The week leading up to my mastectomy was filled with a variety of medical appointments – Herceptin/Perjeta infusion, patient education, sentinel lymph node mapping, and pre-surgical appointment. I was trying to wrap things up to take off 2 ½ weeks off of work as well as the last minute
My husband joined me for the patient education and pre-surgical
appointments the Fri before the Wed mastectomy.
During the patient education session, the nurse explained what to expect
during the lymph node mapping that would take place the day before surgery,
what had to be done at home the night before surgery, what to expect the day of
surgery, and how to care for drains after surgery. We received hands on training for the drain
management. Drains are used after
surgery to collect fluids as the body heals and are removed 1-4 weeks after
surgery.
The pre-surgical appointment was pretty much a physical to make sure that I was
healthy enough to go into surgery. I’d
been dealing with a persistent cough; however, everything I coughed up was
clear, so the nurse practitioner was not concerned.
The hospital’s patient portal has been helpful for me to keep track of appointments, allowing me to import appointments into my calendar. April is certainly looking like a Bingo card with pre-surgical, surgical, and post-surgical appointments. Here’s to a winning month!
