My Name is Not Cancer Girl

Today is a happy day, so get ready to clap your hands, stomp your feet and shout hooray! Loads to tell, so put your feet up and grab a snack we’re here for a little bit.

Surgery was last week (has it only been a week?). Being the crazy, try-to-get-it-all-done woman that I am, I scheduled an appointment to bring my car in for service immediately prior to surgery. After all, I wasn’t going to need my car for a few days, and the dealership is across the street from the hospital. So, we (Mom, C and I) dropped my car off and then realized it was waaay too early to get to the hospital. Obviously the best place to go–Starbucks, because there’s no place like a coffee-perfumed cafe to waste an hour while fasting and sporting a caffeine-withdrawl headache. In all seriousness, it went quickly. C plugged in for work, Mom and I sat, and shmoozed, and whiled away the hour.

This surgery, because of my doc’s hospital affiliations, was at a new-to-me hospital. North Fulton Regional is a much smaller hospital than I am used to, and because of a bad experience of some family friends, it was NOT where I wanted to be. I arrived at my specified time (8:45am) and was taken back almost immediately. The nurses in pre-op were wonderful: warm, personable, professional and able to get blood from my crappy veins on the first try (always a huge bonus). The anesthesiologist came by and asked the usual questions. We discussed post-op nausea drugs and known allergies. I asked if we could do the procedure with an epidural, and learned a whole lot more about the surgery than I was prepared to know (the answer is “no” because they pump your abdominal cavity so full of gas to distend you and give the doc space to work that your lungs cease to work on their own so you are on a ventilator, and obviously you should be asleep not just numbed from the epidural down). Then he signed off on the anesthesia orders and in walked the nurse with my Versed. (I love Versed).

The next thing I know, I am in post-op and feeling pretty good. This is very strange, because I never feel good post-op. For some reason, maybe it’s the short procedure time or perhaps the anesthesia cocktail, I snap out of my haze pretty quickly and I feel okay. I had put on a scopalamine patch the night before, to help with the nausea…but still. I felt really good.

My PACU nurse was one of the nurses I had in pre-op, and she was so attentive. I’m pretty sure I must have been her only patient because it seemed like she was with me constantly. I saw Dr. W who said that surgery went very well, and then she proceeded to show me all the pictures of my uterus, ovaries and THE cyst. They sure were pretty: smooth, pink and big. Dr. W said that they looked healthy and that she wasn’t expecting anything to show up on the pathology report given the low CA-125 and the visual…but I trust nothing.

Just to circle back to this point, my experience with North Fulton was nothing short of wonderful. The administrative and nursing staff were phenomenal, and my docs were just great. I even received a follow-up call just to make sure that I was doing okay post-operatively.

I have very few memories of the day of surgery…I think I spoke with a few people, but forgive me as I don’t remember who. I know I was home by about 1:00 and I climbed into bed for a nap. The 2 younger boys were at my parents’ house and spent the night there, and J hadn’t yet gotten home from sleep away camp.

Recovery went very well from a cutting/incision stand-point, but let me tell you what. The pain from the gas that is pumped into the abdominal cavity was excruciating! I thought of my body like one of those bounce houses (we used to call them moonwalks) that my boys liked when they were younger. I figured the doctor would blow me up with all that carbon dioxide, do the surgery and then turn off the blower and I would deflate. It didn’t quite work like that. Some of the gas gets trapped in the body and for me, it settled in my ribcage, back, shoulders and neck. I spent about 30 minutes those first 2 nights crying from the pain. Fortunately, I would realize that I needed some Aleve and that would bring both comfort and sleep. It took a good 4 nights, before the gas had completely been absorbed. But, really, the other discomfort is minimal and completely manageable.

As for the dreaded hot flashes, it looks like I may be fortunate enough to miss those. I haven’t yet had one, and according to my docs (since I’ve asked all of them), if I was gonna have them, they’d have begun by now. I also get to stop taking Tamoxifen. I see Dr. A (my oncologist) on Monday for a regularly scheduled visit, and we’ll discuss if there is something else that she wants me to take, but for now I’m enjoying being off of one of my prescriptions.

By happenstance, today I had my 6-month check-up with Dr. S, my breast surgeon. I had both a mammogram and ultrasound scheduled and spent the better part of 4 hours in the office. Now for the good part of the day,

the ultrasound and mammogram showed no signs of cancer!

I also checked with my GYN about test results and was told that my results were back, but if the doctor had NOT called, then everything is fine. So, while it’s not the official pathology debrief I’m accustomed to, I’ll take it and run with it. It seems like

my ute and ovaries showed no signs of cancer either!

CLAP, CLAP, STOMP, STOMP, HOORAY, HOORAY!!!