BIOPSY DONE

Dave was taken to the OR at 2:10 and I was told it would be about an hour until he would be in Recovery, then another hour until he's ready to go.  Well, 3 hours later I asked for an update and was told he was still in surgery!  Finally at 5:40 I was told he was in Recovery and I could see him.  A little concerning!

There were two delays.  First, the radioactive injection done at the new surgery site would not drain, so Dr. Ross had to order more of the radioactive substance.  They give you only enough for the surgery so it won't be sitting around unused, which meant more paperwork and waiting for delivery of the second batch.  It arrived, and Dr. Ross injected it in Dave's old surgery site, just above the new site.  It went merrily on its way, but surprisingly, it did not all end up in the axillary lymph nodes (armpit), some of it went to a set of nodes under his collarbone!  Dr. Ross said this was unusual, but since that was the path of drainage, he felt he had to biopsy those lymph nodes, too.  Hence, the second delay; a second incision that was not expected.  It was a very deep cut, and he had to go through muscle.  He said this incision will cause Dave more problem than the one in his armpit.

One lymph node was removed from Dave's armpit and two from his collarbone area.  It will be 5-7 days before we get the results, though of course we are expecting him to be as clean as a whistle.

At 5:40 Dave was in Recovery, and it was 8:00 before Dave was awake enough, dressed and transported to the front door.  In the meantime I went to the pharmacy for his pain medication and got all kinds of care instructions from the nurse.

When we got back to Jon and David's, there was a Mexican take-out dinner waiting for us! Dave ate yogurt and a plain chicken fajita, but I gobbled up all the fixings.  What a treat after a very long day.