One last time under the knife

So finally the day has arrived that my industrial grade, bionic expanders have been removed for some realistic softer implants--I told the surgeon to make them look good and so far I'm thinking he did a great job....except for those snake bite things that are on my tummy.  Having an anesthesiologist for a husband does have its perks--he informed me that they are staple marks.  Staple wounds???  I feel like a wall in a 3rd grade classroom that just had the latest art project stapled on it...and then pulled off to send the project home.  A nice line of snake bite looking marks that apparently held one of the surgical drapes in place....and then I had an itch below my shoulder...and what is there, but another set of staple marks on the left side and the right side just where my bra strap should go.  Funny that these staple marks seem to be the most irritating part of my recovery so far--the pain drugs take care of the discomfort of the procedure, but not the itch of the staple marks.  And it can be said that having all your nerve endings cut during the mastectomy definitely makes for a less painful recovery for subsequent breast surgeries.

Surgery was scheduled back in November for January 5...of course they don't assign an OR time until the Friday before surgery, so last Friday I got a call letting me know that my surgery time was 2:15--a bit of a bummer since you can't eat or drink after midnight the night before (early OR time means less stomach growling).  Then the advantage of having a spouse that works where I am having surgery....he can look at the actual OR schedule and tell me that I'm an "add on".  How can you be an add on when you have been on the waiting list since November?????  One of the great mysteries of the medical world is divulged here--the Senior surgeon can put whoever he wants on the schedule whenever he wants no matter when you got in line.  So I was in line after two other cancer patients and I really couldn't be that grumpy as I would have wanted my mastectomy to be first on the list too--although I might mention that I wasn't first on the list then either.

   So I faithfully avoided food and water (except for the one almond I popped in and ate before I remembered I was NPO) and showed up on time to check in even though I knew they would be "running late" --and just as we guessed, the ORs were behind schedule and my OR time ended up being 5:30 not 2:15.  But Dr. Ajarwal made up for it by operating in fast forward and I was in the recovery room at 6:40 and talking to the nurse at 6:45 (my firm opinion that TIVA should be the only kind of anesthesia allowed in most cases was cemented by listening to the poor lady next to me spew and spew and spew) - They kicked me out of the recovery room at 7:15--I was probably too alert and talkative...and headed home at 9 pm.  We even stopped for a "spoon me" yogurt slathered with blueberries, pineapple and pomegranate seeds.  YUM!! 

   Came home to "hug" my kids goodnight and our efficient daughter already had them in bed,asleep, so we settled for kissing on them in their sleep and headed to bed--and all was good until the puppy started yelping to go out for a potty break at 2 am and Ken was dead asleep (a dejavu experience of 4 babies???). 

   Whose idea was it to get a puppy anyway???  Oh, yeah, I was the one that finally caved to the batting eyes and begging notes that our 10 year old has been using for the past two years to persuade us that she "NEEDS" a dog.  So as the awesome mom I am, I rolled myself carefully out of bed and took the puppy outside to do her thing...took a pain med and went back to bed.  

You'll be so proud that I laid in bed (well, except for trips up and down the stairs) and watched movies, read a book and rested all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday.  Thursday I actually washed a few loads of laundry and spent some time in the kitchen making the kids do homework (they wish I would go back to bed!).  Thankfully friends have brought good food so all I have to do is dish up a paper plate and throw it in the microwave.  The only crazy thing about having to take it easy is that you think about all the things you could be doing with a "free" day if you felt good enough to get up and go full speed...and on those full speed days you wish you had a written excuse from your doctor to sit around and watch movies for a few days--oh, the ironies of life.