6/11 Amy has been carrying a drain to capture the fluid from the mastectomy. That drain has been taken out since her daily output is less than 30CC.
This milestone allows her to stop taking antibiotics and allow her to shower once the opening for the drain heals in a couple of days. She will also start driving in a few days. although the doctor recommend in the neighborhood at first with another driver in the car for observation.
Amy will visit the plastic surgeon every week.
6/4/2008 – Dr Marcus, Amy’s Surgeon, called regarding the pathology report. The news is the best we can hope for. The lymph nodes are confirmed to be clean. The margins are clean as well. This result means Amy can avoid radiation therapy.
An oncotype test has been order to determined the type of cancer. This information to decided whether and what type of chemotherapy is needed. Hormone therapy may most likely be in the cards.
We will meet the oncologist after the oncotype results to determine the path for treatment.
5/27 – Met with Dr. Yoon whom went over the surgery and recovery. She discussed that she’ll draw the surgical lines pre-surgery. She will install the expander with saline and alloderm with drains.
Picked up Amy’s mom. She missed her connecting flight in San Francisco. The arrival was delayed 3 hours.
5/28 – Had dinner with Ya-shian and Julien.
5/29 – Ya-shian came over around 6:20 to take care of the kids.
7:00am Amy, Amy’s mom, chu-chi arrived at the hospital to register.
Amy was taken into the the pre-operation room. This was in the new outpatient wing which is greatly improved where she was monitored.
She came out for the sentinel biopsy where she was injected with a blue dye, iodine and gamma dye around 8am.
She went into the gamma machine around 11am to see how the injections have travelled.
Around 11:45 we met with Dr Yoon who drew the surgical lines. We also met the Anesthethiologist.
Dr Marcus was a bit behind for lunch.
Amy went into surgery at 12:45.
Dr Marcus came out at 2:08 announcing a successful mastectomy and a negative sentinel biopsy. The news is good so far.
Dr Yoon came out at around 3:45pm announcing the initial reconstruction was complete and amy moved to the recovery room. amy is awake and smiled. We couldn’t see Amy until 5:45 after she went into the short stay room.
The short stay room is a private room and brand new. it has a TV and restroom.
When we arrived, they just moved Amy into the room.
The nurses did very good job of moving Amy. However, they missed a few things like the foot circulator. amy noticed her foot became numb.
also, the nurse was measure blood pressure on her right arm (the affected arm). this was not recommended because it could cause lymphadema. an alert nurse informed us.
we are amazed how hard the nurse work. the shift may be more than 12 hours. most of the nurse seems reactionary because they have so much to do.
Initially Amy spent most of her time in bed and only had liquid diet. she had a low-grade fever.
the doctor recommended she used her breathing apparatus more often.
By the second day, she started having solid food for lunch. Amy was tired because she didnt have good sleep all night. The charge nurse asked Amy to walk more to avoid blood clot.
She started walking more in the morning.
Amy started getting a fever late morning.
She took a refreshing nap for a few hours. Dr Yoon was held up in traffic. She came after 5:30pm.
By then Amy was well rested and ready to leave.
Before leaving, Dr Yoon instructed us what to do prior to Monday when she will see us again to check up on Amy.
We arrived at home on 5/30 at 8. A successful surgery!
