Lumpectomy

I began my day with a devotional and I couldn’t believe how well-timed it was…

Let your body, mind, and spirit relax in my Presence. Release into My care anything that is troubling you…

Yes. Ok. 

I had to be at the hospital for 7:45, so one last photo with my precious children.

I could have one person with me, and for me that’s always my mom. I am always so grateful that my mother gets to be with me. I know she was so worried and scared for me, but ironically there’s also a reassurance in that for me. I’ll never forget, my mother was with me when I labored with Eviana. I began on a Monday evening and she stayed the night with me while I threw up nine times! Eviana didn’t arrive until 9 pm the next evening, and when she finally arrived, I was so relieved and high from the adrenaline. My mother held the baby and looked at me with real fear in her eyes because I was bleeding excessively. I reassured her that I felt fine and everything was alright. I wanted to reassure her again today that everything would be alright. It made me feel calm too. 

The before photo, dressed for the party. 

This party even had cups. This was a hard part - I had to first go into radiology where they ripped my breast away from my chest wall and smashed it in the mammogram machine! They had to do that twice while the radiologist stuck me with a bunch of needles. That was to mark the calcifications. Then he used the ultrasound machine to find the two lumps (titanium clips) and stuck me with needles of lidocaine outside and inside, and then inserted wires! You can see one of the cups says 15cm wire, that’s almost 6 inches! After that he injected me with a blue dye to reach the sentinel lymph nodes, so when the surgeon opened me up, she could take a small sample of the lymph nodes and send them for a quick pathology and decide whether or not to remove them. Then they taped paper cups on me to prevent sticking my arm with the wires! The stuff we have to go through (palm face emoji)!

Shortly after this I was wheeled into surgery. They gave me a bunch of pain killers and even a motion sickness patch before the pre-anesthesia. By the time I got to the operating room, I was already almost gone. I saw them adjust the lights and I was out. Next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room. That was over 3 1/2 hours later! The first thing I did when I woke up was cry, I cried happy tears that I made it!!

Unfortunately they did not have a room to move me to when I recovered so I was delayed in returning back to my family. I didn’t make it home until 4:30. 

Once I was home (all woozy from the meds and anesthesia) I ate! Eating was a little tough, as my throat was still sore, evidently from the tube that was down my throat during surgery. My throat had trouble adjusting to which way to send the food, so I had trouble swallowing. 

I got myself into my new pajamas after examining my dressings, and moved into my new space. I have a recliner set up for sleeping alongside my iPad, books, and random other supplies. 

I got a call this evening from the breast surgeon. She was checking up on me to see how I was feeling and said she made one long incision to take out the lump areas and the calcifications. She also sent a piece of the lymph node out to pathology and it was clean - no cancer! Yippee! So no lymph nodes were removed!

I sit here with my ice pack, relieved that it’s over. I was so scared of the surgery, and now it’s over. I was afraid of the anesthesia and now it’s over. I’m so happy to be alive! Now I can get some rest and pray for another day!

Thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts sent my way! I needed them so much and they kept me calm and ready to face this major challenge. I praise you before our God for your faithfulness and love!