{"id":7765,"date":"2012-01-19T11:11:08","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T16:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/?p=7765"},"modified":"2012-01-24T20:40:27","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T01:40:27","slug":"lumpectomy-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/?p=7765","title":{"rendered":"Lumpectomy 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, it’s out.\u00a0 My cancer is “unofficially” gone!\u00a0 I should get a call from Dr. Sweatman’s office before my next appointment to give us a full surgical report with details.\u00a0 But as far as I’m concerned, it’s outta here!\u00a0 Surgery wasn’t bad at all, I’ll admit.\u00a0 Mel is required to be with me for the 24 hours following surgery “just in case,” so I’m trying to milk that a bit.\u00a0 (He doesn’t read my blog, so I’m good.)\u00a0 I’ll get up and, “ooh” and “ahh” a bit here and there to get a bit of sympathy from him.\u00a0 I tell you, it’s like pulling teeth.\u00a0\u00a0 He’s been complaining more than I have.\u00a0 You would have thought he<\/em> has had surgery.\u00a0 Sympathy pains, he says.\u00a0 He keeps complaining about a “stress ball” in his shoulder.<\/p>\n

I don’t think we have ever spent an entire consecutive 24 hours together, so this should be interesting.<\/p>\n

Warning:\u00a0 Details below.\u00a0 If you don’t care to read all about the “wonderful details” just skip… <\/strong><\/p>\n

After arriving at the hospital yesterday around lunch time (no food or fluids after midnight) and changing into my precious purple gown and socks (Sorry mom, they made me take off the cupcakes socks you bought me for surgery), I waited for each and everyone of my teams to meet me, greet me and explain to me exactly what was going on.<\/p>\n

Mel will never be allowed to accompany me for any other procedure in the future.\u00a0 Ever.\u00a0 As I was getting my first IV, that blew, he was making the most obnoxious faces and joked with the nurse causing me and my nurse to laugh.\u00a0 Laughing.\u00a0 AS a monster needle was being woven into (and apparently out of) my vein.\u00a0 And on a side note, I’ve never had trouble giving blood or getting IVs.\u00a0 Interestingly, the nurse explained that this was yet another side effect of my chemo-“hard to catch” veins. After my second IV was placed successfully, I was given a shot of Heparin in my abdomen.\u00a0 Why couldn’t that have gone into A) the IV that was just placed or B) my port.\u00a0 Take your pick.<\/p>\n

What I’ve been dreading most was up next.\u00a0 (I’m giving the nitty gritty here because I had the sweetest email from someone who is just beginning her cancer battle.\u00a0 She mentioned that she loves reading about my experiences.\u00a0 So, for most of you this may be TMI.\u00a0 I just want to put it out there for anyone who may be interested-and for Mel and the off chance that he’ll actually read my blog for once. A few sympathy points.\u00a0 No?)<\/p>\n

Mel was asked to step out of the room and two men walked in.\u00a0 Yes, two young men. Exactly who I wanted my “nipple injections” from.\u00a0 In all fairness, they were very professional, respectful and quite funny.\u00a0 Probably not until I made a complete fool of myself joking and giggling and talking a bit too much, too quickly.\u00a0 I’m totally blaming it on my nerves.\u00a0 My first joke was about the Emla cream that I had stacked on my breast.\u00a0 It’s a numbing cream I used about an hour prior to arrival.\u00a0 Mel and I were driving through Columbia and he pulled over into a parking spot for me to lather it on. (Not even a remote, hidden spot.\u00a0 It was across from the Bank of America corporate building on one of the busiest streets in our State Capitol.)\u00a0 He’s so gentlemanly like that.\u00a0 I used the entire tube, so I’m sure the “injection guys” got a kick out of that, a mile high dollop of Emla.\u00a0 After they wiped it off and five injections later, the “site” had to be massaged.<\/p>\n

Word of advice:\u00a0 if you are one that is a bit modest, do not get breast cancer.<\/p>\n

The injections weren’t bad at all.\u00a0 My injection guys were nice enough to inject two at once.\u00a0 One guy on each side.\u00a0 So, really I had only three sticks. I did have a bit of burning from the “dye” or whatever was in them<\/em> as it was going in, but nothing too terribly uncomfortable.\u00a0 The thought of it was far worse than the actual process.\u00a0\u00a0 The dye helped Dr. Sweatman see the lymph nodes and tissue he was removing.<\/p>\n

After a stroll down to the OR and a bit of happy juice and gas, I only remember waking up to Mel staring at me again and cracking jokes.<\/p>\n

Nitty Gritty over.\u00a0 Begin reading here…<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a couple of hours in recovery, we were all set.\u00a0 I have a bandage on and will keep it on for 48 hours.\u00a0 Steri-strips will wear off after a while and I see Dr. Sweatman in 8 days.\u00a0 I have an appointment with Dr. Butler, my oncologist, in mid-February and will begin the radiation process.<\/p>\n

After we left the hospital, I was craving French onion soup, specifically from the Gourmet Shop, my favorite.\u00a0 But it was after lunchtime and the Gourmet Shop was closed.\u00a0 Bummer.\u00a0 So, we headed to Panera.\u00a0 French onion soup isn\u2019t something that is generally \u201ccar friendly\u201d so we decided to go in for a \u201cquick\u201d dinner.\u00a0 \u201cSurely, I\u2019ll not see anyone\u201d in my post surgery haze.\u00a0 I even went in bald, my first public outing with my blonde fuzz going on.\u00a0 Not 10 minutes later, two young cutie college girls bebopped over to our table.\u00a0 Whose parents<\/em> and older siblings <\/em>I\u2019ve known forever from my hometown.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure I scared them.\u00a0 They were so sweet and polite enough to pretend not to notice.<\/p>\n

Mel and I even stopped by the Dairy Queen for a blizzard before returning home.\u00a0 Like chemo, surgery does nothing to my appetite!\u00a0 When we got home, I took my happy pill and dozed off.\u00a0 Today, I\u2019m a bit sore, but haven\u2019t even taken anything for pain, so it\u2019s truly not bad all.\u00a0 Shhh, don\u2019t tell Mel, but I even did laundry this morning.<\/p>\n

So, there you have it.\u00a0 Lump is G.O.N.E.\u00a0 Just like that!\u00a0 Cheers!\u00a0 Bring on the radiation.\u00a0 I\u2019m ready!<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo of my fuzz-hawk on the way to Columbia! <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, it’s out.\u00a0 My cancer is “unofficially” gone!\u00a0 I should get a call from Dr. Sweatman’s office before my next appointment to give us a full surgical report with details.\u00a0 But as far as I’m concerned, it’s outta here!\u00a0 Surgery wasn’t bad at all, I’ll admit.\u00a0 Mel is required to be with me for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-7765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-breast-cancer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7765"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7827,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7765\/revisions\/7827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}