As we are living day by day and getting through a whole
array of “cancer curing” procedures in a slowly manner, Mark and I can check
one more thing off the list: the operation. On June 3
rd – a week
earlier than initially scheduled (thank you, Dr. Carter for understanding our
situation) – we drove back into Boston and endured the two hour traffic jam
once again. This time, our destination was Brigham and Women’s Faulkner
hospital, a good mile “down the road” from Dana Farber. Even though the
operation wasn’t until 1pm, we had to be there for pre-op arrangements at 10am.
The sun was shining brightly, while we spent all day in an icy cold sterile
environment. Of course, this was the least of our worries.
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| What's wrong with this picture? |
After the mandatory paperwork was filled out, we waited. At
11am, I joined Mark to the nuclear medicine department. He was pretty excited
about this part… A doctor injected him with a radioactive material, which was
supposed to flow into the sentinel lymph node(s). This would enable the surgeon
to find the right node(s) with a Geiger counter, before removing it/them for
another biopsy. It is the only way to find out whether the cancer has
metastasized (spread); the fluid would “follow” the same path the cancer cells would follow. Precautions
were taken and while a radiation technician assisted the doctor, I watched the
clear material being injected into my husband, who was reprimanded for trying
to help hold the blood stopping gauze down on his chest. “Don’t touch this stuff
with your hands!” Hmmm. I guess it is only safe to have radioactivity inside oneself? At least Mark didn’t
seem to be glowing! Of course, it was not dark enough to really tell…
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| After the radioactive injection |
More waiting followed and around noon, Mark went into the
pre-surgical area to be hooked on an IV. I joined him later and together we
waited for a couple of hours more. The surgeon was running late, but we didn’t
mind. We were happy the procedure would take place that day and did not want
her to rush on anyone. Around 3pm, I left Mark in the good hands of nurses,
anesthesiologists, and Dr. Carter. She found me an hour later and reported that
everything went fine. The operation had been a success and one lymph node (as
opposed to two) was removed for further investigation. It took “dopey” Mark a
little while to wake up (apparently, he is a “light weight” :-)), before we got
into the car for the slow ride back to Newburyport, where we arrived twelve hours after
leaving. Now, he is slowly recovering without too much pain and discomfort, and
we are waiting for the lymph node report.
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| Nuclear Medicine Department |
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| Filling out yet another consent form |
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| Really?? |
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| "I am radioactive" sticker - a piece of memorabilia |
