Surgery

Had my dreaded surgery yesterday. Got up at 3:30 am to apply EMLA cream to my port. Was able to go back to sleep for 35 minutes before getting up again. Friend Sindhu picked me up at 5:00 am. Arrived at 5:30. Surgery was at the Cancer Center building which has an Ambulatory Surgery Center, not at the main hospital building.

They were able to use my port instead of my arm for an IV. 3:30 am is not an ideal time to apply EMLA cream. I must have applied it in the wrong location because the needle was very painful when it was inserted. They may have also used a larger needle. 

I was given Emend tablets for nausea and a Tylenol tablet pre-op.

The anesthesiologist stopped by and understood that I wanted no pain and no nausea. She said she would use a simple airway on me after she learned I have issues with acid reflux. I told her I wanted to count down from 10 before losing consciousness, but my last memory was being wheeled into OR and seeing an awful lot of people.

I don't know if it started on time, but my surgery was scheduled for 7:15 am. My first conscious memory post-op was at 10:40 am. I don't know what time surgery ended, but the surgeon estimated it would last 1.5 hours. 

I was so drowsy and kept falling asleep and also had nausea. It wasn't till 2:40 that I was alert enough to go home. I had to pee first, and discovered I have blue pee. The surgeon injected me with a blue dye to help locate my sentinel nodes. I still had nausea, but the nurse said I had already been given two doses of anti-nausea meds. They did send me home with a barf bag, crackers, ginger ale, and an alcohol swab to inhale.

Cousin Nancy gave me a ride home. We arrived at 3:45 pm. My friends George and Diane from Pismo Beach had arrived and were waiting for me at home. They're staying with me till Sunday. I spent the rest of the day with nausea and vomiting. I took one Tylenol capsule for pain and promptly threw it up. So I had no painkillers last night, but it wasn't too bad.

I took it easy this morning. Went downstairs for lunch. We went for a drive in the afternoon and bought some groceries at Trader Joe's. George made tacos for dinner. It was excellent. He used taco seasoning from Trader Joe's. I'll have to buy some later.

Not much pain today. I took one Tylenol this morning and took another tonight just in case. I'm wearing the same breast binder they put on me yesterday. My instructions say to wear a sports bra 24 hours a day for 7 days.

The only thing I know about my surgery was that 6 sentinel nodes were taken out. I thought there would be only 2 or 3. I didn't ask about the lumpectomy. I have two incisions, one on the lower right of the breast and another under my arm. I won't know the pathology results till my follow-up appointment on April 26.