General 'Sthesia and His Minions

Here is the abbreviated play-by-play of surgery day (as best as I remember):

• 7 AM: Arrive at hospital.
• 8 AM: Prep and IV started.
• 9 AM: Surgeon informs me that surgery will be delayed several hours because of an emergency room case. "No problem!" I say. "You take care of business!"
• 9-11 AM: Visit with family and friends. Consider throwing something at the clock.
• 11 AM-12:30 PM: Watch lots of TV, mostly Food Network. Stuffed tomatoes never looked so good! Under advice of my husband, I change channels.
• 12:30 PM: Surgeon reappears and thanks me for being so patient. I make sure she's going to eat lunch and get recharged. I recommend stuffed tomatoes.
• 12:45 PM: Finally (hallelujah!) rolled to OR. Heartily proclaim to the anesthetist that I still have a strong grip on reality. All goes black.
• ???: Lights, nausea. A pesky post-op nurse keeps asking me how I feel and feeding me ice chips. I ask, "What time is it?" Nurse replies, "5:00. Let's get you up in a chair." I briefly entertain thoughts of injury towards said nurse.
• 5:15 PM: Husband joins me in recovery. I promptly throw up ice chips. "Now your color looks better!" says post-op nurse. I notice nurse is within striking range.
• 5:45 PM: We are heading home?!?! DId I set a record?
• 7:30 PM: Wake up in my own bed (how did I get here?) and ask why I'm home so soon after having "General 'Sthesia." Husband declares he now knows what I look like drunk.

Of course, Daniel remembers more important things about the day, especially the fact that my surgeon did not see any evidence of cancer in the lymph nodes. This is indeed good news. It spared me having a full axillary node dissection (a beast of a procedure), but also indicated that the cancer did not metastasize. We have to await the pathology report for final confirmation (Lucille loves to lurk in microscopic form), but the surgeon was very positive in her report. We'll take it!

I'm recovering well, athough it is taking me longer than I thought it would to shake off the effects of anesthesia and the horrid blue dye. The dye is used to identify the "sentinel" or first lymph nodes during surgery. Some women react with nausea and dizziness. Yep and yep. Fortunately, other effects of the dye have "passed." Lingering side effects from the surgery itself are fatigue, shooting nerve pain at the node incision and numbness (both normal and hopefully temporary reactions).

We have many thank yous to pass out: dinners provided by the Tucks, Delks and Scotts; visits at the hospital by Jeannie, Wendell, Dick, Ron, Denise and the Links; child-sitting by Grandma Nancy; and work duties being covered by Gart and my lovely CG volunteer crew. It helps so much to have love and support during this time.

While I am very glad to have this first step finished, it is a heavy reminder that I have just started this journey to recovery (from an illness I barely feel I have!). Many days of treatment are ahead, so we are determined to take it one day at a time. For today and this week, sleep and rest are enough. General 'Sthesia orders it!

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