Another Long Day...

Hello from Boston! Today was another very long day...I've been poked, prodded, and tested from morning till night. Had my pre-op consults with two of the three surgeons and all my labs & scans. Fasting from all but water today for PET/CT was a little rough, but rougher still was fasting from my beloved Ibuprofen! Pain ramped up all day, until it became unbearable tonight. I'm a couple of hours into a big fat Percocet now though, so it's manageable.

Tomorrow morning I'll get the results of the PET scan - and assuming all goes as expected - get the final thumbs up for surgery Thursday at 2:30 pm. Then we're off to lunch with my cousin Cheryl (assuming this pain stays in the manageable range) and back for an early, light dinner and good night's sleep.

My fasting - no food, no water - begins at midnight Wednesday night, so it'll be a long time until I see food and drink again! First 24-36 hours or so (depending on how I do) will be spent in the Thoracic ICU. I'll have the full compliment of tubes and wires during that time and will likely be out of it for the most part. Not a bad thing at all  - I'd rather sleep through the worst of it ;). When they move me to a regular room, I'll just have an IV (no other tubes) and they will transition me to oral narcotics to get me up and moving about.

The surgery will take about 4 hours, so don't worry if you don't see an update until late Thursday night.

My surgeons are very confident - and I have complete confidence in them. They'll remove as much of my sternum as needed to get clear margins - all of it if necessary. If they remove most or all of it, the plastic surgeon may need to take tissue from my abdomen to cover the reconstructed sternum. If resection can be kept to a minimum, they will use to pectoral muscle instead (a favorable approach - so please visualize that for me!). There's also a lymph node under my collarbone and one under my 2nd and 3rd rib that need to be removed.

I'm as ready as I'm going to be...although pain may initially be worse after surgery, at least I'll know that I'm on the road to improvement once the surgery is done. They assure me that my pain will be well managed.

So...all is well! Thank you so much for the tremendous support I feel from all of you!! Keep the prayers, positive energy, and good vibes coming! Especially Thursday from 2:30 - 6;30 (and beyond!). I've been using my Prepare for Surgery hypnotherapy recording several times a day and will have the anesthesiologists read my healing statements during surgery. I will also be getting Reiki treatments while here!

I'll do my best to update you again tomorrow night - one last time before surgery. After that, my sister Gina will be posting to this blog with updates, until I'm well enough to do it myself again.

Until then...

Bliss & Blessings,
Lisa