Surgery

Surgery was yesterday. Ken brought me to the hospital around 8am to check in. My parents met us in the pre- procedure room. After answering the same questions a dozen times and changing into a hospital gown, the transportation crew took me to Nuclear Medicine.

The doctor there explained that he was going to inject my breast 4 times with a radioactive material and photograph it using a gamma ray machine (which looked remarkably like the bone scan machine from Wednesday). I felt anxious about the needles and tried deep breathing and imaging myself in lovely environments to relax myself, but the injections HURT. The initial injection felt like an intense insect bite, but the saline-radioactive material stung and burned. I could not help crying. After the injections, the platform I was on slid into the machine; the camera part moved to just above my face. I laid like that for 45 minutes of imagery. My family came in totallwith me.

From there,I was wheeled to the pre/post -operation area. I told a bunch of doctors and nurses my name, birthdate, and therocedures that I was having. The anesthesia people came in to set up an IV. The resident blew a vein on his first try (2 needles) and the doctor took over. He grid several times on my right foot. I yelped. My surgeon came over to reassure me. The resident let me squeeze his hands to handle the pain of the injections. After a few tries, they wheeled me into surgery. The anesthesiologist gassed me to put the IV.

The next thing I knew, I was back in the pre/post operation area. My leg was throbbing so badly that I couldn't lay still. The anesthesiologist injected something into my IV and I fell back to sleep for another hour or so. When I woke up again, myleg throbbed so badly I couldn't get comfortable. My friend, the art therapist, visited me for a while.

The nurses sent me back to the procedure admissions to be discharged. My parents and Ken were there. I was in a lot of pain. My breast and underarm were feeling sharp and achy, while my body was not tolerating having my leg pressed against anything. Within the longest hour ever, the nurse brought me 2 percosets. Then she and my mother helped me get dressed.

We left the hospital around 7pm. Mom packed up some clothes and Ken brought my favorite technologies. Then we drove 2 1/2 hours to my parents' house. The ride was painful. Every bump made me yelp and whimper.

I had trouble sleeping because my leg was in too much pain. I woke up every time it touched any surface.

Needle count:57 (44 + 4 (for imaging) + 9 (for the IV)
Touch count: 20