Just as I was starting to feel ‘normal’ and fully recovered from the last surgery, it’s time for another surgery and chemo…
The day started with a shower with the medical soap they provided for patients to use before surgical procedures. It reminded me of the day when I was showering before my mastectomy… …
We arrived Seattle Cancer Care Alliance at 8am, checked in at the lab for blood draw, then headed upstairs for the portacath placement procedure. A very nice nurse, Karen, came to greet us, making us comfortable in the pre-op area and explaining everything very carefully to us. However, the challenge came when it was time for her to prepare me for IV. My veins like to hide and were not cooperating. She poked me twice but couldn’t get in. She then put some heating pads and wrapped my arm with a few warm blankets, hoping my veins will become bigger and more prominent. She solicited help from another nurse, Barry. Barry inspected my arm for a little bit, he looked a bit puzzled and decided to put some more heating pads and warm blankets around my arm. After awhile, he finally felt a good vein and got it!
My surgeon is Dr. Hickman. He looks like he’s in his late 70’s. Everyone told me that he’s REALLY good. He’s done the portacath placement procedure thousands of times, he even invented another medical device called the Hickman. I believe I was in good hands, but couldn’t help but wondering if his hands would be shaking during the surgery coz he looks really old… … He was like a grandfather, very gently and patiently explaining the procedure to us, and taught Siang how to properly access the portacath in case we were to travel to some remote places.
There was no general anesthesia. They called it ‘conscious sedation’ instead. There was music in the operating room, a mixture of Hawaiian and elevator music, I guess that’s part of the conscious sedation. I was asked to lie down in a very awkward position, but after the sedation nurse gave me ‘half a glass of wine’, I fell asleep. I was glad I did. When I woke up, I could tell that it was towards the end of the procedure, and felt some pressure on my chest as they finished up the business. I stayed in the recovery area for about an hour and was asked to head upstairs for my first round of chemotherapy.
Before chemo starts, I was given three different kinds of pills, one was supposed to make me relaxed, the other two was supposed to help with any nausea. As one oncology nurse was pushing the Adriamycin through my portacath, another nurse was teaching me how to do self-injection. I’ll have to inject Neupogen (the white blood cell booster shot) myself every night before I go to bed. The nurse gave me a video to watch and then demonstrated in person by poking herself! Bless her heart! After watching her, it was my turn…. The needle is not that big, but poking myself is not fun at all. I hesitated, but finally did it. I guess the drug that relaxed me helped a little bit…
Afterwards, we went to a Korean restaurant for dinner, but I was so tired that I was literally dozing off at the dinner table… … For the most part, I felt ok, just really sleepy after chemo. I had to turn in early and say goodbye early to mommy who left for Taiwan that night. Thanks to Jed/Sharon/Nat/Viv who came late at night to accompany my mom to the airport.