PAMELA FIGHTS IN PINK!: Post DOUBLE MASTECTOMY!

Limited breast cancer USF jersey a friend won at an auction for me.

Today is almost exactly one week since my double mastectomy and I am still getting used to my "new look"! The morning of my surgery they did 4 injections of radioactive dye into my left breast. This dye will filter to the first lymph nodes that drain lymph from the breast. The surgeons had to add another dye to interact with this radioactive dye so they can visualize which lymph nodes are considered to be the sentinel nodes and remove them. The good news is that these nodes came back cancer free, which meant that they didn't have to remove more lymph nodes!! This also meant that I will not undergo radiation and they were able to insert my expanders to start my reconstructive surgery. I was so happy to hear this news.

The new me!

I was in surgery for 4 +/- hours as my family anxiously watched the OR Patient Status board for updates throughout my procedure. As I was rolled into the OR I tried to just take it all in and observe everything around me. They didn't let me do that for very long because next think I saw was my anesthesiologist putting a mask over my face.....I think I was able to count to 2. From there on I was OUT OF IT!! I remember waking up as they rolled my in my room where everyone was waiting. It sure did feel good to have such a big support crew standing by my side all day through this. They turned it into a little party because someone brought travel size Vodka and Captain Morgan bottles along with some Redds beer! I heard my bestie's husband, Rich, was responsible for this. My people know how to have a good time I guess but they deserve it after a looooong day at the hospital. Plus I was all hopped up on morphine so they needed to be on my level in some way.

Picture time after surgery w/ family

It didn't take long for me to take look down at my chest.. ....... yup they were GONE! They put pink "binder" on me which is the hospital version of a halter top. Since they used internal sutures and Dermabond I don't have any dressing over the incisions. I thought this would be mortifying for me to see but it really isn't that bad. I also thought about how I'll look now that I'm bald and flat. But this is temporary, that is what I must remind myself!

My 2-night stay at the hospital was pleasant and I had a lot of visitors. My nurses were all great...except for one that didn't seem to fit in with the Moffitt standards but oh well. The techs in nuclear medicine forgot to tell me that my urine would be electric green so that was a huge surprise to me when I was able to go to the bathroom that first time. It was definitely a shocker and even more odd that it turned turquoise and at one point it was purple in the commode!

My body has become a FULL TIME job since surgery. Not to mention that I need a full time caregiver with me because I'm not allowed to do anything. I called about pain the other day and the nurse told me to stop doing so much and sit still......so I am following directions now! I am on a schedule of meds that I would never remember with the use of the Dosecast app on my phone. I have tubes hanging from my drain sites that dump into grenade-like containers all day. Throughout the day we have to drain the tubes then measure the amount of fluid in the grenades. Once I drain less than 30cc per day for 2 days then the drains can come off. The sites where the tubes come out of my body are extremely sore and uncomfortable........they get removed in 4 more days I hope!

Me at hospital with a swollen lip from the tubes during surgery!

One of my drain ports under my arm

One of my drain "grenades".

This surgery is no joke but I am still standing behind my decision. Too many women that had a lumpectomy have told me their regrets not having a double mastectomy and that helped me decide. I have a lot of pain that never seems to go away no matter how many pain pills I take. It feels like there's an elephant on my chest and tennis balls under my armpits but this is all a part of my battle to get rid of cancer for good! The strangest feeling I have now is my chest is numb. I can relate it to how your lip feels thick after getting Novocain from your dentist.....well my entire chest feels that way!

I am exactly one week post surgery and thought I'd be more back to normal. I still need pain meds and I think the discomfort at the drain sites is worse now than it was originally. In another week I think my condition will be much better so I am looking forward to that because recovering from surgery is NOT FUN! I am so thankful for my caregivers that wait on me hand and foot because I could not get through this on my own.

My husband has been awesome trying to be with me while handling business all at the same time. Our lives are beyond overfilled and we definitely did not have time to fit breast cancer in our schedule! Here is a picture of him while I was waiting to go to OR. My bestie Laura took the pic and thought maybe they gave him the anesthesia. This reminds me.....while I was laying in bed the other night he rolled over and punched me in the right boob (or area where there once was a boob)! You know this never happens unless you just had surgery in that area!