Wednesday July 28th, 2010

Ok, this is my (Jamey's) first attempt at filling in for Christy on her Blog. So bear with me please.

Today we got to the Hospital at 06:00 A.M. We did our normal pre-op stuff with the Nurses. Our Surgeons came into vistit with us while in pre-op. Christy and I were pleasantly surprised by that. They visited with us and asked if we had any questions.

Dr. Bussey asked Christy again what side we're doing and Christy said "BOTH". Dr. Bussey just laughed and said "I just wanted to make sure you didn't change your mind before surgery". She left and Dr. Strock began talking to Christy. He listened to Christy tell him exactly how she wanted her new boobies. Dr. Strock got out the magic marker from hell and began to color on her like a 5 year old with a big chief tablet. Some of ya'll don't remember big chief tablets, but that's another story.

Once Dr. Strock got done with his marker masterpiece, we were wheeled up to the 2nd floor for the surgical holding area. Christy was like a kid in the elevator. She says riding an elevator in a bed is freaky. I was waiting for her to ask the nurse if we could do it again.

We met with other nurses who began sticking Christy like a pin cushion with various size needles. IV's were hooked up and blood was drawn. We were not back there nearly as long as we were last week. Christy was so excited to have Dr. Harper again to do her anesthesia. He was really good. Dr. Harper asked her the basic questions he did last time, are you allergic to anything, did you get sick last time etc...

After about 45 min in the Surgery holding area, it was time to wheel Christy back. I felt bad because Michelle, Christy's twin sister, started welling up with tears. You don't understand the bond between twins until you witness it first hand. I have seen it several times, so I knew it was coming. I wanted to give her a big hug, but she rushed out. Christy's Mom and Dad told her they loved her and left. I was last and I gave her a big hug and kiss and told her I loved her. I told her she was tough and I was proud of her and I would see her in recovery. They rolled her away and I went to meet my family and friends in the waiting room.

We set around the waiting for a while visiting with everyone. About an hour and twenty minutes later Dr. Bussey came out and found me. She told me she was done and everything went very well. No problems. She told me Dr. Strock was doing the reconstruction as we spoke. We set in the waiting room for a while more, visting, well more joking and laughing. About an hour and thirty minutes later Dr. Strock came out to talk to me. He told me "Everything went great, well actually Excellent!" This made me feel good.

He told me that Dr. Bussey had to remove a little more skin from Christy's left breast (the one with the cancer) than he had expected. He explained that Dr. Bussey's job is to get rid of the cancer. He explained that was not a big deal, because he can fix it. It just meant when he placed the expanders (under the muscle) he was not able to fill the left one with much saline. He was able to fill the right expander with 150cc of saline. He said she has boobies, not as big as they were, but she has some. He wanted me to explain to her not to freak out, he will fill the left one up to match and that they will be "PERFECT" when it's all said and done.

I got called back to recovery about thirty minutes after visting with Dr. Strock. Christy was more coherent than last weeks surgery. I was really happy to see that. I got to spend my 5 minutes with her and then got kicked out. I did learn that our room was on the 2nd floor of the Jones Tower. The nurse told me I could go up there to the room. I gathered up my posse and headed that way. When we got there, Christy had beat us by mere seconds. Good timing on my part, I must say.

We had several friends and family visit. Christy was awake and talking to everyone. She was really amazed, although she was sore, it was nothing like she expected. She is wearing the pain pump out though!

She got to eat some food, drink some water and tea. She even had some peanut M&M's. We got up and had to take a walk for the nurse, which she did very well. We got her situated in the bed and what did she do? You guessed it, Pain Pump! That's her new best friend. Dr. Bussey came by to vistit and check on Christy, as well as Dr. Harper. Christy was really impressed with that. Dr. Strock will be by early in the morning to check on Christy and change her dressing.

I want to give a special thanks to all our friends and family who have called to check on us. All the thoughts and prayers and support. You don't know how much your loved until something like this happens. I love all of you.

Thank you to my sister Michelle for helping the whole way, I love you. Thank you to my other wife Brandy, I love you! Thank you Aunt Stacy for staying for so long to help us out. I love you very much. Thank you Mom and Dad, Mom and Pops. We couldn't do this without ya'll. We love you so much. Thank you to Luwana for coming out. Kelli , David, Casey and Sarah, Uncle Raymond and Aunt CB, Uncle Geoff, Alan, Kirk and Debra, Sheila. I love all of you very much. I apologize if I left anyone out.

I will try to keep this thing updated as best as I can.

Until next time

Jamey, out.....