Raigmore

Tuesday
This is where I spent all day. Mike took this photo on the way back to the car after dropping me off at the entrance .
Back in October I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Having taken oestrogen blockers I was lucky that the lump shrunk to almost nothing. But today was the day I had to have a lumpectomy. I’m going to do a run down of what happened during the day so that I can remember what happened :) Do not worry you do not have to read it all lol.
5.30am - got up, showered and took my Letrozole tablet. Got dressed.
6 am - drank my last drink of water, nothing to eat or drink since 8pm last night but allowed a glass of water before 6.30 am.
6.35am - left home in the dark to travel to the hospital.
7.10 am - arrived at the hospital , waited in the carpark until 7.15 and then Mike walked me across to the main entrance.
Quick wee before going up to Ward 3C . I took the stairs, three flights as did not want to go in the lift by myself. Found the ward , yippee, quite pleased with myself for not getting lost ;)
7.30am - taken to Room 20 and my bed and chair, a nice corner space next to the window.
Was able to watch the sunrise :)
7.45am - a lovely nurse came and went through my paperwork ( something that was repeated several times during the day ) wrist band attached and blood pressure taken, yikes , over 200 and a racing pulse too ! I knew I would be high it always is even though I try to be calm so I had taken some readings over the weekend which were much lower ( thanks for the tip from the pre op nurse ) .
Measured for the lovely white stockings .
8.10am Tried to read some of my book but there was too much going on , it’s hard not to hear what’s going on in the beds around you. I tried to block it out. Mr Daltrey , my Consultant came to check things and gave me a rundown of what was happening next.I was 2nd to go down at about 10am.
8.30am - got changed into my gown, Was given an anticoagulant injection in my tummy.
The Nurse helped put my lovely white stockings on. Great tip was to put the plastic bag they came in over my foot making them slide on :) The anaesthetist came to explain what would happen when I went down for surgery.
8.45 am Was taken down to the Breast Clinic with Nurse Diane. Had a Guide Wire inserted by Dr Anderson. She was surprised how well the treatment had worked. Two massive white plasters popped across the wire to make sure it did not move, they would be moved when I was under the anaesthetic , phew ! Helped with my dressing gown and told not to move too much incase the wire moved.
On to a mammogram and then a walk back to the ward .
9.30am - The anaesthetist came to see me again. She was free as the lady who had gone down first was having a local. She tried to get a cannula in , it took a few goes but got one in eventually with a lot of hand slapping.
9.45am - The Nurse went through my notes again, decided it would be best to have my blood pressure taken again but would be best to let me settle after coming back up from the Clinic.
9.50am - They we’re ready for me, blood pressure taken and luckily it was lower so allowed to go.
Had to wait for another gentleman from another ward to go down. He was being abit cantankerous as he wanted to read his book !
9.55am- met David the other Anaesthetist. More checks, temperature etc and then the walk down the corridor to the theatre.
10am - On to the bed , had to take deep breathes of oxygen. Attached to a drip that did not drip and then told that the anaesthetic was being put in ‘ try and keep your eyes open ‘ , David took my hand, smiled and said they’ll look after me and that’s all I remember until I heard my name being called.
Not quite sure what happened next, I remember being pushed along the corridor ,seeing people and the lights above me.
Around 11.15am I was back I the ward. Desperate for a wee so asked if it was ok to get up but they said I needed abit longer so ended up with a bedpan. It was fine , I could not have held on. The nurse said ‘ do you know what colour your wee is ? ‘ it was bright blue ! Caused by the dye to track the way to the lymph nodes. Nice blue boob too. I did have a look to see how big the cut was, does not look too bad,
11.45am - Had two slices of toast and marmalade , I did not fancy an egg or tuna sandwich and a cup of hot water.
Seemed ages since I was seen again, tried to have a little sleep. All the staff were run off their feet.
Eventually sat on the edge of the bed and asked to get dressed but I still had my Cannulas in and a dressing on my arm , think they must have trouble when I was in surgery,
6.20pm - Waited until the Auxiliary returned and she took them out so I got dressed and contacted Mike.
7.20pm - yippee , release letter received so I could go home.:)

On the way through the hospital a lady asked for our help as she wanted a sandwich and cup of tea and could not see how to use the machine. That took quite a while to work out but we got there in the end.
Home by about 8.15pm and I went straight to bed :)
Glad that part is over.