2nd visit with Dr. "M"

I went for my second visit to see Dr. "M" today. He said everything has healed really well and I can go back to tennis as I feel like it. Yippee!! His receptionist has made me an appointment to see Dr. "B" my Radiologist/Oncologist for a consultation.

How much more?

Beth found out terrible news today. Not only does she have MS, now she has epilepsy! Probably a seizure was the cause of her wreck. By law, she can't drive for 6 months after being diagnosed. How much more can she take? I hate all this for her. I wish we lived closer......

Montgomery

Beth looked so sad this morning when she got up...so swollen. I drove her to Montgomery where Mark met us at The Cracker Barrel. She still isn't sure exactly what happened. She needs to get back to Nashville so she can see her doctors.

A scary phone call

We had plans to go out to dinner with Rudy and Sharon tonight. Beth's trip here was delayed so instead of arriving yesterday, she was supposed to arrive tonight right around the time we would be leaving for dinner. She was just going to chill out until we got home. While getting dressed, the phone rang. I just knew it was Beth telling me she was crossing the bridge. Instead I heard her screaming about being in a wreck and that she was being air-flighted to Pensacola. Scared me to death!

George and I canceled plans...packed an overnight bag in case we were stuck in Pensacola...and drove quickly to the hospital.

Beth was covered in blood and was in lots of pain when we arrived. Her nose was full of dried blood and they were just wheeling her back to the room when we arrived after x-rays. It turned out she was okay...just badly bruised and cut in several places.
Beth couldn't remember what had happened. We know another car was involved. She was released and we took her home with us. Amazing they would release her just hours after being flown in. Her entire face was so swollen.

I still tire easily and it was a long day. I slept most of the way home.

I'll check on her during the night. I've offered to drive her to Montgomery so Mark won't have to drive all the way here to pick her up.

Our Anniversary

Wow....28 Years! Seems like we've been married forever sometimes and other times it seems so fresh and new. That's nice!

George and I went out to dinner at one of my favorites - Beachwalk Cafe. Soooooo good!

I still tire easily, but it felt good to get dressed up and go out for the night.

My friends are the best!

Bree with "Hershey"
Jo, Jeanette, Carol and me - friends on and off the tennis court.
Carol, Jeanete with Hershey, Jo and Bree.

Today my friends Jo, Carol and Jeanette had Bree and I over to Jo's house for lunch. They all wanted to meet Bree and they even let Bree bring Hershey. We had a wonderful time! Yummy food too! I was tired by the time we got home, but very happy.

My best day so far!

Today was the best so far. We all got out today and did a few errands and went to lunch at The Back Porch. My strength is coming back! Still sore, but so much better. Mom and Sherry plan to head home tomorrow. I'm so lucky and blessed to have those two! I love them so much.

First visit to the Surgeon after surgery

George, Bree and I went for my first visit to see Dr. "M" after surgery. I was kinda nervous to hear what he had to say. I knew what I was told after surgery, but I had not talked to Dr. "M" myself. I needed/wanted to hear from him that all was well.

His nurse, Marlene, who is the BEST, was so sweet. She removed my bandages and I was absolutely amazed at how well my incisions looked. WOW! When Dr. "M" came in, I told him " it looks like you've done this before!". He said "once or twice" while smiling a big old smile. His eyes sparkled the whole time I was there and he was explaining everything. I could tell he was pleased with the surgery, my prognosis, etc. and I'm sure he sees lots of bad cases and mine was so good. All good news! I'm a very lucky girl!

When I started to leave, I told him I needed a hug and threw my arms around him. I think I surprised him more than myself.

Determined to go to church

I was determined to go to church, although I know everyone else thought I shouldn't. I just needed to. My prayers have been answered and I needed the "feel" of my church. I was uncomfortable wearing clothes...my underarm is still sooooo sore, but I'm so glad we went.

Back home, I was glad to get back into my gown and spent the rest of the day on the couch.

Sad again around 5PM - wonder why?

A YUCKY DAY

Today was the worse so far. I just couldn't get comfortable. I felt down...seems to start around 5:00 or 5:30. I had a little crying jag so I had Bree call her Pharmacist friend to ask if I could take a Xanex along with the Tylenol Extra Strength. Yep...so I did and it helped. Ambien helped me sleep too.

Ice Packs Galore

Bree and "Hershey"!

I just could not sleep last night...maybe got two hours max! George found me in the tub at 5:30 in the morning. No pain...kinda upbeat really, but tired.

Mom and Sherry got here before breakfast. I decided to get off the pain meds since my heart was just racing away. I starting taking Tylenol Extra Strength. We did the ice packs every 20 minutes like clock work. I tried to rest, but I was still wired for hours.

Bree arrived right after lunch and it was great having her here. Another nurse! I was anxious to tell her all about everything, but I suddenly felt like my balloon had been deflated. She brought her new puppy "Hershey" with her. Oh my, what a cutie pie! A bundle of energy too. It was fun watching him run and jump everywhere. Made me tired though just to watch him. Bree and George took him to Baytowne to exercise and I slept off and on the rest of the day.

Around 5PM, I started feeling very blue...tears would spring up easily. Just felt sad.

At bedtime, I decided to try taking the Ambien again...didn't want another night of walking the floor.

Surgery

5:00 AM came quickly. I wanted to take a shower and wash my hair DEFINITELY since I had no idea when I would be able to do it again myself any time soon. I went to the hospital in full makeup and my hair freshly done. Just another day, right? Wrong, but I felt better knowing I at least looked like myself.

Here's a good example of how our God works: yesterday George went by the new house to check on things and found a note from my new friend, Karen. We met her a few weeks ago walking her dog and stopped to talk. We learned she had recently divorced and moved here from Pensacola and really didn't know alot of people. But, we found she attended our church. Anyway, her note gave us all her info....phone numbers, e-mail, etc. George gave her a call and told her about my surgery. She didn't tell him, but she hung up and called her friend, Lynn, who is a nurse anesthetist and asked her to look out for me. What a blessing!

Anyway, George and I are sitting in the waiting area. He's reading a book - yep, kinda made me mad/hurt my feelings since he was just acting like it was another day and I was getting kinda nervous and cold (why are hospital soooooo darn cold!). I guess I wanted him to hold my hand and tell me not to worry, everything would be just great, etc., etc. No such luck today. Out walks Lynn in her green scrubs and green hat and tells me she's going to take good care of me. It turns out she didn't have me scheduled as her patient, but she swapped with another nurse. Wow...talk about personal service. Another angel God placed in my path!

She takes me back to a room and I was told to change into my hospital gown and booties. I had to take off all my clothes, but here's the kicker...they never told me to remove my earrings...no panties, but you can wear your earrings??? (later, right before surgery, they finally did though) Lynn came back and did my IV so gently I barely felt a thing. She also gave me a little bit of "happy juice" (not enough though in my opinion) before I had to go see the Radiologist for the procedure before surgery which I was dreading terribly. The biospy was enough for me to not want another needle in the breast without being out like a light. They call this a "wire localization"...I call it being harpooned. The Radiologist puts a needle into the breast using ultrasound to guide him, pointing it at the lesion. Then they pass a wire with a hook on the end through the needle and then position the hook so the end of the wire is on the site of the lesion. The wire is left in the breast until surgery. The surgeon can then find the lesion...mine was very small...the size of a BB. Not a fun procedure, but I knew it was going to happen. What I didn't know was that they were also going to stick me 4 more times. FOUR powerful bee stings in the breast. The Radiologist injects a blue dye which spreads to the lymph nodes. He also injected a radioactive tracer. This helps the dSurgeon find the sentinel lymph node...the stereo geiger counter tells him where to make the incision. Once the incision has been made, they can then see the blue lymph vessel leading to the lymph node and track it. I was happy when all this was over...very! The Radiologist went out to tell George it was over and he told him it was a true miracle they ever found my lesion on the mammogram since it was so tiny and so hard to find. I was then wheeled into another room where I was placed on a table with a machine that followed the dye and radioactive tracer and took pictures/x-rays, etc. Kinda weird having to have both arms raised over my head with one breast full of "stuff" and the other hand having the IV attached. This took FOREVER (or so it seemed to me).

Afterwards, Lynn wheeled me through the waiting area so I could see the family before getting me settled back in bed to get ready for surgery. Mom and Sherry and George got to come in for a quick visit and then Karen, Kim and Theresa came in. Hugs and kisses and then off to surgery.

I woke up feeling like I couldn't breath for a second and my throat hurt. Another thing I didn't know about...dummy me...the tube down the throat during surgery. Anyway, once I was awake enough, sucking on crushed ice helped. I actually felt pretty good....still numb though. My recovery nurse was a hoot...very talkative, very helpful, lots of fun. My sisters came in with flowers and a sweet card and visited for awhile but I shooed them away as soon as I could since I knew they had to get back on the road. All three had to be at work tomorrow. Mom and Sherry were staying...my personal nurses! I'm so lucky. I learned the really wonderful news - no lymph node involvement and the Surgeon was able to get good clear margins all around the lesion. Yippee and praise GOD! Prayers were heard and answered!

I was hungry so we stopped at Chick Filet on the way home. The pain pills were great...no pain and I felt incredible...talkative too. Mom and Sherry aka nurses, hovered ever ready to help, but I felt pretty darn good. Ice packs every 20 minutes.

The first time I went to the potty, I had a surprise. I stood up to flush the toilet and was shocked when I saw the water was VERY blue. Looked like Mama Smurf and the entire Smurf family had been in for a potty break and no one flushed! It took a few seconds for me to realize it was because of the blue dye they had injected before surgery. Whew! Kinda funny. Actually turned out to be fun to see what color it would be each time I had to "go". Each time, the color was slightly lighter.

I had bandages on both incisions, but I was pretty "blue" around the edges. I thought it was brusing, but it turned out that was the dye too.

I rested (in between ice packs every 20 minutes), BUT, I could NOT sleep. I probably got two hours the whole night. I layed on the couch watching TV but could not sleep no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to take one of the Ambien I was given before surgery, but I wasn't sure I could take it with the pain medicine. A long night!

The Day Before Surgery

Mom and Sherry arrived today around lunchtime. We had a nice afternoon. We went to our favorite pizza place for dinner for my "last supper" before surgery. I can't have anything to eat or drink after 9 PM. My three sweet sisters drove down together to be here for the surgery too. They didn't arrive until almost bedtime so we only had an hour or so to talk, but it helped to know all five of them would be there with me tomorrow. I'm so touched they all wanted to come. I can't express adequately how much it means to me for them all to be here. Bree has finals so won't be here until the 9th. She feels bad, but I told her to wait. I'll need her more after surgery than before and she needs to finish her test.

Gotta be at the hospital at 6:30 AM tomorrow...YUK!

Fun on the beach

The water was a little cool, but they didn't seem to mind. Angela and I had fun too!

A Day of Play

A fun day...first lunch and the playground and then at the park in Sandestin. The kids even rolled up their pants and got in the water...too cool to me!

Ice Cream - A family tradition!

Angela and the kids arrived today for a long weekend visit. I love the fact that she will do this all by herself...a six hour trip minimum...with three little ones just to see us! Wow!

We did our usual...pizza for dinner, then ice cream...a tradition Granddad started years ago and the kids NEVER forget. Who needs ice cream...I could eat them all with a spoon!