Home

It is the Saturday after my surgery and I am finally home after a two night stay at the hospital. I doing well. I am still sore. I feel like I have bricks on my chest. It is very difficult to get comfortable because lying on my side is hard because of my drains. Thank goodness for pain medicines.

Thursday morning, we arrived at the hospital at 5:00 in the morning. We waited for about 30 minutes and then we were sent to the Surgery Waiting room. We waited another 30 minutes and then I was taken back to start getting ready for surgery. They gave me a Valium and that was very nice to have. I had to go down to radiology so they could inject a the radioactive dye for the Sentinal Node testing. I had to wait there for over an hour because they did not have my films from my mammogram. I was there by myself with a room full of magazines from 2007. It was freezing in that waiting room and the nurse told me that she would leave me there because it was warmer there then the room that I was going have the procedure done. She was right because when I got there, I was shivering. The dye was horrible. The injection was not the problem, it was the dye itself. It stung and made me pass out.

After that, they took me back upstairs for surgery. I got to spend a few minutes with Kevin, my parents and my brother. Daddy prayed and then they left. They knocked me out and the next thing I knew I was waking up. I seriously did not think, we had gone but they told me that I was done and everything had gone smoothly. That is such a strange feeling. One second I went to sleep and three hours later, I was awake and did not feel a thing.

They wheeled me to a room where my family was. Kevin was all smiles because there were NO LYMPH NODES involved and they felt like they got all the cancer out. That was the news that I wanted to hear. I pretty much slept the rest of the day. I know Marty, my older brother came by and I was asleep. Anita Keith and Tammy Robertson came along with my mother-in-law and I was asleep. I was given morphine through my IV line that night and sometime before morning, I started taking pain pills and was able to get out of bed to go to the bathroom.

Kevin was absolutely was the best husband in the world. He slept on the uncomfortable cot in the room beside me and everytime I need help moving. He was right there. I really can't express in words what he has done for me and how patient he has been through this whole process.

I decided, I wanted to stay one more night in the hospital till I got pain more under controlled and I was able to understand everything I needed to do to take care of myself at home. My dad came by that morning and brought Faith with him. John Derrick had gotten sick that morning so he stayed at home. I was so happy to see Faith and she seemed so relieved to see me. She was all smiles and she looked beautiful. she stayed for a little while and Kevin took her home while my dad stayed with me while I pretty much slept.

I had several visitors on Friday. Thank you to Stuart Simpson, Jamie Nicholson, Danielle Pruitt, Kolleen Mangrum, Tammy Robertson and her boys and Wayne Miller for coming by. I was still half awake but it was nice that they took time out of their day to visit.

That night Anita Keith came and stayed with me so Kevin could sleep at home in his bed. She was wonderful. She kept me up for a while (and if you know Anita, you know that she has gift for conversation) She brought me fruit and a milkshake which was good because I had no appetite all day. She slept on the hard cot next to me and helped me if I needed any help. She stayed Saturday till Kevin was able to get back. She even washed my hair for me. The nurse gave us a hair washing cap. The cap was warmed and put on my head and Anita massaged it and it washed and conditioned and rinse my hair. Although not perfect, it made my head feel a lot better.

I was able to leave about 1:00 this afternoon. It was a long sleepy ride home. The kids have been at my parents celebrating Josie's 1st birthday. They are still there. I miss them but this has given me some quiet time at home to get somewhat comfortable.

So right now, I am just uncomfortable. I was finally able to eat something so I am not hungry. The drains under my arm itch really bad and I can not take a real shower until they come out sometime next week.

I will say one last thing. Prayer is such a powerful thing. I know God answers prayers and He has answered all the prayers that were lifted on my behalf. I still cannot express in words how amazing God is. Without God, I could not have done this and I hope that I can others understand how powerful God is so can have the peace that comes from him. I still have a few more things that I will have to go through and I will have to be conscience about my body because the cancer can come back but God has answered our prayers.

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him (1 John 5:13-15)

P.S. I hope everyone will excuse my grammatical mistakes. I am just typing what I am thinking and I hope this all makes sense to you.
Thank you