Pain Free At Last! Amen!

The pain has finally left my body, Oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes! For a whole year I have grumbled about the pain, but finally I think they have solved it. My stereo wire excision of a lesion in my right breast has taken it away. Oh! The joy and exhilaration I feel cannot be explained.  I am in pain with my breast from the operation, but that pain will in time fingers firmly crossed fade away. I can finally go to sleep without the worry.

The whole operation went really well at the hospital. Maybe I have been too harsh on the hospital. After all they are over stretched.  Before having my stereo wire put in for the operation itself. I was talking with a radiographer outside the mammogram room.  I had seen her for my last mammogram when Lyn came with me and she remembers. We discussed the calendar and how she would like one for the radiology department. She found me to be a very strong willed individual. Who wanted to make a difference in her life? It was a very humorous chat we had with other staff joining in. They were very interested in my story and had looked at my previous history. So to hear I had taken part in a calendar with seventeen other ladies with breast cancer left them gobsmacked, but not surprised.

The wire took a little longer to get in place. I being my wonderful self had a very awkward breast that was not playing ball. The pain I felt due to the repeat opening and closing of the plates was driving me mad, but the staff and surgeon who were doing the procedure were very supportive and understanding. When they finally got the mammogram image they wanted I was stood up.

Really I should of said something, but me and my impatient self said let’s get on with it. Well of cause I vomited and went to faint whilst clamped by my breast. The radiographer caught me and they released my breast quick smart. Why I keep fainting I do not know, but I was determined to get this procedure up and running. They discussed a way to alter the bed whilst keeping me flat and it worked. It was a little uncomfortable, but they were able to lay me on my side and get my breast clamped. She offered me more local anaesthetic and I waved it away. I said my breast is numb enough let’s get the wire in. All the staff loved my stubbornness to solve a very stressful situation. They kept stroking my hand and saying how brave I was. Once they had unclasped me and secured the wire we chatted a little until I had all the colour return to my pale cheeks. The wire incersion was pain free, but they kept repeating you are so brave. I would not say I am brave, but I would say I was determined to solve an issue that had plagued me for a whole year.

When I left the room Steve was there with my belongings from upstairs. He had seen the commotion that occurred and was concerned, but once he saw me laughing and joking with staff he was back to his normal relaxed self.

Steve escorted me back to the ward so I could be wheeled into theatre when ready.  Once there we had a laugh and joke with a nurse and I said he could leave.
He had been up half the night studying so he needed to catch up on sleep whilst Sophia was at school.
The wait was long and my stomach was churning with hunger. When the nurse took my sugar level it was still high from the sweet puff mince pie I hate at 10pm last night, but I can honestly say my stomach is empty of all liquid and grub now. Especially since I was trying to vomit downstairs and my stomach had nothing to vomit with.

After talking absolute nonsense with nursing staff on the ward and making them laugh. It was soon my turn to be escorted down to theatre. It is strange how you focus in on exit each time you walk down that long cold trek. The nurse chats with me to ease my nerves, but I’m OK!

In recovery it took ages for me to return back to the land of reality. My breast was still there with a neatly stitched incision well tapped up. My oncologist Miss S came to see me and reassured me all went as planned. Now it was a case of waiting to hear of the results of the tissue that was taken.

My breast actually felt different somehow. I no longer had the pain in my arm pit or the ache. It was as if the pressure had been released. I felt like jumping off my bed and going home there and then, but I was still groggy. I kept looking at my breast expecting it to return like a long lost tooth ache. Nope it had defiantly gone!
It is still only a few hours and they had packed the area well with pain relief.  Was the reply of one of the recovery staff when I mentioned it? I quietly laid there smiling at the fact the problem had finally been solve. Now I can lead a normal life without thinking about breast cancer. Yes! The results from the tissue have yet to come back, but I honestly don’t care.

It did not take long to be wheeled up onto the day release ward. The registrar came to visit me he told me in more detail what they had done. An area the size of a one pence piece had been removed right down to my breast muscle. The tissue was really dense on examination and they are holding out on results from the Histology lab. All I could say was, but the pain has gone! He said it is early days so wait and see. He was pleased I was a pain free after all this time, but their concerns are on the tissue sample that had been removed. Yes my fingers are firmly crossed for next week, but I'm just pleased to return home.

This is a link showing the wonderful Sharon Fox and the fabulous she has set up centre Plz Plz Plz order a calendar it is worth every penny. The proceeds also go to Macillian and St Giles.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xjfj6/Inside_Out_West_Midlands_10_01_2011/
http://sharonfoxcancercentre.org.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=38&osCsid=8ac78000a5a1be8c3a266dd3ca8a047f