Today was a long day of appointments in preparation for the surgery tomorrow. Some simple, some quick and some thought provoking. Blood test and EKG all went fine with results normal. Then I had my pre-op appointment where the anesthesiologist came to talk to me and give me an overview of what to expect the next day when it came to his specific team. Funny at Mayo everything is talked in terms of teams, not just one doctor or one nurse or one nurse practitioner, but also teams. He somewhat started to make it all sound more real. It will be a long actual surgery, about 2-3 hours, and if needed they will have a plastic surgeon available. Hey maybe I can get a thigh lift without paying the Hollywood prices!! Is there even a thigh lift? Heard you can have anything touched up but then my one thigh would be different than the other! :-)
He gave me an overview of the IV’s used and the setup time with all the hookups needed. I would have a tube down my throat which sounds really exciting. Oh I need to remember to pack some throat lozenges to potentially help with that irritation. But maybe the pain meds will make me not care. And he was the 2nd person so far this day that told me to be sure and stay up on the pain meds!! Sounds scary!!
Our next appointment was with Dr. Houdek, the surgeon. As an aside, he is actually from Flagstaff Arizona, which is just over the hills from Cottonwood. He gave even more details, including that the surgery itself would be 2-3 hours, and with the check in procedure, surgery and then recovery, it would be at least 6 hours before anyone would be able to see me. At Mayo you call an automated number the night before to get your surgery check in time, which I just did and I have to be at St. Mary’s at 7:30 am. Guess glad is not later in the day, and by afternoon it should all be over. I did ask him if he could give me a picture of Ted the Tumor….I just want to see what it looks like. He said he would put it up on my portal. :-). And I was mistaken in that he will not do the biopsy of the lymph node because it is in the pelvis area so that would be to extensive for him to do at this surgery. I have to go back to my oncologist at Park Nicollet to see what she wants to do. So I also put a call in to her nurse and she called me and said it would probably be next week before Dr. Chen makes a decision since she is on vacation right now. And the surgeon did say that they do not want me to have any biopsy within the next 3 weeks.
The surgeon also informed us that I would not be able to walk Max until at least a month. So now we need to figure out how to take him out for his “poop” walks. I could contact Rover and have a dog walker, but we have also asked Emily if she would want to continue to do that. But with her work schedule and Max needing to go out about 10:30 and 6:30 she is not sure that she would be able to do those times with her work. We are also thinking of putting him on a long leash and let him be in the front yard and hopefully he would eventually go. He pees out there without any issue, but for the last 7 years or so walks are always the poop process. Not going to worry about that right now because Rover and a dog walker is always an option.
The surgeon also said that it was only 50/50 that I would get out of the hospital by Christmas Day. You know I bought one of those ceramic trees thinking I would bring that down to Rochester, but then convinced myself that no I would be back home for Christmas and now there are no decorations at the house. :-(. I should have brought it down just to make sure I would get home for Christmas. I guess I may have to sing “I’ll be Home for Christmas, but Only in My Dreams”! Follow up after this surgery will be every 3-4 months back here for scans and doctor checkin. It is considered a little higher grade sarcoma so that is why the 3-4 months rather than the 6 months.
But a piece of good news is that he feels that going to Florida in February/March would probably be doable, but not any toes in the sand or anywhere near sun on that thigh. Guess I could really have a funny tan by putting a blanket over that thigh and it would be white while the rest is tan. Instead of a farmer tan, I would need to think of a name for this new style of tan!
I did find out this afternoon that I am not allergic to penicillin as I always thought I was. I broke out in a rash about 20 years ago taking that and doctors just suggested that I was probably allergic. Had some allergy tests today and all came back as negative for penicillin allergy. The surgeons prefer to use penicillin or a “cousin” of it so it is good news for that.
For any of you that have had recent surgeries, tonight and tomorrow morning I have to shower with this anti-bacterial soap. Jackie told me about having to do that for the c-section and since no one had mentioned anything, I thought I was free and clear of doing that…but no, I have to do it tonight and tomorrow. Apparently it helps cut down on the possibility of surgery infections. Years ago you would check in the night before a surgery and I think that was all done in the hospital…so now we as patients get to do that. Guess we all have a little LPN in us now.
So how as I feeling right now…nervous, anxious, worried…so many emotions but also somewhat relieved to get this out. They did say today it HAS to come out….leaving it in there was not an option so better to get it done while I am still young I guess. :-). Having the boys here these last 2 nights really helped the nights go by quickly and took my mind away from tomorrow. They love to wrestle and even though I may be 71 they think I can also be an All Star Wrestling participant and they are Verne Gagne and The Crusher….most of you too young to understand those references. :-). But tomorrow at this time, it will be all done and I will most likely be feeling pretty happy with the assume pain meds. Prayers, positive thoughts tomorrow as this adventure reaches it peak and hopefully downhill the rest of the way!
Take care!
Dandy Ventures 