Surgery: The Sequel

Wednesday morning I went for surgery to have a port installed in my right side upper chest. It was a familiar trip back to Mt Sinai Manhattan, and I even wound up in the same operating room and recovery room as my last visit. I think I freaked some of the nurses out by remembering their names and saying hello!

I only had local anesthesia and was awake for most of the procedure; however, I couldn't really feel much. All I felt was pressure on the area being worked on. I had a blue sheet over my face so that I couldn't see anything either. With the drugs, I didn't so much care about seeing anything or wondering what was behind all that pressure. I just kind of laid there drifting in and out of sleep. I did, however, feel the last few sutures as they went in. I started to moan out "ow" and the doctor told me he was just suturing me up and almost done. Most people would freak out... I was so drugged that I was just like "oh, cool. ok! take your time"

Recovery at the hospital was a lot easier than the previous time. I was quickly awake and full of energy and got frustrated that they made me wait before I could have my apple juice and crackers (I hadn't eaten all day and it was 12pm by now!). As I sat waiting in recovery, I couldn't help but think how lucky I was compared to the people around me. The person on my left had recently had his appendix out, but the pain had continued. It turned out that he actually had stomach cancer. The guy on the right of me was 84, but in amazing condition. He had a tumor on his bladder and after several extensive procedures, he was up beat and telling dirty jokes to the doctors. I really felt inspired by his positive outlook at such an old age despite such a list of serious procedures he'd just undergone. And across from me was an 11 week old baby with her mother. She didn't cry for the first 30 minutes, but oh boy, then she must have woken up! Looking around at the situations around me, I felt fortunate that I ONLY had a very manageable form of cancer and was young enough and in good enough health to handle it. I hope all 3 of my fellow patients recover well!

I didn't feel as busted as after my last surgery, but still spent most of the afternoon resting. I wanted comfort food that night, so I had the idea that my Dad could make a boxed chow mein kit from Fall River (nothing better than that!). Unfortunately, the concept of going to the store and buying ground chicken, an onion, and a celery, was a little too foreign for him! So I enlisted my friend Matthew to join us for dinner and supervise (ie. take over) the preparation. Matthew did a great job at preparing the Southeastern Massachusetts delicacy, and it was JUST what I needed. Of course, I'd popped 2 percosets by this point and was VERY loopy. I kept mixing up the order of all my words and was even moving furniture around until my father stopped me! So I'm sure I would have eaten anything given how drugged up/happy I was.

2 days later, now that I've removed the bandages, I'm upset that the port doesn't look as sci-fi as I was hoping. To be honest, I can't even locate it under the steri-strips that are still on there. How am I supposed to upload new skills ala The Matrix or connect with nature ala Avatar if I can't even find my port!? Oh well, I'm sure the doctor will know what to look for.

I'm off to the oncologist for my first round of chemotherapy. Finally the recovery portion of this journey begins! I'll write an update on that as soon as I'm feeling up to it. Until then, thanks again for all the support and prayers. I may not answer everyone's message (it would take me DAYS), but I certainly read and appreciate them all.

Oh, and if you're looking for ways to help out, my friend David is running the Miami Marathon on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He was training and running long before my diagnosis, and my journey has renewed his commitment to running. Just the other day, he wrote me that my bone marrow biopsy blog entry inspired him to get off the couch and run that 5 mile training race he was supposed to do. If you want to help his fundraising efforts for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, you can donate via his webpage: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/miami10/dtracyqhgp