Surgery Day and recovery

I went in for surgery at St. Marks Hospital on  Monday April 15th in the afternoon for a tumor debulking surgery for ovarian cancer. The surgery itself was 6 hours and according to my family and Dr. Zempolich, it went very well. She was able to remove the new tumor on my bowel along with a few others we have been watching over the past year and found a few new little rice specks in the mesentary of bowel which were also removed. Unfortunately because I had so much to look at, a laproscopic surgery was not able to be performed and my old vertical incision was opened back up. Due to the previous surgeries I have had, it took Dr. Zempolich 90 minutes to get through the scar tissue. She also spent an extra amount of time looking carefully through my bowel and areas where I had previously had tumors.

Since my surgery was so late in the afternoon, I didn't get out of recovery until 9 or 10 at night! My mom and dad stayed with me overnight at the hospital because I was having a difficult time breathing and coming out of the anesthesia. I remember that I would sort of wake up and say that I needed to breathe. My mom and dad took turns all night long reminding me to breathe. I stayed in the hospital until that Thursday afternoon and went to stay at my parent's house while Jeff took care of the girls at home. Easter was on Sunday and I was able to be back at home to celebrate Easter morning with Brynn and Aubrie who were so excited about the Easter Bunny coming to visit.

I felt like since I have been through this surgery it would be an easier recovery for me but each day I was home I felt like I was going downhill. I struggled with breathing due to the pain it caused, I was unable to bend or reach down to get dressed and the part I somehow forgot about was how difficult it was to sleep. I usually sleep on my stomach and could only tolerate laying on my back with knees bent all night. I don't have much appetite either and was concerned about having a BM since this was my major struggle before. The day I got home I returned to drinking green pressed juices and protein drinks and the magic happened! The pain has been difficult at times to manage since right after surgery I had a morphine pump in my back and dilauded that I feel I was constantly pushing into my body. The nurse took my IV pain meds away and straight onto Toradol only which was a mistake, since I spent the entire day trying to get pain under control. I asked Dr. Zempolich if I could stay on 2 mg Dilauded every 3-4 hrs which seemed to work great. I also took Zofran and gas x and have a whole 28 days to have the painful Lovenox injections I have to give myself to prevent blood clots.

This picture was taken the night prior to my surgery... I wanted to document before and after my surgeries.

I hated wearing oxygen and was so glad to get that off as well as have the IV taken out of my hand!

My family has been great to encourage me to walk and stay hydrated. Even the girls will ask me to go on a walk with them. I continue to feel foggy, tired, and talking in my sleep- very random things apparently.

Today (one week since surgery) is the first morning I woke up feeling somewhat ok. I am still waking up about every 30 min all night but am trying to get some normalcy back. I have felt such a peaceful feeling and a strong comfort and assurance that I will be ok and almost feel "lifted up" in my struggles right now. It is difficult to describe the peace I have felt but I know all the prayers in my behalf have helped me heal!

On the day of my discharge from the hospital Dr. Zempolich told me that the new tumor has tested as low grade cancer but it will be getting sent to Huntsman for a second opinion. The plan is to start back on Palbo/letrozole today until further genetic testing can be done.

In the meantime, it is nice not having the stress of work and just focusing on healing. It is so hard for me to just sit around at home knowing all the organization projects that I could be doing!