Breast Cancer Blog

Friday, September 21, 2012

Susan had her surgery today and everything went fine. We got to the hospital about 5AM to check in. There was some concern with a rash that we thought may have been an allergic reaction to some of her medication. The doctor checked it out and felt it was OK to do the surgery. Nobody knows what caused the rash. It could just be nerves. The delay meant her surgery did not start until 8AM. The regular surgeon was done around 10:30AM, at which time the plastic surgeon took over with the reconstruction surgery. I did not talk to the regular surgeon, but the nurse said that part of the surgery went fine.

The plastic surgeon was finished with the reconstruction around 3PM (7 hours total surgery time). He came in to talk with me shortly after. He said the surgery could not have gone any better. He was very happy with her results. It then took about 2 hours for her to wake up in the recovery room, and another hour setting her up in her regular room. I got up to her room a little before 6PM. It has a very nice view of the Mississippi River.

We don't know yet how long she will be in the hospital. The doctor came up to see her around 7PM and said everything looked good. Tonight is the most critical stage of her recovery because if anything is going to go wrong, such as a blood clot, it is supposed to happen right after surgery. The doctor said she is already past the most critical part of the recovery. The nurses will be checking her every hour to make sure the blood flow is getting to the reconstructed tissue. They also have her hooked up to sensors that monitor the blood flow.

She is in good spirits and keeps cracking jokes. Cheryl and I are planning to stay with her all night.

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