“Haven’t you had a scar on your body? They’re thick, tough and strong, as if a reminder to us that all is not lost; we’re resilient.” You’re tough, strong and resilient.
It's the 27th.
OUCH!
Better dude, much better.
Ok Room #5 and Lumi still working its magic...somewhat.
Recovery kissy face of course.
Pics to Door Dash of our Taco Bell order mishaps - but obviously we still ate it.
A month ago, literally, to the date, I was undergoing a bilateral mastectomy.
Today, I am scheduled for a right-sided axillary dissection to remove any lymph nodes that remain in that general area.
This surgery will take a fraction of the time (scheduled for only 2.5 hours), covers less area, however, is more intricate due to the nature of the structures being operated on.
Post surgery I can expect a drain, numbness down the back and inner portion of my right arm, tingling and numbness into my hand, swelling, a winged scapula, decreased ability to perform pull-ups due to lat weakness (DAMMIT), and some other fun things.
BUT also potentially the removal of additional lymph nodes that have cancer.
So let's do this SHIZ!
In the OR waiting room, pre-op!
My mom, dad, and sis are back in town. They all accompanied Steve and I to the hospital.
I check in.
"You have a payment due to St. Luke's for $1,297.00" pops up on MyChart when I log in at the kiosk.
That's fun.
Never seen that before.
Ain't nobody got time for that.
I have to head in for surgery, I'll circle back around to that...
We settle into the OR waiting room.
Within 10 min, I'm called back.
"Heather Mariotti?"
I get up.
"You can bri..."
A collective, "Nope. She goes alone. We all know," cuts her off.
Man, I got them trained.
Kisses and "love you's" to all, and off I go.
I'm brought to my pre-op room.
ROOM #5.
#5 my fav number!
My nurse greets me and introduces herself,
"Hi! My name is Lumi and I'm going to..."
"WAIT! I am so sorry to interrupt. But did you say your name was Lumi?!!"
"Yes..."
"Can you spell that?"
"L-U-M-I."
"Oh my god. Can I tell you a story about Lumi?"
"Does it have to do with deodorant?" Apparently, people get excited about her name as it is a deodorant brand, although spelled differently.
"No. no. Definitely not, it's about my sister, I think you will love it."
So the story goes, my sister and I, when hanging up the phone or texting, or basically whenever we are leaving each other, would say, "love you, mean it".
This got shortened.
Love You(U) Mean It > LUMI
She loved the story and the new meaning to her name 💕
SO first, I was placed in room #5.
Then my nurse was LUMI.
This was already shaping up to be a good experience!
Then a nurse came in to place my IV for surgery.
I indicated where I was STILL bruised and sore from the second IV that had been placed during surgery a month ago in my hand and requested that, although she had to use the left side, to not go in that same place.
So instead, she decided to attempt to get to a vessel on top of? next to? under? my ULNA.
OUCH!
I felt it hit my bone. I felt it moving. I felt it all.
Typically, I don't flinch. I don't make a sound.
Between all my tattoos and the number of times my skin has been punctured, cut, pulled, what have you, I've got a good pain tolerance.
But this was just gross.
"I don't mean to be rude, but that was the worst IV insertion I have ever had."
She apologized.
And took it out.
Then stabbed me again, but this time in my antecubital fossa.
Then Dr. Cardarelli came in.
Like the last surgery I anticipated this next bit of time to move quickly; however, when Dr. Cardarelli comes to check on me and prep me, she mentions there is still a case in the OR, so to expect to wait another 2+ hours before I go in.
I already knew I hated the 2:30pm scheduled time - I'm a get up and get shit over with kinda gal - so adding another 2+ hours was less than desireable.
I had a dull headache that started earlier in the afternoon, so I had been looking forward to being knocked out to take care of it.
Not to mention, since 9pm the previous night, I hadn't had any caffeine or water (or food, but that honestly didn't even bother me).
My headache was now raging, my "boobs" were "hanging" free and I had hours to go.
My initial excitement over room #5 and Lumi was dwindling.
I turned off the lights and did my best to will myself into a nap.
I finally called a nurse to the room - I had drifted off a bit but this headache was out of control and these boobs needs containment.
"Let me get you some Tylenol, and yes, you can put that compression bra back on."
OMG 2.5 hours later 🤦♀️
No sooner do I wiggle the hell into my bra around my IV and working with essentially one arm - does the nurse return,
"They are ready for you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The procedure is done.
I "wake up" and realize I am being wheeled to my room.
I am SO out of it - but somehow I see my family in a room off to the right (the OR waiting room), so of course I muster a smile.
I think I smiled...I felt like I was smiling. And of course threw up a peace sign.
It was definitely a blur as my family all came up, hi/bye, and then Sara and I were alone.
I dozed off while she got our doordashed Taco Bell at 9:30ish and felt more awake when she returned.
Recovery kissy face of course.
All in all, I felt SO MUCH better this time around. My headache lingered but my incisional site did not burn like that time.
I was also definitely more groggy getting to the room but zero discomfort other than a huge wad of gauze (like softball size) between my right inner arm and side of my torso.
I'm getting pretty good at this surgery stuff if I don't say so myself.
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