11 Days Until Surgery

As of today, Mom has 11 days until surgery. She is very anxious about it, to say the least. Her last chemo treatment went well. She & Dad bought May's Donuts for the girls at Dr. Simon's office that day. On Saturday the 11th, Dad & I had run to the grocery store for a few things and when we got home, I gave Mom a hug and she was burning up. I insisted she take her temperature and it was 101.4, which is not a good thing for a chemo patient. I immediately called the Dr. They advised me to take her to the emergency room. Mom did not want to hear of it. She started crying and saying she wouldn't go. No way no how. I called my brother in Florida to talk to her and help coax her into going. She absolutely hates Jameson Hospital, so I told her I would take her to any hospital she wanted to go to, but she was GOING! Well, we ended up riding to Jameson "just to see if they were buys" as Mom put it. There were only a few cars there, so we ended up going in. They took her right away and when they found out she was a cancer patient who had just had chemo earlier in the week treated her like gold. Too bad you have to have cancer for them to treat you that good!

They put her into a room by herself to avoid germs as much as possible. Dr. Gero came in and examined her. He orderd a chest x-ray, bloodwork and a urine sample. Her chest x-ray was good, her blood work was good, but she ended up having a urinary tract infection. They gave her a prescription for Cipro and gave her the 1st dose before we left. Dr. Gero is by far the most genuine, caring doctor I have met in that emergency room. He took such wonderful care of Mom, and explained everything to us in detail. Plus, I had him on my side, as I got him to tell her that she was right to listen to me and go to the ER. he told us if we had waited until the next day, she probably would have been admitted, as the infection would have been that much worse and her blood counts would have been affected.

I exclaimed a great big "I TOLD YOU SO" to Mom. I loved it, as I heard that so many times as a child. ha ha

One thing about my mama is that she has maintained her sense of humor throughout this whole ordeal. Let's hope that continues when it is time for surgery.

She is scheduled for November 4th, but we won't know what time until Monday Nov. 3rd. I will have that entire week of work, so that I can help take care of her. She will come home with 2 drains that we will have to empty and measure. She will also have to have sponge baths, as she won't be able to get her incisions wet. We watched an online movie describing the procedure. She cried after watching it. Losing a breast is a very difficult thing for a woman to experience. I don't care what age you are, it is a traumatic event. She is NOT looking forward to it.

We were looking at fake boobs in magazines the other night..........I was trying to make her laugh, as some come with nipples and some don't. She said she wants the "Cadillac" of fake boobs!

First we will get through her surgery; then we will search high and low for a "cadillac boob". Only the best for my mom. :)

Still don't know if my brother is coming up from Florida for the surgery or not. Britt will be coming up from Pitt to Cranberry, so it will be Dad, Britt & I at least. WE are going to load Dad up with crossword puzzles that day while Mom is in surgery. It can be anywhere from 2 hours +. Hopefully it will be the shorter of the time frames.

Thank you again for the prayers. Mom appreciates it more than you know. We love all of you.

Maureen