Surgery day was May 5. That’s now 12 days ago. I couldn’t take notes during the process so let me see what I can remember:
Check in time was 6:00 am. I got up at 3:30 so I could have a cup of black coffee finished before my liquid cut-off time.
We drove in and got checked in at Anesthesiology. I had some paperwork to fill out and I got called back pretty promptly. I brought my hospital bag and cell phone with me. I was able to send some text messages over the prep period, which was pretty extensive.
Sam waited in the waiting area, which looks like this:
They have a monitor that shows family members where you are in the process, and a color code for each stage.
Recovery would be in two stages. If I got to Recovery 2, i would get to go home that day!
The Mighty Sam was mostly by himself in the waiting area – there were only a couple of surgeries besides mine.
First I got to a little pre-op bed and got some hospital clothes to change into. Hospital gown, hospital socks, and a hospital cap thing. I had been worried about my now super-long disgusting hair but it worked fine – I had it in a ponytail scrunchy and the whole mess went into the cap. They also put me in a bed with a warm comfy blanket thing that they were pumping hot air into. They said that studies show that keeping operative patients warm leads to better outcomes. I was definitely warm and cozy the whole time.
They took some vitals. I then talked to the anesthesiologist, a Dr. Mc-something. He just explained about the procedure, how the anesthesia works and how I’d be monitored, and what to expect afterward, along with the measures they would take to make me comfortable, including anti-nausea medication. He asked if I wanted a scopolamine patch for nausea and I said YES. I got that, and you can leave it on for three days, and so I did leave it on for 3 days.
I was really thirsty. There was a lot of just lying around waiting. I also got some pre-op meds – if I recall correctly it was gabapentin, an anti-nausea medication, and celebrex. I also got to take it with water, which was deliciously refreshing.
At 8:00 i went to Radiology – a radiology nurse wheeled me up there. That was weird because I was totally capable of walking at that point. In Radiology I underwent a couple of procedures: One was a wire inserted into the benign mass on the left side, which took a while and was kind of uncomfortable – it involved a mammogram, then local anesthetic, then the insertion, then a couple more mammograms to check the position. The radiologist is really good (she was the one who did my MRI biopsy). Then I had the injection of a radioactive isotope so they could identify the sentinel node on the right side. That also involved a local anesthetic, but only took a few minutes total.
After that I was wheeled back to pre-op and got my IV. I was ready. The plastic surgeon came in to talk to me and made a few marks on me.
They wheeled my pre-op bed into the OR. They put a tag on my glasses case and said they would give them to me in recovery so I would be able to see. I got wheeled right next to the surgery bed and scootched myself over. That is a very, very narrow bed. They gave me a little oxygen to breathe and said they were setting up my IV. I drifted off very soon after that.
I remember my stomach feeling sore when I woke up. Also I was wearing my glasses. I heard the nurses talking to me. They had put me in a special support bra before i woke up.
At some point I was in a new recovery area, and they called Sam in. An anesthesiologist (not Dr. Mc-something, another one) came in to chat with us. I remember he said I had been fantastic under anesthesia and that everything had gone really well. They helped me get dressed but I don’t remember that very well.
After a while it was time to go home! i got wheeled to the Urgent Care exit and Sam ran off to get the car. I was able to get into the car ok and the drive home was uneventful. Sam kept warning me as he drove over bumpy spots. I remember that being a little uncomfortable but not too bad.
I slept pretty well that night. I took a few oxycodones on the two days after, but by the third day I didn’t need it.
I also had to deal with a drain. They showed me how to measure and empty it at my pre-op appointment. It was definitely a weird thing, to have this plastic tube hanging out of you. The post-op surgery bra they put me in was pretty sweet though – it has these rings that you can attach the drain collector thing to, so it doesn’t pull. You need to empty it either 3x per day, or when the collector is 1/3 full. You have to squeeze the fluid out of the tube and into the collector bulb, then empty the bulb into a measuring cup, and then track how many cc’s you collected. You can have the drain out when you have 2 days in a row with less than 30 ccs.
Recovering from full mastectomy with adequate pain management is definitely nowhere near as bad as having a migraine. I had Celebrex and Tylenol for most of the pain management. Anti-nausea medication when I needed that (did not need it after the 2nd day, since I wasn’t taking Oxy anymore).
My next appointment was just with the nurse to remove the drain. I will write more about that later.
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