The Surgery

On Oct. 29, 2008 I woke up at approximately 4:30 Am. Shanita had come into town to go to the hospital with me. Tyler braided my hair the night before. Shanita and I shared a prayer and off to sleep I went. Anita called around 4:30 AM. She could not sleep. We talked a while and we prayed. When I got off the phone Shanita and I prayed. Then we got up and got the big day started. We had planned to leave at 6AM, Shanita and I were running a little late. I woke Breyen and Tyler, gave them a kiss, told them I loved them and would see them later in the day. They were planning to go to schoolWe picked BabySister up around 6:15AM. Shanita followed me in her van. We drove over to Mom's to pick her up. Mom rode with Shanita. We went to the plastic surgeon's office first. He had to mark my body before surgery. When we got there the office was lock although we could see the Dr.'s car there. We rang the door bell and waited, we called and waited. Finally a nurse came out to let us in. We did not arrive before 8 AM so the Dr. started a surgery in the office. I waited about ten minutes in the exam room and the doctor came in, did the marking, asked me if I had any questions. I told him I did not. He explained that the breast surgeon would do the mastsectomy first which would take about one to two hours and then he would take over.

Mom, Babysister, Shanita and I got back in the cars and headed for the hospital. When we got there, we were directed to Same Day Surgery. The nurses had me get undressed right away. They allowed babysister and Shanita and Mom to stay with me. Later Trina and Shawna arrived and then Ms. JoAnne arrived. Then I was taken to Nuclear Medicine. There I had a type of MRI/Scan that identified lymph nodes directly in connection with the right breast. To perform this procecedure, the tech stuck three needles in the right breast, as she got them to stick where she wanted, she left them in place. It was a lot like acupuncture. Later she came back to the needles and injected a blue dye. They were able to identify three lymp nodes related to right breast, this test did not tell us rather there was cancer in the nodes or not it just identifed them. I was then taken back to Same day surgery and shortly there after they sent some one by the name of Eddie to wheel me into surgery. I was really not ready to go. I was enjoying having all of my surpport all around me. But, Shanita pulled the blanket away and told me to get moving....let's get this over with. Everyone gathered around the gurney for prayer and then off I went. I saw my sister crying...yes she was still crying! Everyone else was holding on to their tears. I was still waiting to cry but I didn't. I said a prayer and went into surgery confident that I was going to come out of surgery just fine. Once they wheeled me away from everyone, I met an anestisist/nurse who had been through the surgery except she did get a tummy tuck. She started the most painless IV I've ever experienced. Her name was Kitty. Dr. Krause came in just as the IV was started. I jumped and asked the nurse what she just did. It felt like she poured hot sauce you know where. She laughed and said so few women have that experience she forgot to tell me about the possibility, we shared this with Dr. Kruase who said he never heard of that and that was the last I remember until after surgery.

After surgery, I woke up in excruiating pain. I can't tell you just how much pain just know it was almost unbearable. I told the nurse to hurry and give me something because it felt like I was having chest labor and that a baby would pop out in any minute. As she hurried to give me something, she laughed at what I said and told me I was really funny! I remember feeling pretty good after that and cracking more jokes. When I came out of recovery, I was still cracking jokes with family and friends. Ferlando has a bit of it on tape. Shanita had to leave to head back to Iowa, but everyone else was still there. Ferlando, Mom, Trina, Babysister,Shawna, Breyen, Tyler, Annie, Darlene, JoAnne, ..... I heard that Rev. Love was there and had left about ten minutes before I came out of recovery. Everyone told me he was so tired he just looked whooped! Thanks Rev for being there. Thanks to everyone else who was there physically and for all of your prayers.

I will have to catch up in the next couple of days, I don't have the energy I had before surgery, so It will have to take a little time to catch the blog up.