12/15/11 - Second Surgery

Went to the hospital feeling a little anxious, but mostly perky, glad to be getting this next step over with and move on to the next.  Woke up from surgery feeling frightened, shivering, had trouble getting my breath, felt like something was lodged in my throat, and in incredible pain.  The sweet voice of the recovery room nurse, Nikki, informed me that the surgery went well, that I was getting plenty of oxygen, and would be okay.  It was hard to get a deep breath because it caused the pain to be worse, but with Nikki's gentle guidance, I eventually was able to calm down.  Once I was breathing okay, I was given pain meds in my IV, and I relaxed.  Ric was then allowed to come in and I realized when one is feeling quite vulnerable, is when you realize how very much you love someone... what a sense of peace I had looking into Ric's face!

Dr. Covelli removed a large amount of breast tissue, in order to be sure he reached the point where there was no more cancer.  Same with lymph nodes in my arm... he removed a large number to reach a level where the lymph nodes would be clear.  And hopefully... no further surgery will be necessary.  As I knew I would, I have a drain coming out from under my arm, which freaks me out.  You'd think after all this time, I wouldn't be so squeamish, but I am, and it's always a struggle to rise above it.  So this is my first time to recall the word "temporary" that I used so often during my cancer treatments in 2006.  One of my favorite words to help me through the (seemingly) tough parts!

I spent the rest of the day feeling pretty good, with very little pain.  I thought I would sleep through the day, but apparently because of having had surgery just the week before, the staff knew exactly how much anesthetic I would need, so when I woke up... I was awake!  Quite awake... until after 4:00 a.m.  I found out what was on TV in the wee hours of the morning... I watched episodes of Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens, Seinfeld, and reruns of Jay Leno.  I also realized sometime during the night that I had earlier posted a picture of myself in my little old man hospital gown on Facebook.  Unfortunately, this won't be... temporary.  Oh well, everyone's comments were very kind.  (Thank you.)  Might as well post it here too.