Just a quick post.  Everything starts tomorrow at 8 am.  I have to go to the Breast Center for a wire localization procedure, and then at 9 am to Nuclear Medicine, where a dye will be injected.  The dye is to help identify lymph nodes. Then I report at 10 am to the SurgeCenter; my surgery is scheduled for 11 am.

The surgery is scheduled for 3.5 hours, and then I’ll be sent home.  I’ve picked up antibiotics and pain meds (percocet, my drug of choice!), and had some blood work and an EKG.  A small moment of panic when I received a call from Dr. Ching’s office informing me that my EKG was abnormal and my primary care physician needed to okay the surgery given the abnormal EKG.  My PCP did authorize the surgery, explaining that the result wasn’t so much abnormal as it was different from the last one I’d had.  Whew!

I will remain in the dressing that I’m sent home with for a week, when I have my first post-op with Dr. White’s (plastic surgeon) office.  Hopefully by then the drains can be removed (i.e., I’m draining very little) and I can finally take a shower.  My first post-op with Dr. Ching is the following Monday, when I will hopefully get the release to be able to drive.  I have chemo that Friday, so it would be great to be able to drive myself rather than bother family and friends to be my chauffeur.

Someone at work set up a MealTrain for Ted and me.  It’s a way to ask folks to provide meals for us – very cool!  Folks can drop off home cooked meals, or provide gift certificates for DoorDash, Munchery or the like.  This will relieve Ted from having to cook AND take care of me for the next couple of weeks.

Wish me luck!  While I’ve had 5 prior surgeries, those have all been orthopedic in nature – this one will be very different.  I understand that hardest thing to adjust to is nerves firing, not necessarily soreness as from surgeries which cut into muscle. I’ll find out soon enough!