I had my (second) pre-op appointment this morning, and OH! What fun! (<—sarcasm). I got there early, the PA was running late, the nurse was really running late. The PA kind of freaked me out with all of his looking me directly in the eyes stuff and not blinking, but he went through my consent form, gave me a ‘physical’ (hey, turns out I’m breathing AND I have a pulse!).  Then the nurse came in and I thought she was going to be able to answer my forty gazillion questions like the nurse I had last time. Um, that would be a NO. Other than teaching me how to take care of my tube and collection bulb* (gag), she was pretty much useless.

*Did I tell you that after this surgery I have to leave with a drainage tube sticking out of me that I have to empty 3x a day? And that I have to ‘strip’ the tube and clean around the insertion point as well? GUH-ROSSS!! And did I mention that the tube stays in until I have less than 30cc of fluid for 2 days in a row? Yeah.

Mike and I have a lot of questions that we want actual, exact answers to.  Here is a sample (and in italics and parentheses, the answers we’ve been given).

1. How long will I have the drainage tube in? (*1-3 weeks.  * about 2 weeks  *about 3 weeks  *no longer than 4 weeks. *It varies.)
2. How long until I’m able to be up and around? (*Flat on your back for 2 weeks, except bathroom. *On your back for one week, up limited in week two, good to go by 3 weeks out. *Up using crutches after 2 weeks, no driving until tube out. *It varies.)
3. Will I be admitted to the hospital (and) Is this out-patient or an overnight stay? (*You’ll be in for 23 hrs, not technically admitted, just under observation. *You’ll stay for a few hours after surgery.  *You may or may not be there overnight. *How long you’re here depends on how your recovery progresses. *It varies.)
4. How big will the incision be? (*8-10 inches. – Huh, that’s the only one we got!)
5. When will I start my interferon treatments? (*Once you meet with the medical oncologist. *1.5 weeks after the tube comes out. *after we receive your node pathology results)

Did anyone else notice that there are no actual answers?!  I seek comfort in schedules; I NEED to know what is going on and WHEN.

Not to mention, Mike is trying to schedule time off from work to take care of me and the boys, but there’s no reason for him to take 8 weeks in a row off if he needs to be home for 4 and then not need to be home for a couple weeks and then back off again!!

I’m having my stitches out on Wednesday – maybe the melanoma clinic nurses can give me some better answers and perhaps, if I’m lucky, they can get me scheduled for the med. onc. before I leave!