ok. i've been meaning to do this for many many days. i feel like i can't write about anything else in blog until i get this over with. the breast reduction story. so let's get started. it's also appropriate since i am sitting here, topless, waiting for the vitamin e gel to absorb before putting my sports bra back on. it's going to be much shorter than it would have been a week after the fact, since so much has happened since. but maybe that's a blessing.
the reduction was on the 12th of sept. it was a 4 hour surgery. which is a pretty long surgery, when you think about it. my friend mary had a lumpectomy, in which they removed one tumor and 15 nodes, it only took an hour and a half. and that's cancer, dude. anyway, i arrived early in the morning and i was surprised at how quickly they got started. i remember going into the o.r., and them telling me that they were giving me the anesthetic, and that it would take about 5 seconds to kick in. i was talking to the nurse, nancy, about my french braids, i remarked that this "felt creepy." and i was out. next thing i remember, i'm being wheeled through hallways to my room. by this time, it was mid to late afternoon. i don't know exactly, i was out of it.
now my mom pattie, keeps remarking at how alert i was when i got there. i answered questions and even made wise cracks. but to be honest, i don't remember it that way. but once i was in bed, i do remember them explaining my best friend to me. the self administered demerol. "the button." dr. n told me, before the surgery, that i would have no appetite. that maybe i'd manage some ice chips at first, to deal with the thirst. and work my way up to water later that evening. but when the nurse asked me if i wanted water, i said yes. and 20 minutes later i said yes to grape juice.
time is blurry from then on. my mom went to get chapstick for me, because my lips looked dry, and evildeb showed up. she gave me presents from the team, and from her. including a picture of maggie. i'm sure i had some sort of conversation with her. i don't know. we'll have to ask her. i know my mom left for a while, probably to go have some dinner with bob. i ended up eating dinner. it was all beige. vanilla pudding, milk shake, applesauce, "pureed soup" of a chicken sort. but i was kicking this procedure's ass. my biggest concern was that i would feel nauseous. but you know, i never did. kicked it's ass, i'm telling you. ron [stepdad] was there during dinner. and then my mom came back. and my aunt and uncle. pattie was so sweet, she volunteered to stay and spend the night in the chair, but i was fine.
i'm spending way too much time on the hospital, aren't i? i'll tried to speed it up. well, i peed like a champ [they like that sort of thing there], was off the demerol by 2 am, and on to percocet, and had breakfast as well. and left 3 hours ahead of schedule. the whole kicking ass thing again. you don't sleep a lot, or at least all at once, in a hospital, so i was looking forward to going home.
let's call that part one, of the recovery story. and continue tomorrow with the next week, at home, tomorrow.
