The journey to Frankentitties....yep, that's right.

Wednesday Mike and I headed out to O’Hare to pick up Taylor. I was anxious to see him again, since it had been over 3 months since our visit to Miami. We got there early enough to park and to get into the terminal and wait for him right at the bottom of the stairs. We had been there about 15 minutes when he texted and said they had landed. His plane arrived about 25 minutes early. Seems the flights in from Florida always shave about 20-25 minutes off of them.  We kept waiting, and eventually another text came through, they were stuck on the tarmac, they had no gate. They had been told it would be another 20-30 minutes. Mike and I walked to the other side of the terminal to get some Starbucks, and once back to the side where he would be gated he texted again saying it was going to be yet another 20 minutes.  We waited it out and once I saw his smiling face coming down the escalator, the wait had been worth it. 

We got home and went over the plan for the next day before heading to bed. We needed to leave by 6:40 to get me there for my 7:00 check in time. The doc had me take a shower with hibiclense Wednesday night and then another one Thursday morning.  So when that was done we packed up and headed out to the hospital.

After checking in, they put me in a room (#11 of course – which freaked me out quite a bit), I got changed into my gown and then waited for things to begin. The nurse managed to get the IV in my arm and before she had the chance to hook up the tubing, it started pumping blood all over the place. I felt it running down my arm and it dripped all over the bed, the blood pressure cuff and the floor. Things weren’t off to the best start. The nurse even pointed out that the IV was a bit bent. After hugging and kissing Mike and Taylor goodbye, I was wheeled into the OR. I moved from my gurney to the table and they started hooking everything up. When then nurse put the oxygen mask over my mouth and nose, it didn’t feel quite right and they injected my nighty night drugs into my IV. The nurse was holding my chin painfully high and that anxiety that hits me before la la land does, hit. I feel like I’m dying. I can’t talk, I feel like I can’t breathe, even though I can. I felt terrible, and freaked out and kept reminding myself nothing was wrong, this was normal. While this was going on, I could also hear the nurses talking saying it was taking too long. The medicine was not getting through the IV the way it should because it wasn’t as straight as it should have been and was basically crimped. They said it would have to be moved. 

When I woke up, the nurse warned me before I moved my head that my IV was now in the right side of my neck. I was able to see where they had bandaged off my arm, and my hand and figured that they had tried my hand but were unsuccessful. Still I was a little surprised it was in my neck. I was told they were waiting on a room for me. Surgery was supposed to be 4 – 4.5 hours, recovery an hour. By the time I was finally in a room and got to see Mike and Taylor about 8 hours had passed. I was groggy and pretty out of it. I tried to eat but felt incredibly nauseous every time I tried to sit up. Mike and Taylor headed home so all of us could get some much needed rest.

I guess I forgot I was in the hospital and that rest in a hospital is about impossible. The pain was bad and they prescribed dilaudid every 4 hours with Percocet for the break through pain. I got Dialaudid at 6 and 10.  Though I was supposed to get another dose of the Dilaudid at 2 in the morning, the nurse said no because I “might” be going home and once I got there I would only have my Percocet anyway. Yes I probably should have thrown a fit. The woman in the room next to me was driving me nuts. Anytime a nurse or tech was around she would moan and groan loudly and claim she wasn’t there for the drugs yet she was constantly telling them that she was due for pain medication when she wasn’t, but she kept getting hers even though she was also supposed to be going home too, oh well whatever.

At some point I finally pulled the tape and gauze pads off of my hand and arm and that’s when I really discovered just why my IV had been moved to my neck.  Where I expected to see one hole in my hand, there was three with a whole lot of bruising. Apparently I was being IV difficult again.  And without even trying. 

At 4:00 in the morning, yes 4:00 AM the same nurse who told me no to my Dilaudid came in with the instructions on how to care for the drains that had been inserted. First of all, it was 4 in the morning. Second she woke me up to have me sign this paperwork at 4 in the morning. Third, Dr. Bushnick had told me, along with Mike and Taylor that he would be taking the drains out Friday before he sent me home. When I told the nurse this, she told me I must have misunderstood….I probably wouldn’t be going home Friday (which would have made it even more unnecessary for her to come in at 4 AM to give me the paperwork) and that I would not be having the drains removed before I went home. I would have to make an appointment with my doctor in a few days to have him do it in the office. I told her I had an appointment with him already, in a week, and that I was going to trust what he had told me and my family. 

When the nurses were switching shifts she was doing rounds with my new nurse, Tim, and basically reiterated all the same garbage she had already told me. Taylor arrived to hang out with me and Tim came in to let me know that Dr. Bushnick said he would be there in about a half an hour to an hour to remove my drains so he could get me out of there. The other nurse was still there and she came in to say something else to me about later in the day and I said I wouldn’t be there, I was going home. She still didn’t believe me! Tim informed her that Bushnick had called and was on his way to remove the drains and send me home. She was snotty and none too happy. I don’t know what the hell her issue was but she definitely had one.

So Taylor got me out of there and home with time to take a nap before he drove Tyler to Krystle’s house so he could get to work.  Taylor and I were able to spend some time together and start trying to work out some plans for his birthday. Mike picked up Krystle and Kahlen and brought them over for “make your own pizza night” for Krystle’s birthday and then we all watched part 1 of the deathly hallows. (Eventually the Star Wars marathon IS going to happen.)

Saturday I was finally allowed to shower and I managed to get the tape and gauze off of my neck. As I went to wash the area it stung real bad. I used the hibicleanse to clean all 20+ inches of the incisions. After getting a real good look at what’s going on with my chest, “frankentitties” is the most descriptive way I can describe them. When I got out of the shower I tried checking out my neck in the mirror, but the angle I just couldn’t see right. Went to Taylor and he was none too happy. Where they had pulled off the tape that had been holding in my IV, then had also pulled off skin….

Mike had to work Saturday and so Taylor and I were lazy and napped and looked at pictures together of kitties that need homes. (He wouldn’t even pull up the pig listings….) When Mike got home though it was time to head to the airport. We parked at the terminal, got inside and got him to the ticket kiosk and then came that part I had been dreading since before he even got here. It’s so hard to say good bye to him. He knows this. But I am so grateful he was here for me. I’ve known him almost 2 years now, and whenever I need him, he’s there for me. He’s the most caring, kindest, and most loyal friend I could ever ask for. I try very hard to save my tears for when he’s not around, because I know he doesn’t like to see me cry. We left him at the TSA line and as Mike and I were driving away, he started texted me the updates. He got into line just in time, it had already gotten much bigger, made it through security, at the gate, gate was changed, lost their airplane, had to wait for another one to arrive….I swear he always has some issue with his flights! By the time he did make it home however, my left breast was already pretty red and a slight fever (just over 99) had set in. Being totally paranoid about infections now I called the doctor. He has told me to keep an eye on the temp. If it goes over 100 let him know, they may have to readmit me for IV antibiotics. I’m also supposed to ice the left breast. He believes the redness is a result of that tissue having been irradiated before.

Today the fever came back for a while, but it’s gone again. Left is still plenty red. Right is plenty bruised looking, but the swelling seems to have decreased a little bit. Left is still extremely swollen. And both sides are still draining. More today actually than yesterday. Neck is still pretty swore and now starting to itch like mad. So going a little crazy with that as well. It’s a whole lot of downtime. A TON of down time. 

Plan on getting some reading done this week and just keep on telling myself everything is going to heal just fine. Anything else is simply not an option.

Oh and I forgot! I asked how much tissue he removed. Left breast he took out an additional half a pound. Right breast he took out a pound and a half.  So I basically lost 3 pounds of breast this year. No longer a G, I am now a C cup.  kind of looking forward to that new bra shopping spree.