Surgery #2

Hey everyone!!!

Moving forward from my consult with my oncologist...

After a few sleepless nights, I had to go see my oncologist in Kingston on January 3, 2017 so she could go over what was happening and so she could make some further decisions. CANCER SUCKS. But anyways, my mom, my grandpa, and my best friend, Ashley joined me to help me through the day. Ash of course, helped me giggle and smile through out the day, with a little bit of help from my sick sense of humour as she would say ;).

My oncologist is amazing and I could not have asked for a better doctor to be going through this with. I was obviously in a bit of a blur, not knowing what to expect and also partially not understanding the journey. She explained everything so thoroughly and even drew pictures as to where the cancer was found. She held my hand and made me feel very comfortable in a not so fun situation. I literally cannot say enough good things about her. She is just so personable, funny, and exactly the type of person you would want to deal with while going through a trying time. I was told that the same incision from my first surgery would be used, it would just be longer as it is a more extensive surgery. I was told that I would be losing my right ovary, right fallopian tube, my appendix, partial omentum, lymph nodes from the lower right pelvic area, and fluids from the area.

At this point in time, we didn't really know much about what was happening since I only had the mass removed so far. It was still kind of in the unknown, and we weren't sure yet if I needed chemotherapy and radiation. However, I was prepared to do whatever I had to do if it meant being healthy. If I needed treatment, and lost my hair, a purple wig was definently happening. Up until this point in my life, I took the small things way too seriously, and the big things such as health not serious enough. Treatment and surgery both seemed like such a scary thing to me, especially if something like cancer is involved.

We moved onto chatting about the pain control, and of course I asked her if I would get morphine through the PCA pump again, in which she replied I would get something stronger! hahaha! Knew there would be some interesting times to come. I left feeling a bit nervous, but comfortable with the information that I was told.

My surgery was scheduled for Friday January 6, 2017 in Kingston and I had to be there by 8 am to have blood work done(my favourite thing ever ... lol) as well as prepping. So we went to Kingston on Thursday night, or else it would have been a very early, restless night. I was required to fast after 6 pm on the Thursday as my surgery was in the morning on Friday. I'll tell you... fasting is not fun. It's so much harder to avoid eating and drinking knowing that you aren't allowed. However, I didn't want to mess up the surgery so I of course did what I was told. (I had a hamburger as my last meal since that's all I asked for when I was on a soft diet for a while after 1st surgery).

Friday morning; surgery day, I woke up feeling very nauseous due to being nervous. I was just so scared. Surgery just scares the h-e- double hockey stick out of me. I got to the centre, and my oncologist was standing there when I walked in the door, and she said Nicole! You're here. I was just like yes... (thinking something was wrong). But the lady that was supposed to have surgery before me, couldn't go forward as she was too ill, so I was up! like right then! OMG NERVOUS! So I went to go get changed and get ready to go to the operating room.

By the way, this is the gown that I wore before and during the surgery. TALK ABOUT HOT! And I mean literally, this thing is insulated and made it pretty warm to wear, especially when nervous. But a great fashion statement anyways... hah! They let me keep my fuzzy polar bear socks on during surgery too :)

So surgery time came.. I always asked my doctors if I was going to croak on the table.. in which they respond with "oh my Nicole..." haha. My oncologist even told me her stats on life to death on the table (they were good) :D. Now obviously I didn't croak either, because I am still here lol. Anyways... the doctors and nurses are amazing, caring, and great at keeping you calm. They sit right next to you and just talk to you like a normal person on any given day, which is nice, because sometimes we forget that medical professionals are humans too and want the best for you as well. My whole surgical team knew that I had a crush on my anesthesiologist from Peterborough (embarrassing) but also created a funny conversation. My anesthesiologist in Kingston was a lady and she said "so I've heard about your anesthesiologist from peterborough and I'm sorry that I'm not looking for a partner right now but we can be friends." hahaha so funny, made me giggle and almost forget that I was having surgery. But obviously I was, and this time I tried to see how long I could stay awake before the anesthesia put me to sleep(it is impossible to stay awake longer than 5 seconds).

Surgery was about 4.5 hours long as it was more extensive and there were also some complications. I had an artery that was extremely small so my oncologist had to call another specialist in to check it out and to make sure that it was safe to move forward. My appendix also gave my oncologist a hard time. My appendix was about 5 times the size of a normal appendix and was also attached to my bowel weirdly making it difficult to remove in full. So I still have a part of my appendix as if it was removed in full, my oncologist would have had to do a bowel resection which could cause a perforated bowel and a lot more problems. I am at risk for appendicitis now, but i'll take that over extensive bowel issues. Other than those issues, my omentum, ovary, fallopian tube, and lymph nodes were removed successfully. Waking up in the recovery room, I for some reason remember thinking why do I have J cloths all over my legs? I asked my nurse and they were totally not j cloths.... haha. They were the same colour as j clothes but what they actually did was constrict then contract about every 30 seconds to reduce the chance of blood clots. Oh my, they made my legs so hot and itchy. I was in the recovery room for a couple hours before I got to my own room. My mom was waiting there when I got to my room and my nurse told me to get off the temp bed to go to my own bed and I apparently told him that I will die if I have to get up right now.. overreact much! Anyways, I did it without dying. Go me! I also told my nurse that I loved her because she was wearing monkey scrubs and I love monkeys. I feel like I definently talk a lot when I am under the influence. I remember the aftermath of this surgery, and I remember it being very unpleasant. I was so sore, tired, and just did not feel well overall. Still trying to be positive, and get through it the best I could.

I really do not remember much from this night- I probably just slept a lot.. so I'm going to leave this post here and leave the rest to the next post! Thanks for reading :)

Nic, xo :)

Message of the day: Your journey has molded you for your greater good, and it was exactly what it needed to be. Don't think that you've lost time. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now. And now is right on time.