Surgery in a Snowstorm

As I told you in the last post, surgery had to be done on Wednesday (Feb. 10th), as Dr. Morrissey was going to Canada for vacation the next day.  If my wound wasn’t closed, I couldn’t get chemo, & that’s extremely important right now.  I need to get back into that regimen, no matter how much I hate Neulasta!

The snow started Tuesday night, & we sat watching it with more than a little trepidation.  However, it was very light, & it seemed harmless enough.  The next morning, however, the world had turned into a winter wonderland.  The busy street we live on had been plowed, but it was still a strip of blinding white.  A big ol’ deserted strip of neon white that we could have landed a plane on without benefit of lights.  At times, it snowed so hard you could barely see the street at all.  I can’t tell you how much I wanted to stay home & watch it with the kids.

My surgery was scheduled for 3:30 pm, but I was sure that someone would cancel.  At least, I’d HOPED someone would cancel, so that my surgery time would be moved up.  That way, we’d have a shot at driving home before it got dark.

I called the hospital, but to my surprise found that everyone was reporting for surgery at their appointed times.  I was dumbfounded.  We’d tried EVERYTHING to move the date & time.  And I mean everything – including asking if Dr. Quiros (hi, Dr. Quiros & Charity!) would do it for me.  Sadly, surgeons don’t like to close other surgeons’ patients unless they absolutely have to.  I could have made an argument for “absolutely had to”, but, I decided to suck it up.

So, at 11:00 am, Matt declared that it was time to drive up.  He figured he’d rather be sitting in the hospital, safe & sound, waiting for surgery than waiting until closer to the appointed time, thus allowing for further snow build up, & possibly ending with the two of us in a ditch.  I couldn’t fault him for that, but, still, I wanted to buy as much time at home as humanly possible.

I was getting my things together, when the kids & Matt began adding “layers” to me.  They said things like, “Mom, you have to stay warm”.  By the time they had me stuffed, wrapped, & bundled, I felt like Ralphie’s little brother, Randy, complete with arms sticking straight out at my sides.  But, if we ended up in a ditch, I would be warm for the rest of the winter.  Hibernation would be a breeze.

We decided to take Aubrie’s jeep, because it has 4 wheel drive.  Bonus for me, it was easier to get into than my little car.  I don’t think any amount of stuffing me into “Zippy Car” would have worked; short of using a sausage extruder. 

I’m really glad we took the jeep, though, for more reasons than ease of entry.  We passed people on hills, because they couldn’t get enough traction.  Normally, we would have stopped to help, but Matt had one thing on his mind – get me to surgery.

The crazy thing is, we made it to the hospital in one hour.  This is particularly amazing when you take into account that it takes us between 40 – 45 minutes on a good day!  However, I didn’t get taken to surgery until 4:45 – a full hour past time.  I guess a lot of people had serious surgery that needed to be done.  Of course, not as important as MINE & how dare they intrude on my surgery time!  Ok, I didn’t really think that - for very long.

Surgery went as well as could be expected.  Dr. Morrissey had a hard time closing me up, though, as the infection had done some damage to my skin.  He told me that the incision area wasn’t pretty, which I found funny.  I mean, really?  It wasn’t pretty to begin with, Doctor!  But, he promises to make it all better & I believe him.  Right now, though, I just want to be pronounced cancer free.  THEN, we’ll discuss boobage.  Major, major boobage.

The staff wanted to keep me overnight for two reasons.  They wanted to be sure that my pain was managed & that I was comfortable.  Translation – they could give me shots through my IV of some pretty excellent medications.  The secondary reason was due to the snow.

I, however, preferred going home.  And, since Matt was up for it, I was ready to go.  Apparently, every bed in the hospital was taken, so the fact that they made room for me was very sweet.  Unfortunately, I’d had my fill of hospitals for a while.  I didn’t care if I would have received better pain management there – I wanted to be home with my kid types.  Pain will pass; hopefully soon, though.  I’m still having pain, but it’s getting better. 

It was a pain in the butt – big time – to interrupt chemo & have yet another surgery.  But I met some wonderful people.  Besides, like I always tell the kids, everything happens for a reason.  It may be an annoying reason, but still . . . . 

On the bright side, at least I didn’t shoot my eye out.