Mastectomy Complete

Surgery #2 is in the books.  Things went much faster for the mastectomy than the lumpectomy.  I arrived at MGH Boston at 10:15am.  After answering a few questions and getting changed into the hospital gown they were wheeling me away by 11:45am.  I said goodbye to Gary and was taken to a second pre-op area where they had me sign the surgical consent form and prepped me for surgery with a nerve block.  Basically they did an ultrasound of my back, found the right two nerves, and administered a local anesthetic.  Felt like two bee stings.  It also made my left eye droop temporarily which felt funny.  Then they took me right into the operating room at ~1:30pm where they gave me oxygen then the full anesthetic.  Last thing I remember was holding Dr Gadd's hand and telling her after this I would be cancer free.

I woke up at 5:45pm in the recovery ward.  Felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I had scrapes under my arms.  My eyes fluttered and I fell back asleep until ~7:15pm.  When I woke again they let Gary and Erik come back to see me.  The nurse there recognized me and Gary, turns out it was the same nurse I'd had for the last surgery.  After a little water and juice they wheeled me up to my hospital room.  This time I wasn't as lucky, I had a roommate so Gary wouldn't be able to stay over.  Gary and Erik stayed until ~9:30pm.  After they left I was able to get up, pee, and walked a couple laps around the hospital floor.  Then one of Dr Gadd's residents came to check my incisions.  At that point I finally got to go to sleep.  The ward was very peaceful, with the exception of a couple brief nurse visits to check vitals (BP, oxygen, and temp), I slept through the night.  I hadn't slept much all week in anticipation of the surgery so felt good to finally get some rest.

The next morning I got a visit from both Dr Winograd and Dr Gadd's residents who checked the incisions.  They were happy that there wasn't any fluid build up or bruising and told me I'd be able to go home that day.  Amazing, only 24 hrs after having the girls chopped off I'd get to go home, woohoo!  Right now I'm on Tylenol, Oxycotin, an antibiotic, granules, and Colace.  If I don't need the Oxycotin I can stop the Colace.  And after the drains come out in ~1.5 weeks I can get off the antibiotic.  Right now I'm feeling a little tired and my chest a little sore, but very manageable.  It's definitely not as bad as I had expected.  In 7-10 days I will get my pathology report and hopefully this time I get negative margins.

I'm very thankful to have my family nearby.  Dad and Terry took Brady to their house for the weekend so he can get some special Grandpa time.  Mom stayed at the house with Parker.  And Erik hung out with Gary letting him stay with him in Watertown so he had a short drive to MGH.  I have such amazing supporters too - my neighbors are bringing us food and my coworkers ordered me another week of Blue Apron.  Thank you all so much, I couldn't do this without you!!!  At this point I am off 6-8 weeks to recover before starting radiation.

Ready for surgery

Post-Op Recovery

Heading home

A New Dawn (Sunrise in Maine) - Seems Fitting