Roper Rocks!!!!

Yesterday was the big day...surgery at Roper Hospital downtown Charleston. We left the house at 6am in order to beat the supposed traffic everyone was telling us about. Folks, we didn't hit any traffic and were at Roper's front door at 6:33am. I prayed out loud as we got on 26 that God would protect our travels and help us avoid any traffic...another simple prayer answered by Him!

The registration process was very simple. The 3 phone calls I received a few days prior helped to gather all the information they needed. We checked in to Ambulatory Surgery and waited for about 40 minutes before they called me back to my room and to prep me. I got settled in my beautiful hospital gown and Benton came back after the nurse put in my IV needle (didn't need him fainting on me from seeing the needle!). At 7:47am they started the IV of Ciprofalxin (saline solution w/dextrose - my "food" for the day). At 8:00am a nurse walked us to the Breast Care Center where my needle placement was to be done. The needle placement was completed at 8:50am . I was wise to make sure everyone knew I needed extra numbing meds based on my experience from the biopsy. They made sure of it and besides the initial prick I didn't feel a thing. Dr. Amy Bethea did the needle placement and Cynthia Saukas was the Head Mammogram Tech working along side her and holding my hand. The needle was about the width of a piece of thread (very delicate!) and they fed it through my breast directly to the clip that showed the exact placement of the cancer cells. They do this so that the surgeon has a direct line to the area and does not need to "fish around" in there for the correct placement. I was so pleased when, after Cynthia took a few photos, that Dr. Bethea said they got it perfect the first time and I was all set. Again, thanks to the extra lidocane!

Next stop was going up to Nuclear Medicine. At this point I sent Benton to the cafeteria and would meet him back in my room. Nuclear Medicine is where they inject my breast with the radiocative material so that they can see the lymph nodes and if the cancer cells have spread there so far. Dr. Cole and Susan Hartley, RN were the 2 wonderful women who took care of me up there. Again, I asked for extra lidocane and they were pleased to honor my request! These 2 ladies were so fun to talk to. Susan had a strong southern accent was so beautiful, inside and out. Dr. Cole stood about 5 ft tall and wore the funniest shoes but she was so sweet and fun! The injection here only took about 15 minutes. After that injection however, I was no longer able to walk about. Time to be wheelchair bound!

I arrived back to my room at about 10:45am. I was so happy to see Benton there as well as a dear friend & brother in Christ, Norm Fortier. Norm is on staff at our church. We have been getting to know him more and more through prayer time together. Yesterday we had a wonderful time of prayer and chatting with him. Norm left just after 11:00am and at 11:15am the nurse Vicki gave me a sedative. When she was done she simply said "good night" with a smile.

Shortly thereafter the anesthesiologist, C. Keith Stevens (aka Drug Dude) came in to explain to me what was going to happen when I get to the OR. Tall, thin guys with a great sense of humor. He said that when patients like him he gives us his real name. When they don't he gives them an alias. We liked him so we stuck to the above with the nickname of Drug Dude.

After a quick potty break and a big hug to Benton they got me rolling to the OR just before 11:30am. I remember going into the OR, moving myself onto the OR table and then them injecting me with the anesthesia. The nurse Juvy was there next to me and I started feeling a horrible itching sensation on my right arm. She rubbed it for me but I remember them quickly say get her off that med and use a different one (do not know the name of it, sorry!). Next thing Drug Dude told me to take a few breaths of oxygen from the mask - I think he lied about it being oxygen because I think I only got one breath of it and that's all she wrote. I don't remember anything else until I woke up at 2:15pm in the recovery room.

I apparently came out of surgery into the recovery room at 1:30, waking up an hour later. I immediately asked for something to drink, ginger ale preferably. I needed some sugar as I hadn't eaten since dinner the night before. I felt a strong sting in my nipple area so the nurse gave me a small dose of morphine. Did OK overall in recovery. Just was very dizzy and a little nauseous. The give you anti-nausea medication before you even wake up. The dizziness they said was from all the meds in you that were starting to "flush out". I had to pee so bad so the nurse walked me to the restroom. I held on to her for dear life!!!!!

Benton came back and sat with me at about 2:30pm. I was so happy to see his handsome face and smile. I think he was relieved to see me awake too. He said the one thought that just going through his mind while he was waiting for surgery to be done was "what if she doesn't wake up". How scary of a thought. We both knew that God would protect us and comfort us though. God is so good to us all the time! It felt really good to hold Benton's hand and just hold on to him again. It is such a strange feeling when you do not know where 3 hours of your day went!

The nurse gave me some graham crackers and saltines to get my stomach settled. After helping me get dressed I laid there for about 15 more minutes. Just didn't feel comfortable yet. We finally left the hospital at 3:30pm. Stopped at CVS on the way home to get the pain med prescription filled (acetominiphin w/codine) and them came home. I layed down quickly and woke up around 5:45pm. I was still dizzy and was having a few major hot flashes and sweating profusely. Apparently very normal when your body is getting rid of all the meds/toxins in your body after surgery.

A sweet neighbor made us some homemade vegetable soup last night. A perfect light dinner for Benton and I. Hit the spot. After dinner he and I crashed in the living room listening to the radio until the boys came home. I got up at 8:00pm and was glad not to feel the dizziness anymore. The boys were at church and got home around 9:00pm. It was so good to see their sweet faces. I showed them where the surgery was and little Dylan had tears in his eyes. I told him it was OK and that Mommy was just fine and he was relieved. He said he was just so happy I didn't have to have the "big surgery". I said "Me too!!!!".

After winding down and getting the boys to bed, Benton and I watched The Chronicles of Narnia (we love that movie!!!). We went to bed about midnight and both slept very well. This morning Benton stayed home until about 8:00am and then headed to work. I went back to bed and got up to the phone ringing at about 10:20am. It was the hospital calling to check on me! I told Jane that my experience at Roper was ABOVE EXCELLENT! Their goal is to have patient's experiences be excellent and she said she had goose bumps when I told her how wonderful my experience was.

Today is going as expected. Still in jammies, no shower, sore but taking tylenol or ibuprofen. Thank goodness I can eat and brush my teeth! No shower until Saturday but I live with 3 stinky boys so I think they can handle Mommy not showering for a few days! :)

Best part of the day so far is that Ruth Ruffin just brought me some homemade bread!!!! Guess what we are having for lunch Benton!!!!! Thank you sister for that special treat!!!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has sent me FB posts, emails, phone calls, and the prayers. You are all dear friends & family to me and all I can do now is say thank you! I wish you all a Happy Harvest this Thanksgiving and will be thanking Him for you all being part of my life!
Tammy