Surgery Day

**I just want to thank all of you who sent me text messages the morning of my surgery. It was so comforting and I really felt so loved.

Well...where do I begin?  This was a BIG day!  I was excited and worried, but I was sure that all was going to be ok.
So the first step of my surgery was the guided wire which they have to place into the tumour inside my breast, and the clear dye that they needed to inject so that the surgeon could see where and what she was going to do.  Dr. Ross says "It's kind of embarrassing to get in there and not be able to find the tumour!" I agree put the wire in.
What they don't tell you is that you have the wire put in and it is this great jeezuz wire that they feed through a hole into your breast and into the tumour and then leave the rest of it hanging out of you!!! OMG!!!! I freaked out a little, the woman then announced I was going to have to now get a mammogram with this freaking wire hanging out of me. Are you kidding lady????  I had to get up and walk across the hall to have a mammogram so they could see the entry points. ** Just so you know the wire is put in by a radiologist and is done by ultrasound picture and you are locally frozen before they punch holes in you!
So this all happened before I even checked in at the surgery desk! 
After that it was pretty much smooth sailing, I got an IV and they got me "prepped" for surgery. Then it was hugs and kisses for Phil and off to the Operating Room.
Dr. Ross was in a great mood and came over to me while I waited on my stretcher to be taken in, and "clarified" which breast she was going to operate on. I laughed and said "My left one, I sure hope you know that though?" she laughed and then proceeded to put her initials with green sharpie on my left breast!!
It took just over 2 hours to do the surgery and I woke up in excruciating pain.....OOOWWWW!


I went home the next day, which was Halloween and naturally I put on all the kids makeup for their costumes and then went to bed and looked at pinterest.

Surgeon's appointment

Today was my surgeon's consult appointment.  I had an MRI on October 5th to check the status of the tumour and to determine that there was no cancer in my other breast. It was a long wait for this appointment from diagnoses day it was over 2 weeks, it just about killed me with anxiety.

The surgeon at this point holds the cards for what the next step in dealing with this cancer was going to be.  My surgeon was Dr. A. Ross, general surgeon.

Phil, myself and Marlene (my Auntie) waited in the waiting room for over an hour. Marlene and I sat and analyzed everyone who was sitting in the waiting room, and there was an episode with some odd folks who came in abruptly with an obvious need to skip the que. We laughed and murmered to each other and everyone looked at us!  It was all we could do to stay sane, it was an almost unbearable wait.

We all fit into the patient room comfortably and a lovely 4th year medical student (Graham) came in to start the appointment.  I had a physical exam, of my breasts of course, and he talked a little about what I already knew, which was almost nothing, and then we waited to see Dr. Ross. 
Dr. Ross was great, she was full of life, and talked with us for over an hour. She covered all the points:
Size of tumour? 7.6mm
What she was going to do? Partial mastectomy and removal of sentinel node(s.)
What was going to happen after?  Radiation therapy and tamoxifen (hormone drug/anti-cancer agent)
When can I have the surgery? 2 weeks
Believe me when I say we had sooooo many more questions, but there were three of us there and she answered every one of them . It was an overall good appointment and I felt really good about the future of this cancer thing.
She gave me literally a small briefcase of materials to read and her clerical assistants personal phone number that I could call anytime I needed. It was very reassuring and helped me breathe a little better.