Surgeries

When I arrived at my surgeon's office for my diagnosis, (btw my husband was away on a business trip in Texas and I was alone) he had already made arrangements for my surgery, January 17th. I found my lump on December 25th, received my diagnosis on January 9th and had a surgery date for January 17th. Talk about head spinning. The recommendation was for a lumpectomy, which I agreed and the thought was I would then have 6 weeks of radiation. Aha, this was not to be. During my lumpectomy, another tumor was found behind the one that I had discovered, along with another "area of cancer" and my sentinel node tested positive as well, so I had an axillary dissection. When I awoke after my surgery, I found that it wasn't the 2.5 hour surgery I had expected, but 5 hours and I was staying overnight. I went home the next day with bandages and a drainage tube. When I returned to the surgeon's office the next week for a follow up and to have my tube removed I received the news that my margins weren't clean and my surgeon recommended an excision for the next week, he had already scheduled the operating room. The next day my surgeon called and told me he had brought my case to the tumor board and they had recommended I undergo a breast MRI prior to the excision. The MRI was scheduled for Sunday morning. When I arrived at the appointment time, I learned an IV was necessary and they initially told me I would have to put my arms over my head (impossible due to surgery). After six unsuccessful tries by 2 IV nurses, I was sent home with a return date for Tuesday evening. On Tuesday I did have a successful MRI and on Wednesday afternoon the surgeon called to say the recommendation had changed to mastectomy and he would see me tomorrow. Yes, less than 24 hours notice for the loss of a breast - actually a blessing. I had my mastectomy at 12:30 and was home by 6:00 pm the next night - complete with yet another draingage tube and a chest full of bandages.