One would think so, but the dangerous 2-hour surgery they did on my neck since I was near being paralyzed, was a day surgery. It was started at 6 in the morning and by 4 PM I was shoved out the door only after some high school girl trainee paid minimum wage showed me how to put on my undies. I was furious when the insurance refused to pay the $50 for her services and I had to pay it. I went to the top dog at the hospital and reamed him a new one. They labeled it physical therapy training services. I called it racketeering and a scam. One would think with breast removal they would have you stay a night, but since the surgery doesn't affect bodily necessary functions, your butt is kicked to the curb before sundown.
I agree an overnight stay would be a comforting method not only for monitoring but for the questions a patient might have on after surgery side effects and whether they're normal. My opinion I would try to get an after surgery follow-up appointment as soon as I can.
Beth, I am HORRIFIED that they could do this kind of operation and send you home the same day ! I imaging that they keep you there long enough to make sure that you are recovering okay, but even with the pacemaker, I was in the hospital a day or two, and that seems relatively most simple than having a mastectomy. On the plus side, I guess that if they think that they can send people home the same day, they must think that it is an operation that most people do well with getting over. But I am with you, I would think that staying overnight would be better, for sure.
As Faye said, the mastectomy doesn't affect bodily functions and they don't really "open you up" to operate inside the body cavity, so surgically speaking it isn't a very complicated procedure. I think the biggest concern would be bleeding or developing a seroma at the surgical site. I see the followup appointment is already scheduled for 2 weeks after the surgery, and I'm sure that if I have a problem before that I will be advised to go to the ER. I seem to recall that @Babs Hunt had a fairly easy time with her surgery so maybe she will comment.
My surgery did go well Beth...and I had no lymph nodes removed yet I was kept overnight. Your having 2 layers of lymph nodes removed plus the added surgery to try to prevent lympademia would seem to merit at least an overnight stay in my opinion. Did they find cancer in your lymph nodes?
I have one node that is positive for cancer, but with IBC they always take the "2 levels" as a precaution. This is upsetting to me but then this whole thing is upsetting to me. I notice that most people on the BC forum go home the same day unless they are having breast reconstruction procedures so I suppose that's pretty common now. (Not sure if Covid is a factor.)
One of the reasons they might have kept me overnight is because my surgery was supposed to be at around 7:30 that morning but my Breast Surgeon had an emergency surgery called in before mine started. So my surgery didn't happen until around 3pm that afternoon and by the time they finished with me it was early evening...so they probably kept me for observation overnight. With all you are having done I still feel that they should keep you overnight or maybe a day or two. And maybe according to how things go they will end up keeping you if there are any signs that they should keep you longer. I was also set up with Home Health before having my surgery...a Nurse would come every couple of days to check my surgery site, etc. Will you have that after your surgery?
I'm sure that if I have any problems during surgery they will admit me, so I'm not really concerned. I was just surprised but things are not the way they used to be now that insurance companies run the medical business. No, I don't have access to a home health nurse; not sure if that's because of Covid or what. All the staffing seems short-handed these days.
A lot of medical staff have decided to leave healthcare because of COVID. I will keep you in my prayers.
Ugh, tomorrow is AC #3, and to say that I dread it is putting it mildly. I also dread Wednesday when I'll have to go back to the medical center to have an echo-cardiogram. I'm always sick as a dog the days following the chemo infusion so 2 hours in the car sounds like torture. I'm whiny again.
Whiny? I’d be arrested for throwing big rocks at stuff just to get rid of the frustration!! To me, you’re doing so much better than I would if I had anything close to your circumstances.
That's so sweet of you, Bobby. I have to say that the old adage is true that "you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have." I'm not particularly strong or brave or any of that... I just take it to heart that most cancer patients just put one foot in front of the other and struggle to get through it. Particularly because we have no idea whether at the end of the nightmare we will get to live or die. If we had that crystal ball, we'd know for sure whether the chemo, surgery, radiation, etc. was worth the time, anxiety, or money wasted on it. Also, on the days that I'm not sick from chemo, I actually feel pretty normal and go about my business, so it isn't all bad. At this point I have zero pain so the toughest part is the anxiety and the chemo side effects. I'm actually lucky that I'm not as sick as a lot of cancer patients are, and my heart hurts for their suffering.