Surgery done!
Okey doke, it's Sat Nov 16 & I'm laying in a hospital bed at RBH having had a wide local excision & sentinel node biopsy yesterday afternoon, right now I can honestly say the only pain I have is a sore throat from the intubation.
It was a long day at hospital so let me lay it out:
- 6.30am admission
- 7.30 am up to nuclear medicine to begin sentinel node tracing / mapping. Rec'd 4 needles around the area of the lesions of radioactive material. They were all on about how much it was going to hurt & that I'd have to hold someone's hand (which I didn't). 3 of the 4 needles hurt less than a blood test, 1 was a bit of a bastard coz bit was up closer to the sensitive nipple area. Had to firmly massage my breast after that to get the stuff moving. After 30 mins they did the first lot of CT scans to see if they could identify the node. Unfortunately it had only just started to show up so they made me & mum hang around for a further 50 mins to try another set. On 2nd go they got a beautiful pic if the first 2 nodes & marked them with crosses using a black texta. Surprisingly to me they were not under my arm but basically on top of my boob towards the arm pit.
- 10.30 am off to ultrasound to have the hook wires put in. Firstly I had a very thorough ultrasound done to identify the location of the lesions. Than the radiologist who was going to perform the procedure came in. She was clearly VERY experienced & very frank & straightforward. She had a look around herself with ultrasound & identified not only the first 3 lesions that had originally been seen but 2 more to be wired. She was very clear that she could see many areas of irregularity, common with invasive lobular (that is hard to identify coz it can mimic regular breast tissue). She was actually quite alarmed that the surgeons were JUST doing a lumpectomy because in her opinion of seeing my types so many times she believed it was far more pervasive in my breast & they needed to be more aggressive. She also warned of the high likelihood of it's appearance in my other breast. She talked about the constant argument she had with surgeons about their initial minimally invasive approach when 99 times out of 100 they have to go back & be radical. I did not at all feel like she was scaremongering, I felt that she really had seen it 1,000 times & was concerned for me. Anyway, all that on board we proceeded with the hook wiring. This is done under local anaesthetic & the wires are inserted under ultrasound guidance. She inserted the first through 3 lesions in a row. I have sense breasts, the lesions were deep & clearly tough masses. I won't lie her using a good bit of strength to push that wire through hurt like a mofo. I didn't cry or anything but def curled m ties & said "you fucker" once or twice - lol. Second one in comparison was a piece if cake as the 2 lesions were relatively close to the surface.
- on to theatre around lunchtime. Quite a bit if waiting around where they ask you the same questions 50,000 times. Seen by an anaesthetist for the first time whilst waiting. Got taken through the surgery prep room just after 2pm to lay on a gurney & wait. Brief wait & question time there before being taken in to the room out use the actual theatre to have the drip put in. I rec'd a shit if an anxiety medication that I swear was called Bedazzle (lol) & felt pretty good. The anaesthetist, a couple nurses & the surgeon came out & spoke to me at this time. The surgeon (nice youngish guy I had met before) said to me "so, I heard you had a pretty interesting discussion down stairs today". We talked about it, he didn't necessarily disagree with the while thing but said given my age (39) he really did feel that at least giving the less invasive procedure a go first was well worth the shot. I agreed. He said if I have to come back for more surgery that it would be within 2 wks. We went over the planned procedure again & he explained his 3 incision options to me & asked which I'd prefer. I said if it was about where the scar was & how it would look didn't care. I asked him to make the incision in the way he was most comfortable & felt gave him the best access to the lesions. He said he would be doing one to match the curve of my breast & taking a wedge shape out (which he very clearly showed me on my breast) to get the lesions & hopefully a clear margin. I would have a separate incision at the too if my breast to get the 2 nodes that had been identified. There was of course still a chance if full axillary clearance depending on what pathology said whilst I was under. Wheeled thru to theatre where I lay whilst waiting for the surgical team to finish prepping, the anaesthetist was right there by my head giving me oxygen & more "bedazzle". I was under before I knew it. Last thing I knew til waking in recovery, usual super drowsy wake up at first but then wide awake chatting & wanting to be entertained. It was after 6pm by then & unfortunately was bit briefed by the surgical staff about the actual procedure, that will happen this morning. However, there had def been no axillary clearance & in fact no involvement if my underarm at all which I imagine will make for a quick & easy recovery from this first surgery. Was given both endone & Panadol on a fairly regular basis through the night. Didn't come to ward with a drip but they ended up connecting one as they were unable to get my blood pressure back up throughout the night. Still low but at least acceptable this morning. I'm young, fit & healthy so don't anticipate it preventing me from being discharged later this morning. The drip needle itself is causing more discomfort than the breast which is totally wrapped in a surgical pressure bandage. Don't even know if they took 1 node or 2 but think it was prob 2.
- looking forward to my consultation this morning to find out all the gory details. My mood is still very up & ready to take on whatever is necessary. I'll def make the most if that for now.
Will keep all you lovely ladies posted as perhaps someone coming up behind me can benefit from the detail of what to expect.
Jules :-)
