August 6, 2010

I got my port out today. so exciting! We got to the hospital at 7:30am and got checked in right away. We went up to the angio floor and changed into a gown and booties. I had my vitals taken and the nurse poked my finger to check my bloods clotting abilities. No IV's, no blood work and no saline. Chris and the girls headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast and i got wheeled down to the surgical room. The nurse let chris and the girls see the surgical room, normally they aren't allowed but it's our last visit to angio, thought it would be cool to see where i go.
The smell of bacon filled the surgical room. It was driving me crazy. finally a nurse walked out and i said, "smells like bacon". she smiled and said one of the nurses was eating breakfast. No kidding.
Nurse monica got me prepped for the procedure. She put a drape over me and cleaned me off with the blue soap. Then the surgeon comes in and tells me what he is going to do and how long it will take.
Nurse Shelley asks me for my name and birthdate and she notices my birthday is in a week. "Its' almost your birthday, what are you going to do?" I told her i was going to go to a concert and then maybe have some cake or go fishing. Hey im not going to complain, I'm freaking alive i think thats what i should have said, I'm going to spend my birthday alive, how about that miss nurse!? Anyway, come to find out my surgeon has the same bday so we chatted about that while he injected the lidocaine in to my skin and muscle. It pinches a little bit but it numbs up real quick. I lay there on the bed talking with the doc while he is cutting and digging at my port. I really want to see but the drape keeps me from seeing anything. I tell him to tell me what he is doing, which i don't think he wants to do, he would rather keep up the chat we are having about something completely different.
I repeatedly tell him that i want to keep the port and for the nurses not to throw it away. I got my request. Doc sewed me up and took off the drape then he gave me my port, all cleaned off of course. So happy to have that thing out of my body. Can't wait to get back to lifting weights and doing more intense activities.
I think that wraps up my journey with cancer, except for the bills that keep coming. Once again i will mention, cancer is a business, yes it is a disease that take people to hell and back or just plan take them, but it is a business. My bills so far are well over $125,000. I could have most of our house paid off with that money. We are so blessed to have health insurance and only have to pay a fraction of that amount. Still this disease has people claiming bankruptcy and spending all of the money to pay to stay alive. I could keep complaining but i will stop there.
I am so grateful for my life, my sweet husband and my beautiful girls. Life isn't that bad, just seems like it is because we look at the negative to often than the positive. I have found myself choosing the positive side lately, it makes you feel so much better, especially if you can make another person happy.