the blue dye causes the sentinel nodes (first nodes the cancer would travel to if it went to the nodes) to "light up" for the surgeon so she can remove them for testing. Radiologist, Dr. Siepmann, husband of a classmate from school did the injections. He was amazing, as despite the warning it could hurt even with lidocaine mixed with the injections, it really wasn't bad at all. I felt a slight sting on the first one, and the other 3 were pretty uneventful. He kept my mind busy as we talked about his wife and family. It is amazing to me what a small town McMinnville still seems to be, even after all these years. So far, everyone of my appointments or procedures has been guided by or assisted by someone I know or one of Courtney's friends' parents. It has been really comforting, and I don't consider it a coincidence at all that God put these people in my life at the right time.

This morning I checked in for my sentinel node removal and port placement. I got changed into a really awesome purple, paper gown with matching purple socks. I felt really stylin! Dr. Irani and the anesthesiologist came in to tell me what all I would be doing. They recommended for this procedure since she was doing a detailed removal of some nodes and would be moving my arm around some that the light "loopy" version of sedation may not be enough, so they recommended I go for general anestesic so I could sleep through the whole procedure. My nurse, Leanne, came in to escort me, and again, was pleasantly surprised that it was a parent to a friend of Courtney's. We talked a bit, and she wheeled me into the very chilly, sterile looking room where my procedures would be done. I remember there were a lot of people in the room, getting me moved to the table, and setting up. She was very reassuring and I remember her massaging my fingers to relax me while the sedation took effect. The port procedure was first and they put it in on the right side of my chest since my node procedure would be on the left. Dr. Irani said that was a relatively short procedure, maybe 15 minutes or so. Then she made about a 2 - 3 inch long incision under my left arm to remove 2 sentinel nodes and 2 additional lymph nodes. One of the additional lymph nodes she removed as it was the one biopsied and it had lot of scar tissue on it, and the other she removed as she didn't like the way it felt, so took it out. These will be sent out and supposedly I won't get the results back until early next week. My oncologist is going to try to call Friday to see if she can get any preliminary info as to whether any are cancerous or not so she can plan chemo treatment, so we will see if we get lucky enough to find something out Friday.

My whole procedure was about an hour or so, then before I knew it I woke up in recovery. Dr. Irani filled Tom and my Mom in on what she did during surgery while I recovered. Then soon they were able to come back to my room to see me. Nurses took a chest x-ray, gave me some soup/crackers, and gave me some pain meds and after about half hour or so, I was good to go. The whole procedure was tiring, so I was anxious to go home and rest.

Pain isn't terrible tonight, so I am opting for tylenol vs. the oxycodone they prescribed. My tummy isn't a huge fan of meds, so as long as things don't get too unbearable, I will try this route.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and words of encouragement today. Hoping for good news as early as Friday, but knowing that is only a remote possibility, so will try to get my mind geared to wait til after the weekend.