Early in the afternoon, my doctor came around to see how things were going and give me the results of the CT scan. Unofficially. He said the preliminary results showed no extension of the tumour, there was a clear margin and looks like it has not extended to the vaginal wall. So that was a relief. The one concern was that there was an enlarged lymph node. Even someone with a very limited knowledge of all things cancer knows that lymph node involvement is bad news. But he said that the node was just one, and it wasn't an extension of the tumour, so he was confident it was related to the infection. But they would be keeping a close eye on it.
Then it was time to get rid of all the vaginal packing and my catheter. woohoo! I had just 'assumed the position' when my roommate returned from surgery. i don't know what she was doing behind the curtain, but she was dropping things, and banging things and the curtain kept moving, and i was freaking out thinking she was going to come in, and the curtain wouldn't pull all the way around, so anyone coming to my side of the room would most definitely have gotten an eyeful! So i'm freaking out, my doctor is yelling at the other patient to stop messing with the curtain, the patient is yelling back at him to f*ck off and don't tell her what to do, and then he yells at her at the top of his lungs "I HAVE MY PATIENT LYING NAKED ON THE BED, PLEASE GIVE HER SOME RESPECT!" Umm, geee thanks doc, just announce it to the world. ugh.
Getting the vaginal packing out was gross. I can't even think how to put the feeling into words. And so much. I think he put the entire hospital supply up there! Just when i thought it was done, he'd pull out another piece. gross gross gross. And then i glanced at my nurse who had this look on her face like "what the hell", i thought she was going to pass out or something. So then i was worried that something was wrong - what could she see that i couldn't? But she said there was nothing, just that she hadn't seen so much packing! I can tell you - it felt a lot more comfortable once it was all out.
Then - the reality check - he warned me the bleeding and clots would still continue for a bit because he had disturbed the cervix. And i joked "Well, that's going to get a bit embarrassing at work on monday". He just stared at me with a look of disbelief? pity? He said 'you're not going back to work. you're very sick and you need treatment. you have a long way to go before you can even think about coming back to work'. I guess I hadn't even thought that far ahead. I didn't *want* to think that far ahead. He left me to process all of this information, telling my roommate off again on his way past.
A few minutes later, my nurse reappeared and said i wasn't going to be transferred today after all, and i needed to change rooms (code for we found you a single room). So i grabbed my trusty IV pole and made my way across to the other side of the unit to our swing room. It is usually used by maternity, but surgery use it when they're busy. So I was now in my own room, away from everything. Across the hall from my office, so i had somewhere to go and hide if i needed to. and best of all - not annoying roommate!
I spent the rest of saturday hanging out with my youngest while my oldest was at work. I had noticed i had a bad headache, and finally gave in and asked for some tylenol (panadol). My nurse came back and said the doctor wanted me to have percocet instead. i'm like what? for a headache? just give me tylenol. I'm not taking more drugs after the fun and games of the night before! She then asked me how much coffee i drink - i realized i had had no coffee or coke since thursday morning. I was having caffeine withdrawals. great.
The highlight of my night - when J's friend came to take my daughter home, he brought me in a starbucks. oh my - it tasted like sweet heaven! headache gone :)
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