Hysterectomy Surgery

On May 28th, 2013 I was scheduled for a complete hysterectomy (removal of ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus and cervix)  . Here's how my day and the days following went!
 On May 27, the day before I had to do a bowel prep...YAY...not. I was only allowed liquids, jello, coffee and broth. YUM. I drank so much damn water I thought I was going to float away! I used the LO-SO EZ prep kit.  Too much fun! :P

The night before I didn't sleep much.  Nerves, Excitement, Fear and well the fun prep kit all kept me awake.

Finally it was time to leave!  I got a shower and shaved every nook and cranny of my netherworlds.  Figured I'd help out the staff a bit.

When we arrived at the hospital I only had to wait a short time before I was called back.  A nice friendly girl came out and got me.  She told me to step on the scale.  What??  I really didn't feel like getting more depressed!  I of course told my husband not to look, but I just know he took peek!

First thing I had to do was pee in a cup.  I think they were making sure I wasn't pregnant.  Um, I sure the hell hope not since I got my husband neutered last spring!  They also took my temperature and blood pressure.

They got me all comfy in a room, stripped down and gowned.  I layed there for a few minutes before I was greeted by a vampire!  Ok, not really.  She was a sweet girl just needing a few tubes of blood!
After she left my nurse Debbie came in an interviewed me.  She also did and EKG and started an IV with fluids.  HOLY HELL it was in the side of my left wrist and that HURT...OUCH!  She was so nice though.  We talked about Facebook games, and other games apps.  I told her she needs to play Bag It.  So much fun!

Waiting in Pre Op!

After she left a sweet nursing student came in and put those compression leg pumps on, to keep nasty blood clots away.

Next an anesthesia Nurse Practitioner came in to interview me.  She was really sweet too!  We talked of BRCA and how she lost her Mom and Grandma to Breast Cancer.  She was DENIED BRCA testing from her insurance.  I told her to KEEP FIGHTING!

After she left Dr. D came and saw me.  I just adore that man!  He is so friendly, down to Earth and REAL.  We discussed a lot of things.  Menopause, Estrogen Patch, Breast Cancer risks.  Unfortunately he came with a bit of bad news.  My surgery was delayed by 3 hours!  WHAT!!!????  NOOOOOO!  I told him I was really anxious and he said he would get me something for that.  Thanks Dr. D!  He also informed me that the urologist that was to do my ureteral stent placements was now unavailable. I was a little scared knowing that someone I never met yet was going to be inserting something into my urinary track system that I never met!

More waiting....WHERE IS MY ANXIETY PILLS?????


After he left the Anesthesiologist came in.  Dr. B.  He was so cute.  Not cute in a good looking way.  Just cute in the old man trying to be cool way.  He was really nice.  I also reminded him I needed something for my nerves.

MORE WAITING!  WHERE THE HELL ARE MY ANXIETY PILLS????????

Awwwww, there she was.  A sweet nurse with 2 Valiums.  I decided to put on a show on my Nexus tablet, but just couldn't concentrate.  25 minutes after I took the Valium  I found a friend.  It was a plug socket.  I just couldn't stop staring at it.  I told Dan I could look at it all day.  Well all day was about 5 minutes.  Then I passed out!  Thank Goodness!

Next thing I know another wonderful nurse comes in to wisk me away to the area right before you enter the OR.  Several nurses were making sure everything was set to go.  That's when my new urologist appeared!  YAY!  I get to meet him!  I'm going to call him Dr. Share a Cigar.  Cause that's what his name sounded like!
He was so very nice.  I felt completely at ease with him doing the urological part of my surgery.

Now I was getting whisked away into the OR.  I moved onto the table and they placed an oxygen mask over my face.  I swear only 3 minutes passed and they told me I was going to go to sleep.  Yup, I did.  That fast.  Next thing I know....

I'M FREEZING!!!

I wake up in the recovery room feeling really weird.  But my wonderful nurses Joyce and Adrienne took great care of me!  It's strange that you come out of that anesthesia and know exactly where you are and what's going on.  Well at least that's what happens to me.  All I know was that I was so damn cold I thought I was in Antarctica!  I remember the nurse just asking someone else to get me a lot of warm blankets.  They also asked how my pain was and I told them probably and 8 and they shot me up with some glorious pain medication.

So my surgery took a little over 2 hours.  They did 98% laproscopically and got the rest of my cervix vaginally.  I have 3 tiny incisions in my abdomen.  Dan was patiently waiting thinking it was going to be and hour to and hour and a half.  He said that Dr.'s would come out and update the family right in the waiting room about other patients.  When Dr. D and Dr. HHYFH (I was sad I didn't get to see him before surgery, but he made it up to me!)  came to update Dan on the surgery they called him into a private room and closed the door.  He said he was so scared and nervous something bad happened!  NOPE!  All good news!  He could breathe again.  His Schnookums was alright.

I finally get to my PRIVATE room.  Yes!! PRIVATE!!  I was so happy that I wasn't going to annoy another person!  All I wanted to do was EAT!  I was starving!!!  They told me I was allowed to order lunch!!!  Yes!!  I was so excited!  Until they told me it was from the liquid diet menu.  Really?

So I placed my order!  2 egg custards, chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding, tomato soup and decaf berry tea!  I ate every bite!!

I was a bit uncomfortable for a while.  I had a lot of left flank pain and my pee, yes I could see it because they were so kind to insert a urinary catheter while I was asleep.  My pee was the color of tropical punch Kool-Aid.  YIKES!  The nurse came in an gave me a Vicoden.  It really didn't do much.  My left side was killing me!

Into the evening my wonderful nurse Karen came and told me I could get up to brush my teeth and wash up. It actually felt good to stand, but not that good!  I did what I was told and then was asked about my pain again.  I was hurting.  Still with the left flank pain.  Karen brought me a shot of Dilaudid.  WOW, that stuff works!  I actually passed out in the middle of texting my friend!

During the night I was in and out of sleep.  I was wired, yet tired.  Weird I know.  I got visits from a few other nurses.  Edith, who was one of my nurses when I had Mason, came in and I was so happy to see her.  She was actually my lactation nurse with Mas.  Leslie was another wonderful nurse who helped me out.

I spent the most time with Karen though.  She probably just wanted me to STFU.  LOL!  We had some great chats!  I feel so blessed to have had such wonderful people taking care of me!

Karen came in again and told me I could could stop forcing the fluids.  I told her I seriously wasn't!  I honestly did want to clear my pee up, but I was also totally thirsty!  She said she emptied over 2500 ml of pee!  Sorry, I was really thirsty!  Bonus is my pee cleared up and my pain was decreasing!

The next morning, but actually felt just like a continuation of the previous day, I was still STARVING!  They said I wasn't allowed to have real food until I passed gas, farted, tooted, whatevs!
I was on a mission!  It sucks when you can't do "that" on command!
Finally the blessed event occurred!  It was hilarious actually, but I'll leave that to imagination!  I at last got to order from the REAL FOOD menu!!
I got chicken Parmesan, pasta with marinara, buttered noodles, a dinner roll, two pieces of provolone cheese, jello cake, egg custard, decaf berry tea and one bite of a chocolate chip cookie!!!  It was all really really good!  I couldn't believe how yummy hospital food was!

Feeling pretty good after surgery!

Karen came in and told me I could get my catheter out and IV out as soon as Dr. D made rounds.  OH BOY, when could that be???  Good thing Dr. D is an early riser!  He visited me right after 6 am!  Awesome!
Finally got all the tubes and leg compressors out and off!

At 7 am I got a new nurse, who was actually my nurse right when I got to my room the night before.  Her name is Cheryl and she is a sweetheart.  She was the one who got me all ready for discharge!

SURPRISE!  I got a visit from HHYFH!!!  He looked so sharp in his untucked purple button down.  Is that bad to have a total crush on your Dr?  LOL  Seriously, he's amazing and so nice!!!  Here is a pic of us when he came to visit!

Dr. Thomas Krivak aka Dr. HHYFH and I.

Finally I get to go home!  My escort Debbie wheeled me away in a wheelchair right to my car that Dan had waiting out in front of the hospital!

When I got home I was in a little pain.  I continued taking Vicoden, but of course with pain meds comes constipation!  Also this is the day I really started loosing my voice from being intubated during surgery.  Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE to talk and can't shut up, so for me to not have a voice was miserable!

First Day Home.

Day 2 home was even better, but still constipated.  I needed to rectify this little issue.  I had Dan go and get me stool softeners, fiber powder and prune juice.  I wasn't playin!
Day 3 I was feeling really good.  And yup, the stuff I had Dan pick up at the grocery store worked!  Hallelujah!
Day 4 was my son's 6th Birthday party!  I got to go!!!  I was so happy and feeling great!  I also stopped taking pain meds this day!
Day 5 I was a little nauseous after dinner and just pretty much laid around.
Day 6 The energizer bunny took over!  I was so restless and had a really hard time falling asleep!  If this is all surgical menopause has to offer then I'll take it!!
Day 8-14  Today is 2 weeks post op!  The second week after surgery I was a little more run down.  Probably coming off the pain meds and such.  I have yet to have a hot flash!  AWESOME!  I get a little warm sometimes, but no pouring out drenching sweat.  Today I'm supposed to start and Estrogen patch.  Haven't yet.  Dr. D wants me on it regardless if I have symptoms or not.  My incisions look really good.  Well the other day I had some pain in my belly button and thought I had an infection.  Dr. L looked at me and said it looks OK.  It feels much better today!
So there's my story!
I'll update you guys if anything exciting occurs!  I'm hoping to update soon with some more BRCA info and resources.  Until then I'm just waiting til my next surgery next year!

Some of my events my be a little out of order but you get the gist!

Thanks for reading my story!  Thank you for all the love, prayers and support!

WTAE Interview AIRED!

My Mommy and I's WTAE interview with Michelle Wright aired on WTAE on May 30th, 2013.
Here it is!

WTAE Interview went great!

We had our interview yesterday with Michelle Wright from WTAE.  She came to my Mom's home and it went so good!  Meeting Michelle was like meeting a celebrity!  She is such a beautiful person.  She is even more BEAUTIFUL in person!  I feel so blessed we were given this opportunity to share our story with the community.  Here's how it all went!  We picked the perfect spot for the interview, which was my Mom's beautiful family room.  First she hooked a microphone up to my Mom and interviewed her.  My Mommy was AWESOME!  She was so poised and told her story so eloquently! Next came my turn.  OMG!  I was soooo nervous!  I think I did a pretty good job conveying the information I wanted to get across.  Well we thought we were done.  WELL....Life is funny, right?  The cameraman had the wrong microphones hooked up!  SERIOUSLY!!  So we had to do it again!  I was still nervous as all get out!  I feel the first interview was so much better since it was more spontaneous, but at least we got our story out!  The story should air sometime next Thursday or Friday (May 30th or May 31st).  I'm hoping to tape it and upload it here for you all to enjoy.   Here is a picture of us after the interview:

My Mommy, Michelle Wright and Me

Here is a picture of my Mommy and I's ovarian cancer awareness bracelets:

These an other fantastic bracelets can be purchased here:

https://www.facebook.com/Cre8tiveAwareness?ref=ts&fref=ts

or 

http://www.cre8tiveawareness.etsy.com/

WTAE Interview!!

My Mom contacted WTAE'S Michelle Wright about our situation.  She is coming to interview us on Thursday!  WOW!  I feel so grateful to bring awareness to Ovarian Cancer and BRCA gene mutations!  I'm sooooo nervous!  I hope I do a good job.  I really can't believe my Mommy and I are going to be on the news!  This is wonderful!  Please tune in!!!  I'm not sure when it will air, but they are taping it on Thursday.  I never thought my 15 minutes of fame would come from cancer.  I thought maybe it would be the fact I could do crazy tricks with my tongue, make funny voices or turn my feet backwards.  Such is life!
Here is what my Mommy submitted:
With the recent announcement Angelina Jolie just made regarding her mastectomy for preventative breast cancer I thought I would share my story which is very recent.  I would like my (our) story to make news so that other women can be aware of choices they have out there when faced with this very personal decision.



My mother passed away in 1979 at the age of 47 due to breast and ovarian cancer.  My maternal grandmother also had breast cancer. Many other family members also had other forms of cancer.  I'm currently 57 and was just diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in February of this year.  I also had breast surgery at the age of 33 and 39 for pre-cancerous cysts.



I am being treated for my cancer at a local Hospital by Dr.C.  My cancer was found when I went to my GI doctor as I thought I was having intestinal problems.  I found out through a CT scan that I had tumors on my ovaries and that the cancer is on the wall of my abdomen and my intestines.  I'm having chemo before surgery because of the cancer being so widespread.  I have my last chemo at Magee this Thursday before they proceed with my surgery which should be around the first week in July.  Then most likely more chemo.



During my first visit with Dr. C at a local hospital, he reviewed my family history and suggested by daughter have the BRAC testing done.  She did and was tested positive.  My daughter, Jamie Chapel, has done extensive research and counseled with many doctors and surgeons from local hospitals over the last couple of weeks and has decided to have a complete hysterectomy and double mastectomy at her age of 35.  She will have the hysterectomy this May 28th and then the mastectomies in one year from now.



You can only imagine how hard this is for our family right now.  My daughter is my hero.  Having this surgery will reduce her chances of breast and ovarian cancer and hopefully give her a longer life to live to watch her son grow up.  There are many risks involved but she and I both feel those risks out weigh not having the surgery and to possibly end up like my mother or me.  She sees everyday what I am going through and it breaks her heart.



Thank you for listening to my story.

Pre Surgical Bloodwork

I feel all set! Got my blood work and EKG today. Nothing left to do except go through the "crappy", no pun intended, prep next Monday. Today I also scheduled an appointment with a Plastic Surgeon. I want to try and get all my ducks in a row for my impending breast surgery. So early July I have an appt. with a breast surgeon who will perform my double mastectomy and a plastic surgeon who will do the reconstruction. I want to know what's going to happen and if I'm even a candidate for the type of surgery that I want to have. That surgery scares the crap out of me. As a woman breasts are a part of you. You patiently wait as a pre teen for them to suddenly appear. You wait to wear your first training bra. I remember my first bra had tiny little tennis rackets in the front. In sixth grade I was called "stuffy", got to love kids. I didn't have big breasts, but I got them very early in my life. I feel my breasts did there job though. I got to breastfeed my son for 13 months! That was such an amazing experience. I really have no need for them anymore. I'll get newer, bigger, better ones right? The type of surgery I hope to get is a DIEP flap. That is where they take tissue from your abdomen and make breasts from it. So I guess the only plus is that you get a tummy tuck at the same time. BONUS! It's a very involved surgery that can last 6 -8 hours. My body will surely be scarred up for a while. I'll have to look past those scars and realize that they will fade eventually. This all scares the living crap out of me. What gets me through this is the fact that I am currently watching my Mom face a battle I NEVER want to endure. She is in pain daily. Especially during her chemo treatments. It sucks to feel so helpless. I wish I had a magic wand to make her all better. She truly is my hero. She was so sick on Saturday, but just HAD to go to Mason's gymnastic's program. It's the little things she doesn't want to miss. Here is a picture of my little gymnast and my HERO, my Mom and her husband Lou, my incredibly awesome StepDad.
 

Here is a link that explains the type of surgery I hope to have: DIEP FLAP http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/reconstruction/types/autologous/diep

A Few Small Changes

Yesterday Dr. D gave me a call and told me that I now had a new decision to make.  Really.  What now I thought.  Well apparently the Da Vinci robot that they were to use to do my surgery had a recall on the scissors due to "sparking" injuries.  Of course I don't want to be sparked, I thought. He said they will still do the surgery laparoscopically, but they are unable to get all of the cervix out that way.  So I had to decide if I wanted to leave a piece of cervix or also have them go in vaginally to take it out.  I opted for choice two.  I don't want anything left in there.  If I'm going through all this, they can take it ALL out.  He said the nice benefit of the robot is that they can get everything out with it and it makes it really easy to stitch the va jay wall to ligaments.  On the other hand by doing it the way I'm getting it now, I will only have 3 incisions, instead of 5 in my abdomen and since he's going in vaginally, he can get a tighter stitch on the wall to the ligaments.  Which makes me really happy.  Go ahead and Google vaginal prolapse pictures.  Yeah, I don't want that crap happening to me!  He says the recovery should be about the same.   He really is such a  nice guy and takes the time to explain all the reasons why and how things are done.

Before my surgery I had to have an IVP (Intravenous Pyelogram) done.
An intravenous pyelogram (IVP) is an X-ray test that provides pictures of the kidneys, the bladder, the ureters, and the urethra (urinary tract ). An IVP can show the size, shape, and position of the urinary tract, and it can evaluate the collecting system inside the kidneys.During IVP, a dye called contrast material is injected into a vein in your arm. A series of X-ray pictures is then taken at timed intervals.

The reason I had to have this test done, was when I was 4 I had to have a ureteral implant.  I was born with two ureters on my right side.  The surgeons needed to know where they implant into my bladder.  They will be working very closely to that area so it's important they know where both implant to they don't cut one.  They are having a urologist come in during surgery to put stents into my ureters so they can see them easier.  Dr. G will be doing that for me.  I really like him.  He was to the point, funny and I felt comfortable with him.  I'm glad he'll be doing this part of the surgery.

Yesterday I started not feeling so good.  A touch of a sore throat, headache and just really tired.  I'm hoping it's just allergies.  I think it also could be I'm just run down and stressed.  Unfortunately I always seem to get a sinus infection in the spring and fall.  I called my Dr. and had them order me a Z-pack just in case.  I'm going to try not to take it, but I wanted to have it on hand in case I start feeling worse this weekend.  I absolutely can not be sick at surgery time or they can't do it.  I'm kind of glad that if I am getting sick it's happening now and not two days before surgery so it will be all out of my system by surgery day.  So until then I'm loading up on Lemonade Airborne and drinking a ton of fluids.

Here's a picture of my double ureters.

Thanks for the love and support!

Here is a little video I made for all the people that support me.

Your words of support, prayers and encouragement keep me going.
I feel so blessed.
From the bottom of my heart
THANK YOU!