April 20, 2012 Update on Mamma Morano…

April 20, 2012 Update on Mamma Morano…

Serafina Morano (my Mom) went in for her scheduled 7:45 am surgery (Mastectomy with a Sentinel Node Dissection) on April 20^th, 2012 at 6:30am at Eagle Ridge Hospital.  After much discussion, we decided that it would be better that my Dad take my Mom without an entourage (ie me and the rest of the family).  At first I felt like I was abandoning my Mom and Dad, but after the surgery and a comment that my Mom made, I realized that this was their time, not ours.

The surgery was over by about 11:00am, my Dad went to visit her.  I finally phoned my Dad to find out how it was going at about 2:30pm where he told me he did not want to disturb us and thought we could wait until the next day to see my Mom – he and my Mom were just playing their usual selfless selves.  Well I appreciated that it was an overnight affair, but Todd, the boys and I wanted to see how Mom was doing anyway.  We all went down for a short visit where we found that Mom was resting comfortably, had good color and seemed in good spirits.  She joked with the boys and the boys were their usual boisterous selves – so we left pretty quickly before we were kicked out:o)  Before I left Mom, I asked how Dad was doing and she said in a simple and loving way that “Dad was sad this morning and said that it will not be the same” – simple but heartfelt from a man that does not often express his feelings and emotions.  I am glad that they finally had a “moment” before the surgery.

Now Mom and I both have “dangling PARTiciples” and both on the right side:o)  This is not something every mother and daughter have in common and I don’t highly recommend it:o(

By the next day, Mom was discharged from the hospital in what seemed to be in good shape at about noon and was home shortly afterwards. 

One of the things that my Mom was most concerned about was nausea and vomiting from the anesthetic – she has had negative reactions to anesthetic from previous surgeries.  Although all seemed have been going well in this department, I learned after she got home that she had been sick at the hospital and then again on the drive home (Dad had to take care of the mess on his own and Mom felt bad about making the mess – Mom is a complete neat fanatic, so you can imagine how frustrated she was that she made the mess and couldn’t help to clean up…).  The hospital staff had given Mom some anti-nausea medication intravenously before she was discharge believing that it would be enough to treat the nausea, but it obviously did not do the full trick on the drive home.  She seemed better later in the day and took some Gravol to further help with the nausea.  The next day (Sunday) the nausea still did not disappear and her drain tube was also plugging up.

With these two things coming together, Mom was not in any shape to be taken to the Nursing clinic where we had previously made an appointment for a post-surgical visit.  After some discussion with the Nursing clinic (don’t get me started on the so-called Home Nursing Clinic policy, budget and scheduling this go around….it seems that the provincial budget does not cover coming to the home under the Home Nursing program like they did for me – does not seem fair given my Mom’s age vs my age.. very frustrating), they finally agreed to come and visit Mom at home instead of having Mom go to the clinic.  Once the nurse came (Sue – also a nice nurse from my past), the drain tube seemed be working out better and Mom had better instructions on how to manage the nausea, constipation and pain (all interdependent at this stage).  So it looked like we were on the right track again. 

On Monday, the nausea seemed have subsided, but Mom felt some pain and swelling close to the entry point for the drain tube.  After trying to get the fluids in the tube flow better, we decided to call the Nursing clinic to have a Nurse look at the situation.  Again after some discussion, they were able to fit Mom in that afternoon.  Dad drove us to the clinic and Sandy (one of the kind and competent nurses that helped me out during my infection adventure) changed the surgical dressing and worked on the de-clogging the drain tube again.  Over the next day things seemed to be on track yet again.

It is now Wednesday – about 5 days post surgery.  Mom is looking better, eating well, staying hydrated, has not had any fevers or sign of infection and the drain tube seems to be under control.  Things seem to be coming along well with the initial bumps in the road managed on time to avoid larger problems.

I am positive Mom will heal well and I am optimistic that she will not need to have chemo or radiation.

We will have to wait until May 2^nd when she sees her surgeon again to get the pathology results to really know what will come next.

Let’s all pool our positive thoughts and prayers together and hope that this is the worst of it for my Mom…..