MY CANCER STORY - Chapter Three

It's been a long time since I posted the 2nd chapter of my Cancer story.. My health was not so good.. Its deteriorating, but I know I will be back on my feet, I will not be running but will soon start flying to every corner in this world..

CHAPTER THREE - My Theatre Diary

So as I said the day started off pretty soon.. It was 6 am.. Me and my friend just woke up.. I was not supposed to drink water and that is when all of a sudden you will start feeling thirsty. I brushed my teeth, took a bath and had to wear a theater gown. I looked like a doll but wearing a theater gown without any undergarments was kind of funny on my skin. A nurse came in to check on me, she asked me to do a center partition to my hair and braid it. Oops.. my hair has always been short, I told them that it will be difficult, I will do a bun and wear a surgical cap. I did it they tied a tag to my wrist and we were waiting for the clock's arm to reach 09:00.

A nursing superintendent visited me, she saw me in the bun and told me that it would be disturbing when I lie down in supine for the surgery. She was so cute and caring, she made me sit parted my hair in half and started to braid it. She finished, made a wide smile and told me to be calm.. "Don't worry we will take care" she said and left.

In-between these cute moments, I noticed something wrong with the tag in my hand. It had my name correct, but the surgery was wrong. It stated "B/L supraclavicular lymph node biopsy", where B/L means bilateral (i.e. both sides). I got a bit nervous because the surgery is supposed to be "Right supraclavicular lymph node biopsy". I called the nurse and informed them, few minutes later a junior surgeon came up to see me. I explained him the situation, he made a few calls and confirmed me that the surgery will be only on the right side lymph node. They made a mistake in the papers and he apologized for the same.

My father got a bit tensed and started firing the junior surgeon. He posed a vital question which I felt was so true "She is in medical field so she could figure out what B/L was, if it was not her, then you would have done a wrong surgery". Yes, that was so true, being in a medical field has been both a boon and bane for me. Only because of that I knew what was going on around me and because of that I also knew the worst complications that could happen.

All these happened before 9:00am and then when the time came I was shifted to the operation theater which was in another floor. My mom and my friend accompanied me to the theater while my father stayed back. My mom's words before I entered the theater was "Don't worry papa, I am staying right here". I entered the theater, I was actually scared. I have been in operation theaters umpty number of times, watching surgeries, identifying  the humans organs, touching them, learning something about general surgery,  but now this theater seems completely different to me, it looked like a halo bubble,  that was a patient's perspective.

I saw my anesthesiologist, she looked gorgeous but I didn't tell her that instead I told her "The surgery is only on my right side not on both the sides" with a tremor in my voice. She found the fear and anxiety in me. She started comforting me and started asking questions about my career. She asked about my college and along with that she started to inject the anesthesia. I could see her inject the anesthesia through my I.V. These were the last scenes which I could remember before  the surgery.

I slept like a baby.. or to me more precise I slept like a log.. Haha.. 

When I woke up.. The surgery was already over.. It took around 40 mins (as stated by my mother afterwards). I was then shifted to the recovery room, where patients will be kept till the anesthetic  effects fade off completely . I woke up, slowly opened my eyes to see my mom and my friend, who stood there beside my bed. My mom now told "Papa the surgery is over, Don't worry everything went on well". Even in that half sleepy state, I was so relieved to hear those words. I also saw my surgeon stand beside them with a wide smile, he was wearing a mask obviously but I could see his smile through his eyes.

And then I went off to sleep again still in the recovery room, I remember waking up twice in-between. Once I was so thirsty, called the nurse and asked for water I didn't have strength to even talk, I just did a sign for water, but her reply was "You are not supposed to drink water now" and she asked me to wet my lips instead. Again I woke up for the second time, this time it was getting hot, something beside my legs was blowing hot air, I told the nurse it's hot and she asked me "Can I remove the warmer?" (a device to warm the patient in operation theaters as most of the patients start to shiver during surgery, even I did), I said yes and she removed it. After that, I didn't wake up much.

Slept for some more time, my Pulmonologist came to visit me, he asked how I felt and called my mother inside the recovery room again. I could see my mother and doctor talk. My doctor asked my mom "Do you like to be discharged today or tomorrow?". Doctor believed my mother would make the decision, but to his disbelief she looked at me for approval. 

The best thing happened next, I was in pain and was still under the influence of anesthesia but I did pick up all my strength to say "Today". My mom repeated the same to the doctor and he smiled at me saying "You are adamant".

After few minutes, I was shifted to the room. On my way, I entered the elevator, the lift man made a joke, I don't remember it completely but it was something related to the fan in the lift. I started laughing and the nurse said "The sutures are fresh, don't laugh too much it will start paining". And the next minute my mom to the lift man "Please don't make her laugh" in a funny tone. We entered the room and again I dosed off because of two reasons, one I was very tired and the other reason, I was very hungry. 

I know it sounds weird, but the worst part of surgery is that you need to be in fasting for hours together. So, in my sleep I heard a voice speaking to my mother that said I can have water and if I don't vomit, I can have juice after sometime. I woke up after hearing that, my mom gave me some water, I felt pretty good and asked my mom to get apple juice from the canteen. My mom thought I will have one glass, but I asked for a second glass of juice.😅🤣

That's how my 15 hours fasting finally ended. Then started off with my discharge procedures and billing procedures. Nothing interesting happened after that. After all the procedures, the nurse advised my post-Operative medicines. I had to return after a week for suture removal and had to wait for my biopsy reports.

To know how horrible the waiting period was, wait till I post my next chapter...