grey's anatomy in the flesh

whew! the longest 45 (or 50) minutes of my life is finally over.

my parents accompanied me as i was admitted to the ambulatory operating room yesterday afternoon at around 12:05 pm to have a cyst in my right breast removed for biopsy. i was instructed to change my clothes and wear the hospital robe and lead into the operating room where there were at least 3 med interns, 2 nurses and my surgeon. i wasn't feeling nervous and afraid yet. i kept telling myself that it's gonna be alright. everything's gonna be fine.

i was asked to lay on the operating table. when i already was, a nurse wrapped a sticky rectangular metallic plate above my left ankle to monitor blood pressure and something else. now that was when i started freaking out. they were adjusting those big round lights above the OR table (i'm not what they call them) to point directly to my right breast and stated prepping the area with betadine solution to sterilize it. 1 med intern and my surgeon spread out a green blanket over my lower body and another over the metal rod placed above me. i asked to have my face covered so i wouldn't have to see the faces of the people cutting me open and the utensils they were using to excise the mass.

the doctor informed me that they were about to inject local anaesthetic into the breast. god that hurt. i think they injected one whole syringe of it and i can feel the needle penetrate deep into my skin and it really really really hurt!

my right breast started to feel heavy and it meant that it's ready to be cut open (*gasp*!). i felt a sharp object (i think it was the scalpel) touch my beast and it worked it's way along the lower part of it (7 o'clock). it might have cut a good centimeter when i felt a ripping pain and the surgeon had to inject anaesthetic again. after they have cut a good enough "line", i heard the doctor asked for a clamp, needle, a scalpel and all i was hearing was the clink of utensils and a buzzing sound (like laser or whatever) for a good 20 mins or so. i felt my skin being pulled, lifted and pressed in all directions.

after that good score of minutes, i heard the doctor said, "tsktsk, ang laki!".("tsktsk, this is big.") that gave e relief since that meant they have taken out the cyst and in about a few minutes be ready to close me up.

the doctor asked for sutures. i verified from the intern what kind of "sinulid" (thread) they'd be using and she (her nameplate said "Jane, M.D.") said it's called absorbable sutures meaning the stitches will "melt" (?) into my skin once they heal. i thought my agony was over but i think the anaesthetic wore off because i felt pain as they start to sew me up and they had to inject another round of anaesthetic on me (read: after-effect: major memory loss ).

my ordeal was officially over when the doctor asked 2 interns to clean me up. another 4-5 minutes passed before i could get off the table.

the whole time i'm being operated on, all i'm thinking was "i'm gonna blog about this, i'm gonna blog about this" with clammy hands, icy cold feet and numbed arms (yes, because i was lying with my arms under my head the whole time). so here i am, blogging about it and oh, have i told you, i took a picture of the mass and that very cute med intern (dr. mcdreamy?) prepping it for biopsy.

uh-huh. yes, i did.