Goodbye Lump

Fast forward to about a month ago. The lump I had put out of my mind started to feel a bit tender and (more importantly) started to really weigh on my mind. I started with a trip back to the doctor for a re-check and suddenly he was discussing the possibility of cancer again. What? I thought that was definitively ruled out!

Off to the surgeon we went... The surgeon's office was great. She did another ultrasound and said she was pretty certain it wasn't cancerous but gave me a choice of either doing a needle biopsy that day (and likely removing the lump later anyways since it was causing pain) or scheduling surgery in the near future to have it completely removed. I opted for surgery.

Yesterday was the big day. We arrived at WakeMed in Cary at 10am, I registered, ran tests, and got into one of their cute little gowns. By 11am, I was anxious to get started but surgery wasn't for another hour. Mike and I had two major concerns - the after-effects of the sedation (some of you may recall I passed out after my wisdom teeth removal and bonked my head) and my allergies to about every antibiotic I've ever been exposed to. The hospital staff was great with our questions and really on top of everything. As feared, I was allergic to the antibiotic they gave me but they caught it quickly and stopped it. A little benadryl and all was right with the world again.

I don't remember anything about the procedure itself and woke up in Recovery. It seemed like I was there forever. During this time, the doctor spoke with Mike (I don't remember ever speaking to her but I was pretty out of it) and told him things went well and she removed a "benign cyst" - I'd have to think she was pretty certain that's what it was if she was willing to tell him this. I was then moved to the second recovery area, Mike came in to help me get dressed, and we were home again about 6 hours after we started.

I didn't have any of the issues with the anesthesia that I had with my teeth last year. And the pain has been very mild. The worst part has been not being able to sleep on my stomach. Oh, and since I'm home, I think I should be cleaning, grocery shopping, going to the gym: all things the doctor said I can't do until my follow-up appointment on 5/2. It's going to be a long 10 days!

So I just wanted to post this for some of the people that have been following me through this. I also wanted to say thanks to all the people who have been so supportive while I was losing my mind over what turned out to be a very simple procedure yesterday.

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Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference. -Virginia Satir