Ch. 4 - The Operation

CHAPTER 4 - My Partial Mastectomy with Sentinel Node Biopsy

The date finally arrived, August 24, 2007. I had to arrive at the hospital, White Memorial Medical Center, at 11:00 am to begin the dye injection for the sentinel node biopsy. I had to lie still on the table for a full 1 and 1 1/2 hour to allow the dye time to "travel" so that it can be seen in the sentinel node once I am on the operating table. This will then be the node that the surgeon will remove during surgery for the frozen section biopsy. If this node is negative, no further nodes would have to be removed. The 1 1/2 hour seem to last forever, but I did squeeze in a nap. Toward the end of the procedure, I received a visit from one of my physician friends, Dr. Barrio, which made me feel more at ease. By the way, my surgery was at the same hospital that I work at. This alone aided in my being more relaxed for surgery. After the dye "traveled" I had a 45 minute break before surgery. During this time, I was able to watch my husband grab a bite to eat. I was NPO, but too nervous to eat anyway, I think. I arrived back at the OR waiting room at 3:00 pm and was quickly prepped for surgery and wheeled away to Same Day Surgery (dont' let the name fool you though, I had to stay overnight). We received a brief visit from the surgeon prior to surgery who reviewed everything with us. The IV fluids were started, and before I could back out, I was in the operating room.

After 2 1/2 hours, I arrived in recovery. Once awake, my surgeon made a visit. She stated that all went well. She was able to do a lumpectomy instead of a partial mastectomy by entering the region of the breast at 10:30 in location via an incision in my axilla which is the same location that the lymph nodes were removed from. She proceeded to tell me that she removed two lymph nodes during surgery but both were negative. She also removed a wide margin around the tumor which only measured 0.7x0.9 cm. She did state that I would be sore from surgery, but everything went well. She asked if I rememberd surgery at all, I told her no and asked "why". She said that while I was waking up in surgery she told me that she had removed 2 lymph nodes and that they were negative. Upon hearing the good news, she said that I put my hands together in a gentle clap and said "Yeah" in a soft voice. She said that gave everyone in the OR a smile.

My husband was finally able to come back and see me in recovery and then I was wheeled to my room. I was tucked in perfectly and was with my tired but very supportive husband. After a couple of hours, I was awake, eating a clear liquid diet, and my husband was able to go home and get some sleep. Throughout the night, I felt like used the bathroom for urination about 10-12 times from all the IV fluids. I also ate about 3 jellos before going to bed. The night was very restless, but with vicodin and morphine, I was able to get some rest.

The next day my surgeon came around for a visit around 11:00 am, stated everything looked good. She instructed me to leave on the ace wrap that had been snuggly applied around my chest during surgery and stated I could not take a shower or bath, only rinsing off at the sink until I saw her in her office on the following Tuesday. I was then released to go home around 12:30 pm. It was great to be out of the hospital and to have received such good news. My cancer was at Stage 1 only due to no lymph node involvement and the surgery was OVER. Now, we just have to wait on the healing process and for pathology to determine the grading of the tumor as well as the other characteristics. A small weight had been lifted from my shoulders. It finally felt like the first milestone was behind us.