The Actual Surgery Day - Breast Reconstruction - November 8

My Husband took me to the surgery center. We had a wonderful pre-operation nurse who only needed one try to put an iv in my small hidden veins. I am so thankful for that and all nurse who are one stick and done nurses. The anesthesiologist was not my favorite personality type, but he was adequate. My surgeon came in beforehand and went through one more time what the process would entail - the initial surgery to place the expanders behind the muscle and skin, the weekly visits to fill the expanders slowly to stretch the skin and muscle, the settling of the expanders, and the final replacement of the expanders. He also was planning on using AlloDerm (regenerative tissue matrix) on the right side where the skin had been radiated to strengthen it.

I went home the night I had the mastectomy, but this surgeon said he thought I would stay at least one night. I admit I thought I would only be staying the night because he wanted me to.

There is song that I learned about in Musical Appreciation at BYU that sort of explains how I felt when I woke up from surgery.

The surgeon came in when I woke up told me it went better than expected, he did not even need to use the AlloDerm, and everything looked great. He then explained the pain medication options I had. I was surprised to have oxygen tubes in my nose, that the oxygen pulse rate machine kept beeping, the amount of pain I was in, and the rapid number of hallucinations (My husband was my reality check meter - No, Jeni the doctor did not just come in put his knee on my husband's chest and use pliers to pull one of his teeth out). There was no way I was going home that night.