Yay! It was Monday, March 28. My surgery day was finally here! Lisa took the day off of work, my kids' piano teacher made sure the kids got on the bus ok. I got up early, showered, removed all of my jewelry, didn't eat or drink, and we drove down to Abbott Northwestern at 8 am. Memories came flooding back to me, as the Piper Center was the same building where my perinatologist was, when I was pregnant with the boys.
The receptionist was super nice. The volunteer was super nice. They brought the patients coffee and tea in real china cups! All of the patients were in robes, not hospital gowns. I was led into the changing room and told to remove my shirt and put on... A hospital gown. Wait? Why not a robe like everyone else? I'll never know the answer to that question. Then Lisa and I got to wait in the Ladies' Waiting Room. No men allowed here! This room was special because.... It had magazines geared towards women! Wow. I'm still not sure why they had a special room for women. Its not like the patients were naked or anything.
We waited for quite some time while the radiologist examined my films. Then, I was called into a conference room to talk to her. Hmmmm. Guess what? She said. I think I can get the biopsy stereotactically. WHAT? Well, that messed everything up. I came here for surgery! I didn't eat this morning! I had researched the surgery so much I could practically do it myself! You can't go and change the plan at the last minute! And why could you get it when the other radiologist couldn't? Well, we see all of the difficult cases here. We're very good. If I can't get it right away, I promise you I'll stop and we'll get you right into surgery as planned. The thing that finally made me decide to let her try was that she said with this procedure I would have the results the next day. With surgery, it could take 2-3 days. Sold!
Suddenly, everyone was rushing around because they had to hurry in order to not miss the surgical window, if needed. I got up onto the all-too-familiar table and guess what? They localized the lesion in mere minutes! Then she injected my breast and used a suction biopsy machine to take 8 core samples. I only felt the last one, which went just beyond the numbed area. That made me jump. Then it was done! I swear the whole procedure took only 20 minutes. Oh, and one more follow-up mammogram for good measure.
Now what? Lisa had the day off work and I wasn't sedated and we were out of there by 10 am. So we had a fun little day of lunch at Panera, then clothes shopping. I usually shop at Target or Kohls, but this time we went to fancy clothing stores where the associates actually help you put an outfit together! I spent way too much money, but I got some fantastic new outfits.
I feel like the theme of the day was to be surrounded by helpful and supportive women. I need to embrace my feminine side more often!
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