The Surgery

Hi there! I am writing this from my hospital bed. Surgery on Thursday went great! It took them about 2 hours and they took out two cancers tumors, my left ovary, a large cyst on my right ovary and the omentum. Omentum is a laryer of fatty tissue that keeps your inside organs connected to each other and to the abdominal wall. One of the tumors was set in the omentum so they had to take it out! WIth the cyst on my right ovary they took part of the ovary too, but they said they left about 40% of it and that I should still be fertile with just that much. I didn't realize that you could take just part of an ovary and that it would still work. That was the brief run-down, now for a more detailed account :)

I got to the hospital around 8:40am. I was getting pretty hungry and antsy just sitting at home so we finally just left. After waiting around a bit and filling out some paperwork, they called me back. One of the nurse's aides was a girl I used to be friends with a long time ago! It was cool seeing her. They took my vitals (blood pressure, heart rate, etc) and weighed me. I gained even another 1.5 lbs since they weighed me 2 days before! I'm blaming it all on the tumors because I hadn't been eating very much. After all that I got to get dressed in my sexy hospital gown! I don't know why more people don't wear them, they really are quite stylish.

Before surgery. Still cute and happy! Not even nervous.

A bunch of different doctors, nurses and the anesthesiologist came and talked to me and prepped me. I made sure to as if I would still be able to have a six-pack after they cut me open. Got to make sure to ask the important questions! They started an IV and gave me this awesome blanket thing called a bear hugger. It was just a blow up plastic thing that they ran warm air through. Then, they wheeled me away! I wasn't able to ask the doctor to take a picture of my insides and tumors because they put a face mask on me before I got a chance.

The anesthesiologist explaining things to me.

The last picture before surgery! Lookin' pretty hot right?

About two hours later I woke up in a different room with some nurses standing around. I don't remember much except I was having a really really hard time breathing!! I kept saying, I can't breathe, I can't breathe! They tried to have me cough and finally connected me to oxygen. It was still a little frightening to feel like I couldn't get enough air. I don't remember much from the rest of the day Thursday, just bits and pieces. I know I asked the nurse what my tumors looked like and if they were squishy. I found out that they cut me open above my belly button :( I was really hoping they could keep it low. And I found out all of the stuff they had removed from me! I know I was super sweet and nice as I was coming out of anesthesia. I made it a goal to be happy and nice to everyone while I'm in the hospital, its been good so far!

I thought I was smiling a lot more but I look pretty groggy! Good thing I have monkey to keep me company.

Ever since then I've just been hanging out in the hospital bed! They made me go for a walk Thursday night which hurt like crazy! Yesterday, Friday, I got out of bed 5 or 6 times to walk around and try to pee. This morning when I woke up I felt pretty sore from yesterday! I feels like I did about 10,000 sit-ups! I had lots of visitors yesterday. So many people have been so incredibly considerate and kind to me. Thank you to everyone who has come to visit, sent me stuff and kept me in your prayers. I can definitely feel the faith of everybody that is supporting me and I really appreciate it.

I finally got to talk to a doctor this morning and ask him some more questions about future treatment. I found out that I actually have Stage 3C ovarian cancer. I will probably start chemo in about a month, give or take. When I do start chemo, they will be giving me three different kinds. I will have to stay in the hospital for 3 days at a time as I do chemo. He said it is about 3 weeks in between treatments and one of the kinds of chemo I will be getting will make me lose my hair. So it looks like I am gonna start rocking some awesome head scarfs in a while! I'm gonna be one awesome bald chick :) Also, I've been looking into getting a tattoo to cover my belly scar. I'm thinking a unicorn? My belly button can be the eye, and the scar will be the horn :) I think it will be awesome. 

So, that's the update! Remember if there are any typos or none of my words make sense that I am all drugged up :) I am pretty alert and have been walking around but I keep catching myself making silly mistakes in my typing.

Thank you again to all my family and friends. I love you guys all so much. I have loved seeing and hearing from everybody. Thank you for the support!