Well, chemo is DONE. It was 6 months filled with lots of cries, lots of laughs, and many many lab draws. But guess what? I made it. I did it. IM DONE.
Sorry for my absence I keep meaning to write a post and it just hasn’t happened. So, bare with me and I’ll try to catch everyone up on all the stuffs. Most notably, on July 9th, I underwent my bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction! Since so much has been going on I’ve decided to focus this post on the surgery itself and then I’ll post a later one on how recovery went.
So with that, it’s time to put on your scrubs, wash your hands as we journey back to the operating room!
The day before my surgery I had a procedure done called a Lymphoscintigraphy (and y’all can go right ahead and spell check that). This test is often used to identify the sentinel lymph node, or the first node to receive the lymph drainage from a tumor. Which, honestly that description sounded scary enough but I just had to Google exactly what this procedure would entail… super, super bad idea. Bad Bailey!
According to Dr. Google I was hours away from a nurse STICKING A FREAKING NEEDLE IN MY NIPPLE! A needle that would inject radioactive iodine so the docs could track its journey from my titty to the corresponding lymph nodes. Keep in mind this was the last day on planet earth I would even have nipples, so for them to sign me up for what sounds like some mid-evil nipple torture is pretty messed up if you ask me. They didn’t ask me, so, the show must go on!
Anyways, against my better judgement I went to my appointment as schedule. When I got there, I was greeted first thing by a fellow breast cancer survivor who was going to, “help me get through the procedure.” Y’ALL! WHAT? You need a dad gum sherpa to get through this procedure. At this point I was preparing my soul for pain that would no doubt be akin to a natural child birth.
But by the grace of God, it didn’t hurt one bit. Seriously, I don’t even think I flinched. I hope none of you ever have to have one, but if you do, just know that it will be a piece of cake! That, or I just had a really great pain sherpa.
So now that I have a shiny new pierced nip, it was time for my appt with my plastic surgeon Dr. Leblanc (she’s the best guys!!) so we could review again exactly what we would be doing and so I could share any questions or concerns I had! This is when I decided once and for all to forego my nipples. For me, those things were apart of the disease I was working so hard to eradicate so keeping them wasn’t really something I considered for too long. I mean they were cool and all but if they aint, “sure I’ll risk going through breast cancer again just so I can keep a couple of hood ornaments” cool. Plus, one of the first things Dr. Leblanc (seriously the best guys!!) said to me in our first meeting was, “I’m kind of known for my nipples.”
With that decision done, she had the information she needed to make all of her markings, so she got to drawing then me and my graffitied bod went about our merry way! I’ll spare y’all the picture but just know it’s the most hilarious, unflattering picture I have ever seen.
The morning of surgery I felt at peace. I was equal parts excited and nervous, but you know, way more nervous. No, surprisingly, I was pretty calm in my thoughts! My main concern was whether or not I’d be able to go straight to implants. Basically I was going in with two possibilities.
I go straight to implants and I recover and get ready for radiation.
I don’t get my implants and I recover. Then I go in for another surgery where I get my implants then recover again. Then I would get ready for radiation.
Come on A, momma needs a new pair of boobs!!!!!
Mitchell and I got to the hospital at 6 and we got all checked in and everything for my 8 am surgery! Everything was going smooth, or so they thought, but nothing can be simple with me. Apparently I have to keep everyone on their toes. “Everyone” in this example refers to our friends in charge of anesthesia. You see I have an uncle with Malignant Hyperthermia, or MH. It’s a disease that causes a fast rise in body temperature and severe muscle contractions during general anesthesia. It’s rare but it’s very, very serious so I always mention it when ever anesthesia is brought up.
I’ve done this with all my doctors and nurses throughout this process when surgery was ever brought up, so it was on my chart, but apparently it wasn’t big and bold on my chart because when I mentioned it to the nurse anesthetist he got a little wide-eyed.
My husband called my mom to try and trace down everyone in the family who had ever shown symptoms of MH, so we could assess the likelihood I was a carrier. Problem was, no one had ever undergone the same type of anesthesia I was currently signed up for. So, long story short I got sit in a pretty nerve-wracking room listening to some older woman absolutely grill her doctor for an extra hour while they thoroughly cleaned out all of the anesthesia machines in the operating room. Ultimately, all it meant was that I would have propofol administered via IV throughout my entire surgery instead of the usual propofol then gas 2-course meal they usually prescribe.
The hardest part of this whole journey so far was saying goodbye to Mitchell when they began to take me back to the O.R. For the first time all day I started having major anxiety. Mitchell prayed over us, we cried, I handed him my glasses, we said our I love you’s and then night night I went. I don’t even remember going into the O.R. I had always heard they count you down after administering the drugs and I was bound and determined to make it to 10. But I didn’t even get to 1.
My breast surgeon, Dr. Kent (OMG she is the absolute best too!!) was in charge of getting all of the devil stuff out of me. And she did her job beautifully! Unfortunately she also found some residual cancer in two lymph nodes which meant she would have to completely remove all 13 I had under my right arm. Not what any of us were going for but in the grand scheme of things not a huge set back. It was a very successful double mastectomy. And after she was finished with her part, which only took about 2 hours, it was my plastic surgeons turn...
Like I totally spoiled earlier in this post, I was able to go straight to implants, praise God!!! Only one recovery!!!! And momma got a new pair of boobs!!!! There’s a test they run in the O.R. called a SPY test and it tells them, in real time, how healthy the blood supply is to my breast. It had to be above a 60% to be able to go straight to implant, otherwise your body could reject it and that comes with its own set of complications and recoveries I wanted no part of. So again, praise Jesus, I totally passed the SPY test and everything went according to plan!
To show y’all how happy I was with this result, about an hour and a half after my surgery I woke up (don’t remember any of this) and Mitchell was allowed to come back and see me for a few minutes. The first thing I asked him was if I was able to go to implant. I said, “did I get boobies?” he said “yes, everything went awesome!” Then in true Bailey fashion, I screamed in my holding area - where like 15 other people where recovery from surgery “I GOT BOOBIES” y’all. Goodness gracious, this is why I don’t get drunk.
So yeah, that pretty much sums up surgery day, I’ll be back to let you know how this recovery is going! In the meantime, enjoy this video.
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