Left Breast Mastectomy

I had a left breast Mastectomy on Thursday, July 5, 2007.

I arrived at the hospital bright and early at 7am to fill out a few documents and to begin my preoperative work. I started by removing my clothes and putting on a lovely hospital gown. They gave me little sock booties to keep my feet warm. I was then given an IV into my right hand and hooked up to a slow drip saline solution. During this time the nurse went over the surgical procedure and a play-by-play of what to expect. During this time my Dad was with me.

At 8am I was transferred into a room by myself for the injection of radioactive dye. My Dad was asked to move into the waiting room because this procedure was going to take a bit of time. The injection was uncomfortable. The doctor inserted radioactive dye into my breast around the tumor site. It was an intense burning sensation. They stuck me three times. Afterwards I was given a warm wash cloth and told to massage my breast.

At 8:45am I was being transferred to the Gamma Camera. This camera was going to locate the lymph node with the radioactive dye. This will be the first incision and removal my doctor makes. He will remove the lymph node and send it off to pathology for review. This procedure is to determine whether or not cancer cells have migrated into the lymph nodes. If the lymph node is + for cancer cells then a larger section of nodes will be removed for further examining.

At 9:30 I was transfered to a wing of rooms. It was a long hallway with small rooms on either side. This is where all the surgical patients are held prior to surgery. We all looked alike -- the same gowns, caps, blankets and IV's. As I rolled through the hall in my wheelchair I made eye contact with some of the other surgical patients. We sort of grinned at each other as if to say, "good luck with your procedure." As I was being rolled to room #8, I passed the surgical board and I quickly looked for my name or my doctors name. I found it:
LB Mastectomy......Moore.......Burns........11am........#3

When we reached room #8 I told the nurse that I had family waiting for me in the waiting room. She said she would go and get them. Five minutes later I see Andy and Maelyn walking down the hall. This was the first time I've seen them all morning.

The nurse then told me that they were moving me to room #13 and that's where I'll be until surgery. While there they continued to check my blood pressure and temperature and the babies heartbeat. Around 11am my surgeon walked in and asked if I was ready to go. I said, "yes."

I said goodbye to my family and the nurse wheeled me down the hallway into the surgical wing. As I passed the surgical rooms I could see the team of nurses and attendants getting ready for the next surgical patient. I was in room #3. The room was large and all white. The only color in the room was the blue surgical cloths. I was transfered to the small, narrow surgical table. The doctors untied my gown and started hooking up electrodes to my body. My surgeon stood on my left side and just smiled down on me. The next words spoken were, "Melissa, we need you to take a few deep breathes and this is going to put you to sleep." By breath number three I was out.

As I came out of surgery I heard the voices of people talking. I couldn't see anything but I could hear movement and talking. I immediately started crying. I put my hands to my face to shield my crying eyes but the nurses instructed me to put my hands down. I couldn't stop crying. The nurses kept asking me if I was alright. I just told them that I wanted to cry. I was moved into a temporary recovery room where Margaret was assigned to me. She stayed with me and kept checking my vitals. I continued to cry and she held my hand. My vision was still blurry and I couldn't tell where I was. Another nurse came to my side and checked the babies heartbeat. Slowly my vision came back and Margaret wiped my eyes. I saw other surgical patients waking up just like me. There were two men across from me and I just wondered what type of surgery they had.

After about an hour I was ready to be moved to the extended stay recovery rooms. I said goodbye to Margaret as two new nurses took me away. I continued to cry as they pushed me and the bed through the halls. They asked me what was wrong. I said, I just lost my breast."

They pushed me to room #15 and transfered me to another bed. They told me that my family would be in shortly. I sat all alone in the room for about ten minutes and there was a knock on the door. A young women walked in and said she was a chaplain and that the nurses asked her to stop by. I talked to her briefly and then my family came in. She said goodbye and walked out. By that time I was all cried out and feeling calm.

Andy told me that the Sentinel Node Biopsy revealed cancer cells and that the doctor had to remove a small portion of lymph nodes. I wasn't upset or concerned. I just got through surgery and I was happy that the first step was now completed.