we can rebuild her (part 1 - a little nip, not so much tuck)

I feel a lot like the six million dollar man....or woman.

On Monday I checked into the hospital to start the next phase of my breast cancer treatment and recovery. I chose to postpone my breast reconstruction until after I finished all the chemo treatments. So 2 weeks after my last chemo, I was ready to move full steam ahead into reclaiming my body.

Mike and I arrived at the hospital at 6am, I registered and then we were brought into the new surgical annex of the hospital. I was assigned a room, which was more like a typical OR staging area with a curtain divider where I had to pee in a cup for a pregnancy test and then get changed into one of those Bair Paws surgical warming gowns. They are actually pretty cool. They're a one time use gown made of like a flannel-y paper-ish material that has ports in it that warming air tubes hook into. The nurse got my iv flowing and we just kind waited for my 2 surgeons to swing by and sign off on the surgical consent forms. The anesthesiologist came by and got my meds all set up. After that, my plastic surgeon (PS) came by and marked me up with a sharpie. It was like my own nip/tuck moment...kinda. So a little bit after that the nurse anesthetists who were assigned to my case came in and we were just waiting....waiting for my Oncology Surgeon (OS) to show up and sign his paperwork. We're all just waiting, and waiting, and FINALLY the OS shows up. He does not even acknowledge me or Mike, he signs the forms and says - yep, gonna take your ovaries out, and then left- never even LOOKING at me. I just laid there, my jaw dropped to the floor and the nurses, Mike and I just looked at each other in total disbelief. Could my OS really be THAT much of a jerk? After the drama, we started wheeling away, and well- I don't remember anything. Not even entering the OR. I was O-U-T. I think Mike will write a guest post about what happened since his perspective and level of lucidity was quite different than mine...

ANYWAY- several hours later I woke up in the recovery room. I have been through this before. Sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's not so bad, and sometimes it's really bad. This time was not so bad, except I could not open my eyes. I could hear everything and answer questions but I was having the worst time totally waking up. I'm not sure what kind of conversations occurred in recovery, but I remember hearing bits and pieces about my pain level, my post-surgical bra, checking incisions, etc. I think a recovery room nurse could write a book about the crazy stuff they must hear during any given shift. I hope she didn't tell me anything important because I remember pretty much nothing.

Coming up next: Mike's commentary and the first 24 hours