After taking another elevator ride I got down to shorty stay where the nurse gave me a bed and told me to change into one of the hospital gowns. She sent me to the bathroom to give a urine sample and after returning to my bed made me put on the tight compression socks that went all the way up to my knees. Boy are they tight! Then it was time for the IV. I have very small veins and it was very painful. It probably took at least five minutes for the pain to go away.
Then it was time to wait again. After waiting for approximately two hours I was taken back up to nuclear medicine for Lymphoscintigraphy (description of procedure: http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=lympho). The radiologist gave me six very painful shots around my spot. When the needle first went in my back, it wasn't too bad, but then I got this extremely painful burning sensation that actually brought tears to my eyes. (The technicians said that I was taking it very well, they had even told me that it was okay to scream, I wounder how many people actually do) After dealing with five more burning shots, although I think I was actually starting to get used to then because at the end they were as painful. i had to lay on my stomach with my neck twisted so that my head was facing to the right, with my hands resting under my head. i had to hold this position for 30 minutes without moving (the longest 30 minutes of my life) After the time was up I was allow to relax for a minute of two and then I had a few more scans done in that position. Finally it was time for a small break. After the break, I had to lay back on my stomach, with my arms above my head and my face down staring at the table; the technician put a towel under my chest, and one under my forehead so that I wouldn't end up suffocating myself. This was for a body scan that went from my head all the way down to my pelvis. After 10-15 minutes of holding this position, I got a 20 minute break. it was nice to be able to move my neck, and arms and get the feeling back into my right hand. once the break was up I had to get back into the first position for a few more images. Finally I was done, It took approximately two hours. i spent the time waiting for my ride, looking at the images over the technicians shoulder. They had a black background with my body in gray. My spot was a large white dot and the lymph node was a tinier white dot under my arm.
Finally I got back to short stay where I waited until 1:30 before I even got to talk to the anesthesiologist. I told him about my past surgeries, which were already in my chart, and told him that if at all possible I would rather have Local anesthesia rather than general. Half an hour later the OR nurse came by and gave me some drugs (and told me that my local Hallmark store was closing) and I was taken to the Operating room.
The next thing I know I was in recovery with an oxygen cannula in my nose. Guess I ended up having general anesthesia after all. The nurse asked me if I had any pain, and when I told him that my arm hurt gave me a shot of pain killers. A few minutes later I started crying, well tearing up, and the nurse kept asking me what was wrong. You got me, I have no idea. It wasn't the pain, I've had worse, must have been from the anesthesia. I spent about an hour in recovery and was finally taken back to my "room" As soon as I woke up in the recovery room, I kept telling myself to keep my eyes open. I wanted to go home! If knew that if I fell asleep they would keep me there longer.
Finally I got to leave the recovery room and got back to short stay. Almost immediately after getting back the nurse wanted to know what I wanted to drink, I got cranberry juice, and a little bit later made me eat a muffin so that I could take a pain pill. Then I got to just sit there with my mom and wait for them the let me go. At one point, my back was bleeding so bad that I wasn't sure the would even let me leave. Thankfully, the nurses just piled on the gauze (there must have been three to four inches of gauze on my back) and the tape and let me leave.
I got in the wheelchair, I wish hospitals would let me walk, and got driven all the way to the backseat of my parents car.6pm. Home at Last!!! talk about a long day.
By 1pm the next day all of the bandages were off my back. The compression socks that I was supposed to wear were off by 5am. They were so itchy!
I will have to wait awhile for the results on the lymph node biopsy. The surgeon told my parents that the preliminary results might be done by Friday (yesterday), but I still haven't heard anything.
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