The Surgery
The surgery for Sheila's recurrence of breast cancer was yesterday so the day was spent at the hospital. For me, it was a day of just waiting and waiting... for Sheila, her day was a bit more hectic, invasive and painful.
This time around, Sheila's opposite breast has a tumor shaped sort of like a bell or a Hershey's Kiss and measures 10mm x 15mm (approximately a little less than 1/2" x 5/8"). The imaging was showing no signs of the cancer being beyond the perimeter of the tumor so that was quite good news. Regardless, some lymph nodes needed to be removed and biopsied as well just to be sure the cancer has not spread into the lymphatic system. The team of doctors seems to be quite positive though.
So, before sunrise yesterday morning, we headed to the hospital to start the pre-op stuff for surgery. Here, Sheila is getting dressed (well... undressed, really) for surgery...
Discussing some of the proposed day's events with one of the nurses as she prepares Sheila for an IV port...
Time for the IV port... this really is the easy part compared to what lies ahead...
And, the surgeon now arrives to again discuss the day's proposed events and to inject Sheila with some radioactive dye. The dye will light up the first few lymph nodes near the tumor and those will be removed in today's surgery while also removing the tumor... these injections, directly into the breast at the site of the tumor, were a bit sharp, stinging, and extremely painful and definitely prompted a shocked reaction from Sheila...
Time for some well wishes before being wheeled into surgery...
And now a few of us wait while the surgical team removes the tumor and a few lymph nodes... Sheila's daughter, Whitney... Sheila's mom, Sue... and Sheila's sister, Amy accompanied me during this wait. Most of this time was spent in the Garden Atrium... (great fresh food is served in this atrium, by the way... very unlike typical hospital food!)
When the surgery was complete, we met in a consultation room with the surgeon. She explained that everything went well... she explained that she'll call us as soon as any of the pathology results are available... we have a follow-up appointment with her next week along with a couple of other oncology appointments. The surgeon then told us that it will be another hour or so before Sheila will be awake enough for some visitors in Recovery.
When I finally found Sheila in Recovery, she was still mostly out of it and looking a bit green... literally. Within a few minutes, she was able to talk but still could not open her eyes. It took another ten minutes or so before she was able to open her eyes. Overall, things were looking good. Our primary concern now was trying to avoid Sheila's history of serious and painful side effects due to general anesthesia...
Little by little, every so often, Sheila would ask to be propped up more and more... and she requested a drink to sooth her dry and irritated throat due to the intubation... all good signs of recovery...
Sheila recovered much more quickly this day than in her two previous surgeries. By mid-afternoon, she was requesting a trip to the bathroom. Fortunately, her bladder seemed to be functioning just fine so we began the process of moving from Post-Op Recovery to the car...
This time around, Sheila's opposite breast has a tumor shaped sort of like a bell or a Hershey's Kiss and measures 10mm x 15mm (approximately a little less than 1/2" x 5/8"). The imaging was showing no signs of the cancer being beyond the perimeter of the tumor so that was quite good news. Regardless, some lymph nodes needed to be removed and biopsied as well just to be sure the cancer has not spread into the lymphatic system. The team of doctors seems to be quite positive though.
So, before sunrise yesterday morning, we headed to the hospital to start the pre-op stuff for surgery. Here, Sheila is getting dressed (well... undressed, really) for surgery...
Discussing some of the proposed day's events with one of the nurses as she prepares Sheila for an IV port...
Time for the IV port... this really is the easy part compared to what lies ahead...
And, the surgeon now arrives to again discuss the day's proposed events and to inject Sheila with some radioactive dye. The dye will light up the first few lymph nodes near the tumor and those will be removed in today's surgery while also removing the tumor... these injections, directly into the breast at the site of the tumor, were a bit sharp, stinging, and extremely painful and definitely prompted a shocked reaction from Sheila...
Time for some well wishes before being wheeled into surgery...
And now a few of us wait while the surgical team removes the tumor and a few lymph nodes... Sheila's daughter, Whitney... Sheila's mom, Sue... and Sheila's sister, Amy accompanied me during this wait. Most of this time was spent in the Garden Atrium... (great fresh food is served in this atrium, by the way... very unlike typical hospital food!)
When the surgery was complete, we met in a consultation room with the surgeon. She explained that everything went well... she explained that she'll call us as soon as any of the pathology results are available... we have a follow-up appointment with her next week along with a couple of other oncology appointments. The surgeon then told us that it will be another hour or so before Sheila will be awake enough for some visitors in Recovery.
When I finally found Sheila in Recovery, she was still mostly out of it and looking a bit green... literally. Within a few minutes, she was able to talk but still could not open her eyes. It took another ten minutes or so before she was able to open her eyes. Overall, things were looking good. Our primary concern now was trying to avoid Sheila's history of serious and painful side effects due to general anesthesia...
Little by little, every so often, Sheila would ask to be propped up more and more... and she requested a drink to sooth her dry and irritated throat due to the intubation... all good signs of recovery...
Sheila recovered much more quickly this day than in her two previous surgeries. By mid-afternoon, she was requesting a trip to the bathroom. Fortunately, her bladder seemed to be functioning just fine so we began the process of moving from Post-Op Recovery to the car...
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