Pre-op

Today was my pre-op appointment, which of course means that surgery is coming up soon.  I have never really been excited for a surgery before but let me tell you- I am actually a little excited this time.  I was looking forward to this appointment because I really needed something to happen with my leaky boob.  I had decided that I would like the PS to just stick a needle in there and drain out what was left of the saline.  That way it wouldn't hurt any more, and also because then I could just wear my prosthetic boob on vacation, instead of looking like a lopsided freak.  Speaking of vacation- we had the car all packed and ready.  Jim and the kids were waiting outside in the van for me while I was in for my appointment.  Afterward, we were Sea World bound!!!!!  A much needed vacation for all of us!  I brought my prosthetic with me in hopes that the PS would go along with my plan.   Unfortunately he did not.  He wanted my expander to continue stretching the skin out as much as possible before surgery because it gives him more to work with. sigh....  As for the appointment- it went well- he answered all of my questions, and also took another round of pictures.  I found out that when he does the abdomen incision he actually cuts my belly button OUT OF MY BODY!!!! Then pulls the skin down to my pubic bone, sews it up, and puts my belly button in a new place.  Yep, that's some freaky shit right there!  I also asked about the stage 2 surgery- some surgeons that do DIEP flaps do lyposuction during stage 2, to kind of smooth things out and then they use that fat and do *something* to it, and then inject it into the breast with a syring- it is called fat grafting.  My surgeon doesn't do that though because he has found that often that fat will die inside the breast and he then has to go back in surgically to remove it.  I guess he just cleans up the scars, makes sure everything looks nice and even, does of lift of my real boob, and then will build me an areola out of hip skin.  That is still months away though.  The only goal for THIS surgery is to move the tissue and make it live....I will probably have 3 drains- one in my breast and 2 in my abdomen.  fun.  I will be in the hospital at least 2 days but probably closer to 4.  Maybe even 5.  Please don't let it be 5!!! I have never been locked in a hospital that long and that gives me way more anxiety than the actual surgery!   I also talked to him about pain management.  From past experience, I have found that morphine does NOTHING for my pain.  I can push that stupid button all day long and it will do nothing for me at all.  He said there were a lot of other options and he would fix me up good.  Yeah :)   The other thing I asked about was if they could use my port for my fluids/meds/anesthesia- I have no good veins and hey- the port is there, may as well use it, right?  He said they could but that as soon as I was asleep, they would probably put in IV in my arm.  Well that kind of misses the point, doesn't it?  I am nervous about them doing that when I am asleep because I can't have any needle sticks on my right arm because of lymphedema.  May as well have them do it when I am awake so I make sure they get the correct arm.
After my appointment with Dr. Duffy,  I went down to the hospital for my preop there.  They did a quick EKG, got my paperwork done, and did some bloodwork.  I tried to get them to use my port for that as well, and they couldn't (only real nurses can access a port- not techs)  anyway she looked on my only useable arm and found nothing.  I told her to just stick my hand because it is all I had.  She actually got it right away and I told her she did a good job.  As soon as I said that she said- uh oh!  And my vein blew :(  Ugh!  They ended up getting it though on the next try.  Not happy about the blown vein in my hand though.  I did find out that there is a lovely cupcake bakery downstairs in the hospital- YEEHAW!  That alone could make my hospital stay bearable.
One thing I must say that I have found strange- people feel the need to tell me they are jealous of me getting this surgery.  WHAT?  I have been told that I am getting the 'mommy makeover that all moms dream of having.  Mind you- the people telling me this mean well and I KNOW they mean well.  Trying to make me feel better about having to have surgery, I am sure but pleeeeeease don't tell me you are jealous of me.  I have cancer.  I have to have this surgery because I had to have my real boob chopped OFF because of cancer.  NOBODY  should be jealous of that.  I can blow off most things that people say to me but this just really strikes a nerve.