Recovering and feeling good!

It's Thursday, so 3 days after my lumpectomy, and everything seems to be going well.

Trigger warning: this paragraph is about the seed placement, and some might find it off-putting, so skip if that's you! Before the lumpectomy, they placed a radioactive seed in the tumor area so the surgeon could accurately find the area with a geiger counter. They had me sit in a wheeled chair and pushed me into a mammogram machine. They aligned me and my arm and breast, then put the right breast into compression. For those of you who have had mammograms before, that usually lasts maybe 30 seconds, then they release the pressure and move to the next view. But for this, they kept it compressed for quite a while - maybe 8 - 10 minutes. I started counting seconds, and got up to over two minutes, but then the assistant started chatting with me to distract me. The lump was in area H-2, which she and the doctor kept repeating, so we were joking that it sounded like playing Battleship. During this time, they took a view of the breast to make sure they knew where the area was, put Betadyne over the area, injected some Lidocaine to numb it, then inserted the device with the seed into the breast, then took another view to make sure they were in the right place. They actually inserted it a bit too far so they could adjust it during the next view. So then, they released the compression, told me to keep my eyes up, and put me back in another position, which the assistant joked was like playing Twister, because they had to push my body parts around a lot to get them right, then compressed the breast again in this new angle, and made sure the seed placement was right from this angle, pulling it back until it was right. I realized that they didn't want me to look down because people faint when they see what is basically a dart sticking out of their breast. I was really wanting to look down, but I didn't want to faint, so I didn't. Wanted a photo though! This compression only lasted about 2 minutes, then we did one final view to make sure it was right.

When that was done, we went to the next building for the surgery and waited a long time. We'd gotten in at 10:30 am and filled out all the paperwork, then had the seed placement right away, probably about 11:30. We were supposed to start surgery at 1:15, but they didn't take me back until 1:30, and didn't actually start the surgery until 4. Lots of waiting, mostly for an operating room to be ready, it seemed, because I'd had the whole surgery crew and anesthesiologist troop in to meet me and answer questions long before that.

I had Piggy to pet and Frank's hand to hold while waiting, but eventually they gave Piggy to Frank and said it was time to go. Then I just used my own hair on my head to pet and self-soothe - it is SO SOFT!

In previous surgeries, anesthesia usually doesn't work well for me. I've tried to pull the dentist's hands out of my mouth during wisdom teeth removal, gotten up and moved to the operating table during another surgery and heard all the doctors swear, and was awake for others. This one, though, worked very well! I only remember them pushing me down the halls toward the operating room, then I woke up in the recovery room feeling fine. Much better!

During the operation, the surgeon, Dr Rhei, inserted radioactive liquid and bright blue dye into the tumor area, then used a geiger counter (and her eyes to see the dye) to find the first lymph nodes that they go to. These are the sentinel nodes, and she removed those. If they couldn't find any that were blue and radioactive, or if they saw during the operation that there were cancer cells there, they would have had to take out the first two levels of lymph nodes (up to about 20 out of 30 or so), but luckily, neither of those cases happened. Then Dr Rhei removed the tumor area, trying to take enough tissue out to get clear margins (that means no cancer cells are near the edges of the removed tissue).

Dr Rhei, reported to Frank that she removed a couple of lymph nodes and they looked clear of cancer during their brief check. She also said the tumor area removal went well. They will be reviewing all the removed tissue under a microscope and let us know the results within two weeks. What they find will determine what my next steps are.

In the meantime, I am supposed to be moving very slowly and gently so I don't jiggle the breast or lymph area tissue, gently and slowly moving my arms. I started arm and breathing exercises yesterday, and I walked a few short extremely slow walks. I went to the mailbox and back a couple of times, and walked a bit longer with a friend and got too tired. 

I iced the incisions every 20 minutes for more than 2 days but can stop that today unless the areas swell. And I didn't really need any pain medicine. They prescribed Oxycodone for me, but the pharmacy had already closed by the time surgery was done, so I took alternating Tylenol and Advil until I went to bed to keep ahead of any pain. But I woke the next morning and was fine. Stiff and a bit achy, but nothing that I needed pain pills for.

I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than 5 pounds for a couple weeks. I'm allowed to shower now, so I took a shower today. No swimming or baths until the doctor says I can.

I will be doing puzzles and reading books and super slow walks for a while. I tried to imagine myself as the 6-million dollar man, running super fast by showing him running in super slow motion! I didn't feel super fast though...

Ready for surgery!

Bee happy socks on!

Waiting with piggy for surgery to start.

On the way home, with pillows and Piggy to cushion me.

The bright blue dye showed up in my pee for 2 1/2 days!