Surgery Day

• 7:30am. Here we sit in the waiting room while DKO fills out yet another patient history. Today is surgery day. First, we go to the Tucson Breast Center where they place a "wire" at the tumor site. The basic idea is that since this tumor is small and not yet palpable, the surgeon needs some way to find it. When they did the biopsy, they placed some sort of "clip" in that can be seen in the various scans we've done. The surgeon apparently needs more though, so what they do is place a wire from the surface to the clip and apparently the surgeon follows that in to remove it.
  
  So what we have to do today is first go to the Breast Center to get the wire placed. Then we go over to UMC for the actual lumpectomy. The latter is apparently scheduled for noon, so we may be sitting around for some time waiting.
  
  There are all sorts of provisos and caveats about the surgery. The tumor is small and that is good as far as long-term health issues. The downside is that it's harder to find and remove a small one. Apparently, they scoop out a lump of tissue where they think the tumor is, send it off to the lab and see if they got it. In addition, they need a clean margin of healthy tissue around the tumor, so if they miss it or don't get the full margin, they have to go back in, either right then or in a later surgery.
  
  We're naturally hoping this'll all get done in one shot.
  
  
• 7:40am. Now we're waiting for them to call her in. I go up to the receptionist lady and point out that the new cancer center has lattes and a grand piano; why don't they? She laughs and I get a cup of coffee out of the deal. We learn that once they call DKO in, the "wire loc" takes about an hour. (DKO is still here waiting and is now looking over my sholder corecting my gramer and speling.)
  
  
• 7:55am. Somebody comes to collect DKO and take her back. Now we learn the doctor isn't here yet and that the process is at least an hour.
  
  
• 8:30am. Kay is ready to strangle the lady who's been talking on her cell phone for the past half hour.
  
  
• 9:00am. They finish the wire loc procedure and we drive down to UMC for the surgery proper. We sit in the waiting room playing Uno for an hour or so. They're hoping to get DKO in early, but at worst, she's scheduled for noon.
  
  
• 11:00am. They take her back and let me tag along. We run into the surgeon and he laments that they had already scheduled in a surgery before hers, so she's on for noon still. We joke around with him a bit and he is still enthralled with DKO's spiky hair. They take us to the prep room where she changes into the usual hospital gown and they start an IV. We warn the IV guy that she's a hard case and he manages to get in the IV quite easily. There's some debate about which arm, but he ends up doing it on the left side, away from the lymphedema arm and on the current surgery side, but that's apparently a workable move for them.
  
  We meet various residents, nurses, interns, anesthesiologists, etc., all very nice, all re-asking the same questions. The latter is a bit annoying, but it's good to know that they reconfirm drug allergies and such.
  
  
• 12:00. They wheel her off to surgery and I go out to meet Dwight and Kay. We head off to the hospital cafeteria for lunch and we're back at the waiting room, actually outside on the patio--much nicer--by 12:45. The surgery is supposed to last an hour or two, so we're waiting. (I think I reach maximal stress level over lunch. It's not fun thinking about DKO going through that.)
  
  
• 1:30pm. Doctor comes out and tells us she's fine. The preliminary pathology suggests that the sentinal node biopsy is negative which is outstanding news. That's just preliminary though and the final pathology, which should come in another five days, could be different. Another issue is whether the margins of the tumor are clean and they don't know that yet. They want to show us the x-ray they took of the specimen in the OR, but there's some sort of problem getting that to us. Now DKO is in recovery and we're waiting around for when they'll let us in to see her. The surgeon said one to two hours.
  
  The anesthesiologist also comes out. (She looks amazingly like my former student Debbie C.) Apparently, they had a hard time intubating DKO. No life risk, no danger, but she warned us that DKO will have a sore throat and that, in the future, she needs to alert any anesthesiologist that she is difficult to intubate.
  
  
• 2:40. Still waiting. The nice reception/nurse lady tells us she's waking up.
  
  
• 4:00. They let us take her home. Dwight and I head down to the Wallgreen's for prescriptions and ginger ale.
  
  We're finally home.