Surgery Day by Francy DeVries- Tuesday January 20th 2009

Today Mary Jo had to be at the hospital around 7am for her surgery. I spoke to her around 8:15 and they were prepping her for surgery. At 9:00am she was taken back for surgery. Amanda, Mom and Dad at her side. Surgery started at 9:14. At around 11:15 the surgeon came out to provide an update. The mastectomy part of the procedure is done with no complications. The 2 plastic surgeons have now started with an expected 6 more hours of reconstructive surgery. At 12:00 the nurse came out and said that things were going fine with the plastic surgery (reconstruction). At 1:30 the nurse reported that both plastic surgeons are working on the left side and all is going well. At 3:00 the left sided surgery is complete and the right side is started, the tummy surgery will be to follow. At 4:30pm the update was just that there was about one hour to go. 5:30 Plastic surgeon is on his way out to talk to Amanda, Mom and Dad. 5:45 Plastic surgeon reports surgery is done and Mary Jo is on her way to the intensive care unit (standard procedure). He reports her surgery went great with no complications, but she needs to be in the ICU to be monitored closely (as expected). If her recovery goes well she will go home in around 5 days (sometimes more like 7 - 10 days). Mom, Dad and Amanda can see Mary Jo around 6:30. 7:00pm Mom, Dad and Amanda were able to see Mary Jo. She is awake and coherent, she is on a morphine pump for pain. She is being funny as usual asking "am I completely flat", she wants to go to "Victoria Secret to get new bras" and she said "If I say something stupid, tell me to shut up". 9:00pm Mom and Dad at Mary Jo's house for the night. Mary Jo needs her rest, I will give my next update tomorrow.