Saturday, February 28, 2009

I have exercised the demons!

Well ladies and gentlemen, the cancer is officially out of me! As of February 26th, I am cancer free thanks to the outstanding surgical team at Northwestern hospital. So instead of boring you with the details of the surgery, I thought I'd give you some of the highlights of my experience:

1. The waiting room was packed with My mom, dad, sister, mom-in law, dad-in-law, and of course, Seth. Even though I could only have my mom and Seth in the surgery prep room, I was so grateful to have everyone out there waiting for me.
2. I had a super hot eastern Indian princess anesthesiologist. She looked just like my friend Anjali and Jasmine from Aladdin.
3. My surgeon apparently likes torture, so he ordered these crazy injections right before surgery. Seth held my hand, but seriously, worse pain ever. That was NOT a highlight, but I thought I'd get a few sympathy points for that one. :)
4. The sweet little Asian nurse lady gave me my first hit of anesthesia. WOW. That stuff is nice.
5. Dr. Bethke, my surgeon, putting his initials in marker on my breast like some sort of 80's rock star. I think Seth almost hulked out at that point.
6. Once I was in the operating room, they upped my dosage of anesthesia, I closed my eyes for what felt like one second, and when I opened them, I was being wheeled out of the operating room. One of the assistants asked me if I wanted something to drink and I replied, "A dirty martini". The crowd went wild.
7. The moment Seth and my Mom walked into the recover room was one of the best moments of my life. They told me that my lymph nodes were clear and that they removed the cancer. I burst into tears of joy. I then told my surgeon that he was freakin' awesome. Those drugs were strong, I'm telling you!
8. Seth making me re-enact "David at the Dentist" while I was coming out of anesthesia.
9. One of the nurses telling my Mom that as I was leaving surgery, I was shouting "I'm cancer free" through the hallways. Nice.
10. Coming home with my family, curling up the couch with some vicodin, and eating vegan chocolate chip cookies while my sister rubbed my head. Life is good.

I want to thank everything for all the phone calls, emails, cards and flowers! I should have the full pathology report early next week. I will keep everyone posted on my progress. Right now, I'm going back to bed!

Love you all! Erica

4 comments:

  1. Hooray, hooray, hooray! I am so happy! Now, why did the Dr put his initials on your breast like an 80's rock star...?

    ReplyDelete
  2. BOOYAH!!! GOOD NEWS!!!

    This blog had me laughing so hard. Some of my favorite parts:
    1. Anjali was basically your anesthesiologist.
    2. The Dr. initialled your boobs. He basically signed his autograph on your knockers.
    3. David at the Dentist.
    4. Your dirty martini comment post-surgery.

    ReplyDelete
  3. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a huge relief and such wonderful news!!!!! You crack me up!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ofcourse I was the Indian princess anesthesiologist! I made a quick trip from Cali to give you the good stuff!

    ReplyDelete