My Partial Mastectomy
The morning of August 18th, my husband and I headed up to Yale first thing in the morning. The kids were at my mom’s so we didn’t have to worry about them, all we had to do was figure out what to listen to on the radio during the 1/2 hour car ride.
Our first stop at Yale was mammography; I know, I’d already been there, done that. But the surgery I was to have required one additional step: wire localization. Basically, the radiologist in mammography would insert a wire into my breast as a guide for my surgeon in the OR — he’d know exactly where the malignancy was and could be more precise in his surgical efforts.
Of course, I was awake for that, then had to be wheeled to the hospital OR with a wire sticking out of my body. Not very pleasant!
In the OR, I was given drugs to relax me … I was sort of asleep for the procedure but also sort of awake, and though I felt nothing, I was aware of what they were doing. I even heard the surgeon on the phone with pathology confirming that the margins looked good.
As I was coming out of that groggy place, I heard the doctor explaining the procedure to the nurse that was tending to me. I saw my husband, smiling, relieved it was over. Very little time passed and I was able to go home that day. The incision healed quickly, and though I was to baby it for a while, I hardly had any restrictions. It was nothing … kind of odd, actually. It sounded so much worse than it was.
When the pathology came back, it confirmed that I had Grade 2 DCIS but indeed, the margins looked clear, which meant I didn’t need a follow up surgery and wouldn’t require chemotherapy. It was a huge success, a huge relief. At that point, I was left with just one question: would I be starting radiation therapy before my son’s 4th birthday on September 15th or before I turned 36 on September 18th.
April 28th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Thanks for joining the discussion — but I’m not sure what your question pertains to. Am I sure about what?
January 7th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
very interesting.
i’m adding in RSS Reader