Surgery Day!

The day started much before the crack of dawn today.  Both of us were awake long before the 4:30 alarms went off due to nerves I'm sure.   We checked in at the hospital at 5:30 and where back doing more surgery prep a few minutes later.  I should have counted how many times Kristen asked "what's your full name and DOB?"  Apparently everyone was satisfied that she was who she said she was because they kept on going.  They gave her a high tech paper gown.  It had several ports that they could attach a hose (similar to a vacuum cleaner hose) that blew either hot/warm/cold air.  They said that surgery goes better if the whole body is the same temperature whether that's hot or cold.  The Anesthesiologist came in at 7:00, got her IV started and gave her a motion sickness patch to help with nausea. She kept trying to give her a relaxant but Kristen didn't want it.  Kristen was amazingly calm and determined.  Both surgeons came in not long after that to make sure everyone was on the same page and to make the necessary marks for surgery.  Just before 8:00 we said our "see ya laters" and they wheeled her off to OR.    

We were told the surgery would take approximately 4 hours if all went well and recovery before I could see her would be about 2 hours.  The Dr. Shauer came out to talk to me after 2.5 hours to let me know everything was going great.   He had to remove a node from each side which wasn't part of the original plan but he felt it was necessary.  The pathologist should have the results of the tissue sample back by Friday.  At the 4 hour mark the Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Christiansen came out to let me know he was done and that everything went beautifully.  He placed 4 drains which need to be emptied at least 2x day and will stay in place for about 2 weeks.  After about 1.5 hours the nurse called me to let me know Kristen was still pretty groggy and loopy and would be a little longer before being moved to where I could sit with her.  Recovery was a little rough.  A lot of pain, nausea, and dizziness.   At one point they got her standing up and then sitting in a reclining chair and then immediately took her bed away.  I guess they didn't want her changing her mind and getting back in bed.  At about 5pm she was feeling pretty good, was able to eat some graham crackers and drink a little water. She was able to get up and walk with assistance down the hall but needed to hitch a ride back to her room.  She turned ghostly white and clammy in matter of seconds.  They quickly whisked her back to her chair.    Mom and dad came up shortly before she was released which was a huge help. We left with supplies and a stack of instructions for care. 


Kristen's main nurse in recovery was Mechelle from Austria.  She was very nice.  She was compassionate and gentle but also very direct.


Kristen is doing great as long as she doesn't have to move.  =)