Surgical Drains

I think everyone who has ever had a surgical drain can only think about them with a shudder because they are so awful. I hated mine. It was awful. And full of really nasty looking stuff. When they took it out, it hurt so much that the surgeon even apologized several times after.

We have two cats. Boots is the good cat. He likes to cuddle. He likes to have his ears scratched. He likes to sleep on me at night. He wants attention. He is very nice.

Then there is ZDpot a/k/a Evil Kitty. Why do we call him Evil Kitty (or EK for short)? Because he is the food stealer, fight starter, etc. And he basically does what he damn well pleases - he refuses to listen to reason.

Evil Kitty got out this week. Well he is an outdoor cat and he failed to come home at night, which is not that unusual. What is unusual is that he failed to come home for breakfast - this is the cat who never passes up food. I was worried. I asked the neighbors. He finally wandered in 48 hours later. With a big gash on his right hip. And some other wear and tear. I took him to the vet. They were even impressed with the size of his gash. He is having surgery this afternoon. He will probably get a surgical drain, and a collar of shame.

This will be so much fun. He is not the most cooperative cat in the world. I cannot see how he will deal with a surgical drain. This is not going to be fun. I am sure it will be even less fun than the surgical drain I had.

The Drain

The drain is yucky! I hate it, its uncomfortable, and its just icky! It is a piece of soft plastic tubing that is about 18" long that is apparently about 1 1/2" under my skin. At the bottom of it is an oval collection valve that collects all the fluid that drains. It has to be emptied twice a day (yick!)

The reason for having it is that lymph nodes were removed and they are part of your body's drainage system. As they are no longer there, the fluid that they would drain as a result of the surgery has to be drained out some how. Once the initial healing happens, I just have to be careful with that arm for the rest of my life - no IV's, injections, blood pressure, etc. Also need to avoid carrying heavy objects on that arm, be careful with cuts and injuries, and exposure to heat. This is all to avoid a condition called lymphedema. This has no cure and you can only work to avoid it. Lymphedema causes swelling in the arm which can be permanent. Doesn't that sound like fun???

Only 5 more days of this stupid drain. Grr, grr, grr.

The worst part is the waiting

I can't do anything meaningful until I get this drain removed. By meaningful, I mean I can't go for a walk or get any real exercise. I tried weeding the garden but that is difficult. Sometimes when I bend down I can feel the stupid drain stabbing into me. My weeds are going wild! I got caught up on our Netflix and have to wait for more to arrive. I never did like daytime TV. Now I get to stress about what is next! One more week until the results and then maybe, finally, possibly, I will get a plan of action on what happens.

When you get a diagnosis of cancer, you really end up putting your life on hold until you get a plan of treatment and through the treatment. I can't look for a job or plan a vacation because I don't know how long this will take. I am not used to sitting around doing nothing. This is where it gets so stressful. If I can do anything, I can imagine all the what ifs; 'what if it is in all the nodes', 'what if it has spread'. Every little twinge in your body is a new place cancer has spread. Ha!

Well today I was on one of the breast cancer message boards - and believe me there a lots of them! The one I go to most has women from all over the world on it. A lot of the participants have blogs or care pages. One of them had a picture of a 'Breast Cancer Sucks' ball cap in her web page. Frankly, while I like pink, the little pink ribbon on everything doesn't always do it for me. I saw this hat and said that is more like it so I googled it (you can google everything these days) and found this website full of much more 'vocal' breast cancer items. http://tinyurl.com/28p9vf. I think I like the 'Fight like a girl' and the 'cancer picked the wrong diva' better than the pink ribbon.

Anyhow, back to google. Google is getting scary. They use the key words people search on to track what people look for and where and using what words. They are becoming a big brother in someways! Some people I know now have stopped using Google because they are too big!

Surgery went fine

I am home. The surgery went fine. Darvocet is a wonderful thing. I am tired, sore, achy, and otherwise okay. Nothing like a good night's sleep at the hospital. I slept from 830-930 and the pain meds wore off so I woke up. Vitals check around midnight and then I slept from 1230-3 when the night nurse came in to check on me. Then at 430 they came to check my vitals again. Then at 6 am about 10 residents showed up to check on me. I need a nap.

We will have results of the pathology reports on the 16th so no news until then. I also have this stupid drain which has to be emptied twice a day, by a visiting nurse at first, for the entire time! No driving, etc while I have it in as well. Just lots of naps with the cat.

Finally more news - good and bad

I have invasive ductal breast cancer and it is basically the most average common kind of breast cancer there is. The good news is that the tumor was 1.3 cm and was clearly removed - clean margins is the term. The bad news is the one node removed tested positive and means I need to have more surgery to take out the rest of the lymph nodes under my left arm. This is already scheduled for Thursday July 5. Apparently no one wants to have surgery next week so they could fit me in quickly.

After this surgery, I will have a drain to deal with for about 10 days and then when I go back in for follow up we will find out the next stages for chemo/radiation.

Also, I have to leave the rest of the damn steri strips on until next Tuesday!!!!! Grrr...