So this time in two weeks, I'll be post op. Cant wait. I've decided that waiting is one of the suckiest things to do. I fear I am going to be a very impatient patient.
Has anyone in got any advice for an impatient patient lol? The social worker at the cancer clinic has given me great advice to find things to do that I have to concentrate on so I dont overthink things. lol.
Anyone have any suggestions or comments about the new cancer clinic and oncology unit in Hervey Bay?
There's not a whole lot of waiting room at St Stephens although my parents and hubby did wait there for me as we had a bit of a mix up on the day where my hubby and mum both had to have fasting blood tests that very morning and my step dad had to run me in for the early appointment. The general outpatients room is quite large with quite a few chairs but it has a sign requesting only one family member. I doubt they enforce it as its kind of an open room with corridors on two sides and your daughter could pop off down to the cafeteria for a walk if the room got crowded. There were only a handful in the waiting room both day. I imagine if they get an emergency and a big backlog of patients waiting then that's when they would get worried. First op hubby wasn't allowed in the prep room, but second op he was. He stayed with me the whole time until the anaestatist took me away. I really needed his support for the second op as I wasn't real brave that one.
Planning a sleep over at the girls place one night very soon!
Thanks Brenda. Have met Megan but I want to go back and talk to her again as we didnt have a real long time for a chat. I got a book and a pillow from her and the bra fitting. I got more stuff in the mail. The pink vinyl bag with a pilates dvd and some other stuff, a relaxation dvd, I had ordered the my journey pack so i had that turn up after I'd been to see megan. I have already been to the cancer clinic to talk to melinda the social worker. She was really lovely and I agree, the clinic is a much nicer place to be than outpatients. I know my way round the hospital fairly well, I have spent a bit of time since christmas and the birth of two grandbabies, as one grandbaby ended up in pediatrics for ten days christmas eve, and then her mum has just had emergency gall bladder surgery today. Already a bit tired of walking that corridor.
My daughter wants to come spend the day with her dad and me. I suggested if theres room for her and pram ( she has a 12 week old) that instead of waiting at st stephens while i have the dye and guide wire done, she'd be better coming when I've gone over to the main hospital afterwards. Do you remember if there's much room in the waiting room part prior to surgery. They said hubby would be able to stay till i head off.
Its a good point to acknowledge that while they've said this is only tiny and early, and that all i'll need is radiation therapy, I do know that this could go pear shaped after the histology comes back from the surgery. In my mind i've looked at it, but for now i've filed it away for future use if my positive hopes dont come to fruition :) There's going to be SOOO much more information at this years girls night in night!!! lol
Hi Donna, remember when you first hear the words bc and you just want to run away? Well this time of waiting can be a great time to get away to a different place and just breathe. I had a girly weekend in the city with high tea, parks & flowers, dinner and a show. bc is still in the back of your mind, but while you still feel healthy why not find something to enjoy? Go ahead, spoil yourself, you deserve it, Tracey??
Have you met the McGrath nurse Megan yet? She will give you a bag for your drains and a pillow for under your arm. Both vital pieces of equipment and made by local volunteers too.
My sentinel node biopsy after the mastectomy came back positive so I had to go in for a second op of an underarm axillary clearance to remove all the lymph nodes. The results all came back negative on those. Use caution when they build you up saying such things as we got it early and the sentinel node looks fine. Mine wasn't and I was totally unprepared for getting the results only a week after the first op and being already booked and sent immediately to register for pre-op on that day. I lost it.
All your surgeon appointments are in the outpatients clinic just near the breast screening clinic near the entrance to the general hospital. I had to find all these places as I had only just moved to Burrum Heads 6 months before. My first visit to a doctor yielded the breast cancer diagnosis.
After my two ops I had a few weeks break over Christmas/New year if you could call turning up to have the seroma swelling drained every week a break. BTW its like heaven when they do it. I do think all that stuff does make you a bit sick merging through your body and I always felt much better once it was gone.
The cancer clinic is across the road from the general hospital. Parking is free and usually not full so if you find the general one full, just park up the top near the road and walk across the round about to the outpatients clinic.
I like the cancer clinic better than the outpatients one as the staff seem more highly trained in politeness and don't hide behind glass partitions where you have to speak through a hole in the glass.
For your op, you will most likely have to start at St Stephens private hospital to get the radioactive dye injected so they can highlight the sentinel node. Mine was slow to circulate and took a few hours. I took my laptop with and the internet reception was good with my prepaid modem.
Then you go over to the waiting room for day surgery. My laptop worked there as well and my husband took it with him and my toiletries when I was called for the op.
You will wake up in your ward with a mouth as dry as chips. If you can get your foggy brain to work, don't slug down a whole glass of water straight up. Just sip a little. I'd had gas anaesthetic and we found I am allergic to it and that water came out faster than it went in and I ended up on an overnight drip with nausea meds.
The nurses are great and will unhook your drain bag from the bed and you can pop it in to that cloth bad the McGrath nurse gave you. The drip trolley unplugs and you have a half an hour before the battery back up sends off an alarm. You can wheel it to the bathroom for toileting. That trip is important as the nurses will mark you as self sustaining and that's one step closer to getting released. Don't overdo the walking though. Also make sure you eat some breakfast the next morning as holding that down is another step toward getting released.
In the public health system if you don't ask you don't get. After the first op I was sent home with no nausea meds and told to go and buy myself Panadol and Nurofen. Next time when I asked they gave me stronger Nurofen and a long acting pain killer and anti nausea meds.
