Monthly Archives: February 2011

Health Issues

Davol Drain is out! Progress is made.

4 Comments

Feb 6th  Sunday:

At 08:45 the home care nurse called to say she was coming shortly for a visit. We were ready when she got here. The dog was safely tucked away in a room while she came to take the drain out. Home care have certain safety stipulations and one is, that if you have a dog/pet that they be locked away while they visit, so no risk of getting bitten or scratched. They also keep their shoes on, WCB regulations, so they don’t accidentally step on a pin or puncture or cut themselves in any way. Also they want to know how many people are in the home when they visit.  Anyways, she came and I pulled the dressing off while she got her dressing tray ready for the big event! 🙂

Pam's IncisionThe drainage has been getting less and less each day, so for the last 24 hrs it has been about 15 cc’s only. Well under the Dr’s order of if the drainage is less than 24 cc’s in 24 hrs.. the drain can come out.  🙂 So with a cut of the suture holding it in place, and a pull, it was OUT. Now, all I have there is the breast incision (still has some green dye on it) and a small dressing in armpit where they took the lymph nodes out and where the drain was in. That fresh incision and drain site is covered with a small mepore dressing. I’ve asked M to take a picture of it so you can see what it looks like (I didn’t take a picture while the drain was in but I guess I should have).

I was hoping the feeling of a big lump under my arm would go away. I had thought the big Abdominal pad they had folded in place was what I was feeling, but it wasn’t. It’s numb under my arm still, and when my arm is down by my side, it’s numb under my arm too, so it’s 2 numb things touching each other (weird feeling, let me tell you) that I am feeling. There is something going on with my nerves in the area, because sometimes if I move my arm or shoulder a certain way, it’s like I get a burning electric shock in my shoulder/axilla area. It’s hard to explain, but I am hoping as healing starts now that the drain is out, that it will get better slowly. fingers crossed!

The next thing that is going to happen is that home care will call in a couple of days to see how things are looking, and if no signs of infection in surgical sites, then I’ll be officially discharged from the home care program. I see family Dr and Surgeon on Feb 10th and I’m expecting to get news of the rest of the lymph nodes taken out Feb 1st.

Still no word from the cancer agency, but I think they wait until the breast and axilla heal up (about 4 weeks I think surgeon said) before they start me on radiation. I expect I’ll need chemo, but I will have to talk to them and see what they suggest.

Health Issues

Post op day 4 – Feb 5th

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Hi everyone,

I just thought I’d write an update. I still have my drain in, and homecare called and said they will come out tomorrow to see me. The drainage is definately slowing so I think it will be less than 24 cc in 24 hrs as of today. The dressing is still on there and quite a thick one so I can’t really see the incision or anything, though I do think there is some bruising under it that i am seeing.

I’m doing alright pain wise. I’d say on the pain scale, just sitting here doing nothing that I am at about a 3/10 . When I try to move a certain way (like getting out of bed), it zings me and I get kind of like an electric zap, and the pain shoots up. I think the tube is irritating a nerve or something. So I am still needing help just to get out of bed, otherwise I am doing alright. 🙂

I’m taking tylenol # 3 x 1 tab about every 5 hrs or so, depending on how much I am moving around.  I will be glad to get the drain out, as it is what is bothering me the most at this point. I am doing my exercises several times a day. Physio gave me several to do until the drain comes out, and once it’s out, I have to do new ones as well. All are geared to keep the area stretched and mobile so I don’t get a frozen shoulder, and that it facilitates drainage…

the exercises I do several times a day now are

1. shrug both of my shoulders up, then relax  – do 10x

2. roll both of my shoulders around in circles – do 10x

3 Neck exercises – turn my head from side to side  – do 10x

4. Bend my head to the side bringing my ear to my shoulder – repeat with the other side  – I am not doing these because of the problem I have with my C 6-7 and this might aggravate it, so I spoke with physio and she agreed this one is not a good idea for me to do.

Hand and wrist extensions

5. Make a fist and then stretch out my fingers straight  – do 10 x

6. Make circles with my wrist – ( I make a fist, and move my fist around in small circles to make wrist circles) – do 10x

Elbow and shoulder Exercises

7. Bend and straighten my elbow – so I sit in a chair and have my hand straight down at my side and then I pull up my arm and bend it until my fist is on my shoulder.. like I was lifting weights, but no weights… just moving my arm back down and up again. d0 10 x

8. Bend at the waist so I’m facing the floor, with my arm on my operated side hanging parallel to my legs and swing arms in a circle.  If you were bent at the waist, and your arms hanging down almost touching the floor, swing arms in a small circle, like you were stirring a vat of soup. 🙂  do 10x

so this is the routine I do several x a day. They have ordered it every 4 hrs while awake on the sheet of paper, but physio said 3x a day.. so I do it at least 3x  and more if I think of it. Once the drain is out, I will add some more and I’ll post what I’m doing once I start those.

Thanks everyone for the emails, blog posts, phone calls and for the cards, and gifts and visits. 🙂

…Pam…

Health Issues

Surgery update

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The surgery has been delayed. Pam was supposed to be in the operating room at 12:10, but here we are at 1:45 and we are still waiting to see the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. They have changed procedures since we were here last time.

Previously we didn’t see either one in the waiting room, but apparently an efficiency expert has found ways to streamline operations.  As you can see, it’s been marvelously effective! Hopefully Pam will be out of here before she has to go back for her follow-up on the 11th!

There was an older lady chatting with Pam about how they told her that her surgeon was running a little late. Pam asked her what time her surgery was, and she said 1:15. Then Pam asked her surgeon’s name and of course it is Pam’s surgeon!

Oh said the lady, when is your surgery? When told it was an hour before hers she said, I suppose you’ll be before me?

I can only hope, I thought.

I’ll let you know when she gets in! Actually it was two-hours late that she got in to surgery.

So now we (Maggie and I) wait.

Pam’s surgeon came into the waiting room to see the elderly lady we spoke to before! That was surprising! It’s 3 pm, so the surgery went quickly. She had told the woman she would tell the surgeon to be quick, so I she did-or was!

It will take about an hour for her to come out of the recovery room. She was about an hour and a half in post-op last time so hopefully she will be home in time to watch her beloved Canucks play Dallas. She has been looking forward to finally seeing Cody Hodgson play his first NHL game.

It’s 4:30 and there still is no sign of Pam. I’ve had only three hours of sleep, so I’m really starting to fade. The air in the hospital is very dry and makes breathing a chore.

The waiting room is filled with people silently hoping that all will be well with wife, mother, son or relative. It’s a strange camaraderie that we silently share with each other.

Each time the double doors of the recovery room open, we all look expectantly, hopefully, wishing to see our loved one being wheeled out and returned to us. Whole, healthy and recovered.

—–

Pam and I have just arrived home. It is 7 pm. She is doing ok. She is in a bit more pain than the previous surgery. She did not speak to her doctor, although there really isn’t much for her to tell us. We’ll know more after these lymph nodes are analyzed. There seems to be more blood in the drain than the last surgery as well.

Health Issues

Surgery # 2 Feb 1/2011

3 Comments

Well today is the day I have to go for my second surgery. This time it is to remove the rest of the lymph nodes in the right axilla (armpit), as there was one lymph of the 3 sentinels that had cancer in it when they biopsied it. So now there is no choice but to remove the rest of the nodes and hope that it stopped there. I will post more when I know more. I expect to be  home this evening, with an incision in armpit, and the drain again. I’m lucky to have a great nurse with me 24/7 named Maurice, and another great nurse, my friend Maggie is coming into town to spend the day with M and me.  🙂 I am sure Maurice will write updates initially post op for me again, as I’ll be too doped up 🙂
Thanks everyone for the support and well wishes and prayers.
…Pam…