Pre-Surgery Day 2 & a Pre-Surgery Farewell

Today was somewhat more leisurely. Linds had a call at 9, but we slept in till 8ish. She completed her call and then we were off to my first appointment of the day: a COVID test! Unfortunately, the COVID test was NOT like the last one – I had two swabs, one in each nostril. The nurse always feels bad to make you cry, but it’s kind of comical when you consider you’re breasts are getting cut off the next day. I laugh.

After the COVID test, we popped over to my surgeon consultation. The surgeon had gone to another building, so we got to spend some time with the other surgical resident and some nurses. We asked about wearing nail polish (I can), how long the surgery will take (2.5 hours, approx.), and other after-care questions. I also had an exam, and the surgeons couldn’t feel the tumor or the swollen lymph nodes.

They did another ultrasound to find the clip in my lymph node. Apparently this meant I didn’t need a “seed injection,” so I had one less procedure today. More great news. We won’t know the full extent of the chemo treatment, but we will in a few business days. 😉 So far, things look good.

Linds and I got to have a nice, long, leisurely lunch at a seafood place. Surprisingly, it was GOOD and we had fun chatting with our waiter.

After that, we ran back to get the radioactive injections. Four lidocaine shots in each breast, then more shots to inject blue dye that will light up the cancerous cells. That was pretty easy. No real pain for me. And I got to chat with another nurse, which is always fun. 😉

The COVID test came back negative, so I’m a go for surgery tomorrow. I’ll call after 8:15 tonight to get my actual check-in time, but the doc thought it’ be 6/7 tomorrow morning.

Most likely, things will go fine and I’ll wake up tomorrow after surgery with no major complications. If I don’t? I’ve lived a good life. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but I think I’m acutely aware of a lot of them. I hope you all know that I appreciate all you’ve done for me, from thoughts to showing up to chemo, there’s no way I couldn’t have gotten through all of this without so much support from my community. I hope my legacy is that living authentically is the way to be – don’t be afraid to be yourself. Diversity is what is so great about the world. Embrace it.

I’ll take all the good luck with me tomorrow. Sending lots of love to all of you.