On the 8th of March 2011 we checked Becky into the Hampton South Hospital for surgery on her left breast and a few benign lumps on her scalp. How did we get to this point? Well, from the beginning Becky had been against Chemo and Radiation therapy. Surgery, however, had always been an option which we may elect to use at some point.
The decision was made by Becky since it IS her body and she was the one who had to live with both the procedure and the lack of a breast for the rest of her life. My main job (besides chief researcher) has always been simply to support Becky every step of the way. I voiced my opinion which was that 1) I had no objections to the surgery at all and 2) I felt that by eliminating the tumors in her breast we stood a much better chance of eliminating the other cancers in her body. She agreed and we spoke with the surgeon and he scheduled the operation for us.
The operation began about 0930 and only lasted about 35 minutes. She spent about 2 hours in recovery outside the operating suite before I was permitted to escort her up to her room. Once there she was basically in and out of consciousness for the next 24 hours. It seems that her body reacted more than expected to the anesthesia.
What happened was that her entire left breast and two adjacent lymph nodes were removed. While there was no sign of involvement the nodes were removed as a precautionary measure. Within the breast was one large mass (roughly golf ball size at this point and 4 smaller masses which were laid out radially around the main mass through a 180 degree arc towards the center of her chest. She has about an 8 inch incision running horizontally across her chest then upward towards her arm pit. It is closed with perhaps 25 staples and she has two vacuum assisted drain tubes located about an inch and a half apart and perhaps an inch below the main incision.
All the questionable tissue was sent to pathology and we should have those results in about two weeks. It will be interesting to see how well our alternative therapy has worked. We know it has been successful at shrinking the tumor mass. What we're interested in is if it has also been successful in actually killing or converting the cancer.
As I said before.... she was mostly asleep for the first 24 hours following the operation. This was supposed to be a day surgery however her reaction to the anesthesia was not going to permit her to leave that day. On Wednesday she was still quite groggy at breakfast time. By lunch, however, she was much more alert and able to eat a good bit of her meal. The Doctor's opinion though was that she really should spend one more day in the hospital.... and that she should take a shower.
It's the Doctor's belief that showers are therapeutic for patients. Naturally they feel cleaner afterwords but the shower is also a relaxing experience. He was right. Becky felt much better after having a shower and getting into a new gown. About an hour after the shower she was walking the hallway for exercise and to get her circulation going. We took a short walk first then a longer one several hours later.
On the third morning she was awake and quite alert when I arrived shortly before 0800. She ate the majority of her breakfast and we waited for the Doctor to arrive and make his assessment. He arrived about 10 and was pleased with the progress he saw. Since she was more lucid today he fully explained what had happened during the surgery and answered all of our questions. This Doctor is a *very* caring man and we both feel blessed that we were able to find him to help us in our battle with cancer.
He said that she had made great progress and that she could be released...... right after she took a shower. So we got her into the shower again and she did spend a good 15 minutes in there enjoying the nice warm water. Dried, dressed and ready the nurse showed up with a wheel chair and we rolled her towards the front door. She got into the car all by herself and we bid farewell to the hospital and the wonderful staff who had done such a great job.
She is home now and both resting and taking care of small projects she can do while seated. While she was gone I only saw one of the stray cats we look after at our house.... and she was the shy one! Becky gets back home and within minutes of her arrival all of the strays make an appearance for her. Okay.... I see who they like best! :-) Inside her Paige kitty wanders around for a while then jumps up into her chair to check on her and get some pets. Home seems as happy to have her back as she is to be back!
I'll post another update when we have the pathology reports back and let you folks know what was going on. Till then....... Peace
The decision was made by Becky since it IS her body and she was the one who had to live with both the procedure and the lack of a breast for the rest of her life. My main job (besides chief researcher) has always been simply to support Becky every step of the way. I voiced my opinion which was that 1) I had no objections to the surgery at all and 2) I felt that by eliminating the tumors in her breast we stood a much better chance of eliminating the other cancers in her body. She agreed and we spoke with the surgeon and he scheduled the operation for us.
The operation began about 0930 and only lasted about 35 minutes. She spent about 2 hours in recovery outside the operating suite before I was permitted to escort her up to her room. Once there she was basically in and out of consciousness for the next 24 hours. It seems that her body reacted more than expected to the anesthesia.
What happened was that her entire left breast and two adjacent lymph nodes were removed. While there was no sign of involvement the nodes were removed as a precautionary measure. Within the breast was one large mass (roughly golf ball size at this point and 4 smaller masses which were laid out radially around the main mass through a 180 degree arc towards the center of her chest. She has about an 8 inch incision running horizontally across her chest then upward towards her arm pit. It is closed with perhaps 25 staples and she has two vacuum assisted drain tubes located about an inch and a half apart and perhaps an inch below the main incision.
All the questionable tissue was sent to pathology and we should have those results in about two weeks. It will be interesting to see how well our alternative therapy has worked. We know it has been successful at shrinking the tumor mass. What we're interested in is if it has also been successful in actually killing or converting the cancer.
As I said before.... she was mostly asleep for the first 24 hours following the operation. This was supposed to be a day surgery however her reaction to the anesthesia was not going to permit her to leave that day. On Wednesday she was still quite groggy at breakfast time. By lunch, however, she was much more alert and able to eat a good bit of her meal. The Doctor's opinion though was that she really should spend one more day in the hospital.... and that she should take a shower.
It's the Doctor's belief that showers are therapeutic for patients. Naturally they feel cleaner afterwords but the shower is also a relaxing experience. He was right. Becky felt much better after having a shower and getting into a new gown. About an hour after the shower she was walking the hallway for exercise and to get her circulation going. We took a short walk first then a longer one several hours later.
On the third morning she was awake and quite alert when I arrived shortly before 0800. She ate the majority of her breakfast and we waited for the Doctor to arrive and make his assessment. He arrived about 10 and was pleased with the progress he saw. Since she was more lucid today he fully explained what had happened during the surgery and answered all of our questions. This Doctor is a *very* caring man and we both feel blessed that we were able to find him to help us in our battle with cancer.
He said that she had made great progress and that she could be released...... right after she took a shower.
She is home now and both resting and taking care of small projects she can do while seated. While she was gone I only saw one of the stray cats we look after at our house.... and she was the shy one! Becky gets back home and within minutes of her arrival all of the strays make an appearance for her. Okay.... I see who they like best! :-) Inside her Paige kitty wanders around for a while then jumps up into her chair to check on her and get some pets. Home seems as happy to have her back as she is to be back!
I'll post another update when we have the pathology reports back and let you folks know what was going on. Till then....... Peace
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