This morning I was awakened as expected by a visit from Dr. FixIt.  He confirmed that everything went well.  They were even able to fill the breast expander a little bit, so Righty is not totally flat. The big news is that the sentinel lymph node biopsy came back negative – woohoo!!!  He would like to see me in a few days, so later today his scheduler called.

I was allowed to have a “real” breakfast, and chose the oatmeal.  I got lots of visits from nurses and others, drawing some blood, helping me use the bathroom, checking my blood pressure, etc.  My blood pressure dropped quite a bit, getting down to below 100 systolic, due to the drugs and probably the bed rest.  Made me dizzy.

Later in the morning the nurse gave me my first Percocet, which totally kicked my ass.  It did a better job of eliminating the pain than the “button” did (they’d equipped me with an on-demand pain relief button), but it also did a better job of making me EVEN DIZZIER, and very sleepy, so I dozed on and off all morning.

Dr. Demo also came by to visit.  She anticipates that we’ll get the tumor pathology report by the end of the week.  She also commented that there was a LOT of breast tissue to remove and that my breasts are very large – no shit Sherlock!

I spent the morning gradually having various bits of medical equipment turned off and removed – oxygen, saline drip, leg squeezers, etc.  One of the nurses took me for a walk around the floor.  I got a chicken salad sandwich for lunch.  Shortly after that Tad arrived to take me home.  I changed into my pretty new jammies that Elisabeth had sent me!

While all this was happening, Mom, Dad, and Gus were en route to San Diego.  Their plane got diverted to the Ontario (CA) airport for a bit.  We decided to have a “race” to see who would get home first! Tad and I won, and I went immediately to sleep, in my own bed, with no wires coming out of me … For about three hours!

Everyone is here now; Gus made us a delicious salmon dinner, and now we’re relaxing on our patio, with the kids in the pool.  There were flowers waiting for me at home from my wonderful co-workers, which was very sweet of them. The pain is manageable and I think I’ll save the Percocets for when I’m ready for a nap!