We got up and had a relatively normal morning before heading off to Lahey North in Peabody for my surgery. I enjoyed my black coffee during the drive. With an 11:45 procedure, I was allowed to have clear liquids including black coffee up until 8:30. Got there for the same old procedure... but this time, I had a detour through nuclear medicine to get the radioactive tracer injected. This, along with a blue dye, would provide guidance to the surgeon to the lymph nodes to be removed. For a change, I had a hospital gown with the slit offset to the side. No running around with my bottom on view. It also had snaps at the shoulders. Made procedures easier. Not that I am exactly shy or modest, but I have found that acting shy and modest keeps others from being embarrassed.
I had a long wait before and after down at nuclear medicine. They had told us that Colin could not come down with me "since there was no room for him". This was true for the 10 minutes I was in getting the (VERY PAINFUL) injections of the tracer*. The tech who did my prep was "due in two weeks", so how radioactive can the stuff be? But, for the other 50 minutes before and afterward, I could have used the company. The area was under construction, and the waiting room was the hall. At least I had reading material.
When I got back up, we talked to the surgeon and the anesthesiologist about what was coming up. We re-discussed the sentinel node, the opinion offered at Dana Farber, and the fact that we disagreed with DF. We went into this fully aware that a negative reading in the nodes does not necessarily mean all is good, but that a finding in the node would definitely provide information (bad....). We discussed follow-up, and his contact at Mass General recommends radiation. We may get a second opinion on the oncology side, just to provide more interesting statistical problems for Colin and I to solve;-). (Notwithstanding, that the sample sizes for primary angiosarcoma are too small to provide any statistical confidence). The anesthesiologist was the same doctor I had for both my hand surgery in 2007 and my lumpectomy four weeks before. It was nice dealing with the same doctors, nurses, and the overall situation for this surgery. I can definitely recommend the day surgery center at Lahey North. Finally, the time was at hand, and I hopped on the gurney, they connected the IV, put in some sedative, and we were off. I remember getting into the OR, moving to the table, and then it was lights out.
I woke up with the worst case of the shivers you can imagine. I didn't particularly feel cold, but they piled warm blankets on me and gave me demerol. I felt like the weight of the blankets did more than their warmth. I got some more pain medication through the iv. They were doing all sorts of things, making notes, etc. And then Colin came in and off we went to my hospital room about 45 minutes later.
*Note to anyone who will be having this, ask for EMLA so it is less uncomfortable.
