Monday, May 16 - Operation Date is Set

I am shopping for my post-surgery bra and jammies at TJ Maxx when Dr. E's office calls.  The surgery is set for Friday, June 3rd at John Muir Hospital.  It will be a long day.  I have to report there at 8am but the surgery won't start until 12:30.  Dr. E's mastectomy part will be about 2 hours and Dr. WOWo's reconstructive part will take about 3 hours.  Evidently, before the surgery they will "shoot" my breast with some crazy dye and then let it travel through my body.  During the mastectomy they will remove a major lymph node under my armpit - if the dye has travelled to this lymph node that would be bad news - if there is no dye in the lymph node then we can believe that the cancer, too, has not travelled.  Obviously, that is what we are hoping for!  They said my hospital stay will depend on a few factors, but I should expect maybe three or four days.  After I get home and during my recovery, I have to give up teaching my spin classes for some time and it will unfortunately be weeks that I will be off the bike.  However, I can start walking a few weeks into the recovery.  Harun is not gonna be happy with the way things look at first - I will have drains on either side which collect fluid (gross!) for a few weeks and my new "girls" won't be perky and perfect for a few months.  Such is life.