Before I forget--how Monday went

I wasn’t sure about the order of operations—I just knew I had to be there at 7 at the surgical admissions and that I would have the wire inserted before surgery. Other than that, I didn’t know. Turns out, I got checked in and then sent to the breast center for the wire procedure. Both that and the IV insertion were my biggest fears; again, for me it’s all about the needles, not the post-op pain. While post-op pain hurts, it’s constant and I wasn’t awake when it was inflicted if that makes sense.

A friend gave me these &
I wore them on Monday

Anyway, we got to the breast center and I have to say everyone was beyond kind and gentle. When the technician learned how fearful I was of the wire insertion, she promised she would hold my hand—and she did. In fact, she had her hand on my leg as a reassurance even before the radiologist got started and that was just so comforting. At one point, I asked what her ink was on the inside of her upper arm. She has part of Proverbs 31 there and we talked about that. Then I asked about the music and that started a hilarious conversation about the evolution of music at the breast center. They’ve tried spa-like music (too many birds and frogs), country music (only the technicians were happy), some mellow music that ended up having quiet F-bombs in the lyrics so got nixed right away, and now they have some weird compilation of classical music (only it’s not classical, not really).

The wire itself was much longer than either Kent or I thought it would be. I guessed it would maybe stick out an inch but nope. It was more like half a foot, like a giant cat whisker, well past my body. The technician said they have three lengths of wire but were out of the smallest size. Then I had to have two mammograms to make sure the wire was in the right spot. That was weird and very uncomfortable, even though my breast was numb. Once those were finished, the technician sort of coiled up the wire and gently taped some gauze over it and down we went to surgery.

Once again, everyone was great, talked with me about anything and everything. The anesthesiologist made sure I had a patch for nausea (doesn’t everyone throw up with general anesthesia?) and told me because I have a lot of problems with nausea, he’d do something called tiva—total IV anesthesia, no gas. He said that method would help a lot and it did. The IV was as expected but then it was done and I could relax.

Kent got brought back, then my priest showed up and I was so glad to see her. She’s one of three at Saint Andrew’s and it meant so much to me that she came. She prayed for me and I must be turning into the biggest mush melon because I cried and cried. Kent cried too, it was just such a comforting thing for me and for him.

Then off I went. I remember the anesthesiologist injecting a sedative into my IV as they wheeled me away and I felt nicely mellow but could still help them get me on the OR table. Then she told me she was starting the tiva and that was it, lights out.

I did take a while to get alert enough to go home. I think I was in recovery by noon but didn’t leave for home until 2. But everyone was again so kind, checking on my nausea (which wasn’t bad), my pain (which was not pleasant), and getting me prepped to leave.

Once we got home, I slept for about three hours—long enough that Kent told me later he was getting worried. But I was fine, just very tired. I did end up throwing up but only once, which is a big improvement over most surgeries I’ve had.

So that’s the color commentary.

A PSA

Every time I see a new health care provider, I always have to fill out the endless forms—the ones where you list every surgery you’ve ever had (that section always has at most three dinky lines, I have to write super small) and of course any medication you take as well as any medication you’re allergic to.

Only I think all these years, I’ve been reading those forms wrong. I bet they say something about all known allergies. That came up last week at the first Care Bear appointment. I’d dutifully filled out all the forms and listed every medication I’m allergic to. And just randomly while talking with the surgeon’s nurse, she said ok and no nickel allergies, right.

Actually, that’s not true. I get a terrible reaction to nickel jewelry, a real burning pain bad enough that I have to immediately remove whatever it is. I learned this the hard way after I got my ears pierced; the earrings a junior high school girl can afford from money earned by babysitting are the cheap ones, the ones with nickel. I learned really quickly that I couldn't wear anything with nickel in it.

The nurse asked me if I ever had any weeping sores from the nickel and I said that I couldn't have left those earrings in long enough for that to happen. It burned way too much and too quickly to leave them in more than 10 minutes.

Turns out, for a lumpectomy, you’d normally have a little thing called a reflector inserted much the same way as the biopsy was done, local anesthesia and then somehow placed in there using a needle of some kind. You can’t see it or feel it but the surgeon uses ultrasound to find that reflector and the titanium marker that's already in there to get right to the correct spot. Only the reflector contains nickel, and I'm allergic to nickel.

For the lumpectomy, there’s another older procedure, one that's nickel free. With this procedure, I'll still have that local anesthetic, and then a wire inserted that same morning as the surgery. The nurse assured me that they do secure it with gauze and stuff, but I'll still be hanging out with this wire sticking out until the surgery. The surgeon will use the wire and the titanium marker I mentioned to get to the right spot and remove what needs to be removed.

But I have to say it’s never ever occurred to me to mention nickel as something I’m allergic to. Ever. So note to self, list everything.