Groundhog Day 2007 is pretty much a blur to me, I know I went into surgery for my prophylactic bilateral mastectomies and that I started to cry when I was going under anesthesia but that truly is all I remember. My husband and my mom were at the hospital all day, the surgery was supposed to last 14 hours. I know that seems like a very long surgery but the surgeons both had a lot of work to do. One’s job was to take the “girls” away and the others job was to make me new ones.
My hubby and mom took turns in the waiting room, so if there was any news someone was always right there. The OR nurses were incredible, they knew how worried my family was going to be and they made it a point to come out about every hour to tell them where in the procedure I was, how my stats were and basically that everything was going as planned. It was the constant updating that kept my family calm when the surgery time went from 14 hours, to fifteen and kept going until a little over 18 hours. That is when the surgeons came out; looking all exhausted and told them that everything went great. They said it took a little longer (mild understatement) because I had back surgery in 2001 and they entered through my abdomen so I had scar tissue from that. I also had scar tissue from appendix surgery the month I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The recovery nurses were wonderful as well, they knew how long the surgery was and they knew my family was worried and exhausted so they let them come into the recovery room. This is not usually allowed because the patients are still intubated and not really looking their best. My husband said my mom cried when she saw me, the tubing in my mouth and the fact that I was bloated looking. They said my face was very swollen I still don’t understand that, they did not go anywhere near there. They both kissed me and my mom went home to take over watching my kids for me. She had to wake them all up and tell them I loved them and that I was ok but sleeping and they could call me the next night. My husband stayed at the hospital with me so he could be there when I woke up. Unfortunately it was not until the next day.