I arrived at the hospital at 8.30am and before
too long was shown my room where I waited.
It wasn’t until after 11am that they came
and got me and walked me around to recovery where was given a sedative. I had
been told I was to have a nerve block, which would cause numbness post surgery
and prevent pain for up to 24 hours. The anesthetist explained the procedure to
another doctor as he used ultrasound to find the right spot, injected me with a
local and then the other drug into my back. It’s like an epidural but outside
the spine and around a nerve. Deb, the breast care nurse had promised to see me
and I wondered where she was. Just when I thought it was too late, she popped
her head over the curtained area where I lay and shone her loving smile my way.
I was glad for the sedative as a few slow tears rolled onto my pillow. I felt
sad, scared but assured that this was the only option.
A few days prior, I had spent moments in
the mirror with both hands over my diseased breast, trying to imagine what it
would be like without it. It was both overwhelming and a relief at once. All in
one big step, Pauline would be gone and I would be two thirds of my way through
my breast cancer treatment program. But I would be without a breast.
All of a sudden, my surgeon was there with
her warm smile and she held my hand as we made our way into the operating
theatre and I transferred to the table where it would all happen. Before I knew
it, I was out.
Back on the ward, I awoke periodically to
visits from various nurses and doctors. At some point I remember taking a peek
at my missing breast and felt amazed at how flat and neat it looked. As
promised I had no pain.
It was time to go to the bathroom at around
9.00pm. Upon return, I sat in a chair and waited for the nurse to remake my
bed. A huge wave of indescribable nausea mixed with heaviness descended over my
whole body and as I shrunk forward in the chair, I said, ‘I think I’m going to
faint’.
Code Blue was called and apparently within
no time, a large team of fast moving doctors descended on the room. They moved
the bed closer to me so I had two supported steps to take back to my bed. As
soon as I was flat, they slapped ECG tabs all over me, took my blood pressure
and tried six times to find a line to collect blood. (Isn’t it ironic that my infuser
port was taken out that day.) My BP was 60 something over 40 something and they
discussed taking me ‘upstairs’. ‘What’s upstairs?’ I asked. I hate it when
doctors talk about patients rather than ‘to’ patients. I wasn’t unconscious and
needed to be informed. I was told it was a general postoperative ward. The fear
was that my potassium may be low and I could have been at risk of heart issues.
I improved very quickly and the blood tests
and blood pressure and ECG returned to normal within 20 minutes. Bloody scary
at the time. I gingerly got up a number of times throughout the night and
managed without further issues.
The clever anesthetist who did the nerve
block visited the next morning and told me to stay on top of the pain as I got
feeling back. Due to the scare the night before and the unknown effect that
pain relief would have on my temperamental body, I stayed in hospital a second night.
Oxy-Codeine knocked me to sleep so when needed, I took the minimum dose. I used
this only a few times at night to get comfortable and survived very well on
paracetamol.
So, I was home on Thursday and on Friday a
district nurse (and ex-teacher friend!) visited and took out the two drains.
Each drain had approximately 40cm of drainage tube in my body! Brave hubby
watched Fiona remove them. I was so glad when they were out and I could feel a
bit more human.
I have now completely lost my voice and had
to visit my local GP twice in two days to ensure this virus is not heading to
my chest. Not sure where the bug came from but I’m doing everything to get over
it.
I will have the stitches out on Friday and
probably be aspirated of some fluid around the site. All good things to look
forward to. I’m also diligently doing all the recommended exercises to ensure
as few complications as possible.
X
Kristina
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