Topic: Exchange City

Deborah ~  I hope you are feeling good! 

Laura ~ I am hoping that you are feeling good since you had a little meltdown.  Sometimes it just all needs to come out. 

Kew ~ Hope your shoulder isn't causing you too much pain.  :(

Everyone else have a good weekend~

Alicia

Ladies - I have sad news to share for a fellow BCO sister and good friend of mine. She has a 7 cm bc removed in 2007 w/ a serios partial mx, followed by radiation. Fast forward to this year. And she has decided to do a unilateral mx of that breast. And a modified tram for reconstruction. The surgery is coming up in December. She will be in the hospital for days and off works for weeks. And yesterday she found out she is being laid off! She is not married, so her job is her sole income. My heart goes out to her!! Please send your prayers her way. Thanks. - Jean

Jean

I am so sorry to hear that your friend is facing unemployment with surgery facing her.  Does she have family that can help her?  I will pray for her.

Nedeza, I took only a week off after my exchange.  I work in a hair salon and move my arms. 

Laura, I can understand you having a meltdown.  You have been through so much.  Hope your eyes are feeling better and that you felt relief after your melting.....

Deborah, I hope you are healing fine and that things will be perfect for you this time.  You help so many sisters and you deserve to have a great outcome.  I can relate to the loud TV...not just football games at our house.  It is every night.  I can stand the loudness.  We cannot watch TV together anymore.  I have threaten to get DH some of those TV ears so he can adjust the volume just for him.....LOL

Kew, how is the shoulder?  Better I hope....

I don't think it has anything to do with menopause.  Maybe our ears get more sensitive as we "age".....DH has some hearing loss and don't want to admit it.  He has gone to bed so the big TV is mine....yeah!!!

Jean--Of course prayers and love, thank you for letting us know, and I agree with Deborah, if she is willing have her come to EC.

 Bonnie--Love the picture!!!!!!  I hope someone can answer your question.  I didn't have rads, so I don't know anything.  I can do coffee next weekend if it works for you.

 Nedeza--As I mentioned, I took 6 weeks off after the exchange because I had a total abdominal hysterectomy, my ovaries out, and an appendectomy at the same time as they exchange.  This was not done with a laproscope, although I hear that has several weeks recovery, itself.  Externally I have a four inch scar, internally I had an incision from hip bone to hip bone, it was for me, by far more painful than my MX, probably because I had Q-pumps with the MX. It was a couple of weeks before I could drive my clutch--the car again, it was hard to lift my legs to depress the clutch or brakes, and I pretty much felt like I had burning knives in my stomach. I was very black and blue between my navel and incision.  The exchange was easy, I was moving my arms and normal from the boobs up the day after the exchange, but  still took it easy on what I did with my arms for about a week. I probably would have been normal the day of, but I had IV's and stuff because of the hyster.  I stayed in the hospital 2 nights.  They told me I couldn't leave until I um...well, my bowels were working, I lied and told them they were, but the dilaudid had me really constipated for about 6 days and I couldn't push because of the stomach surgery. It took a couple of weeks for all that to function normally.

Deborah--Pjs or not I know you still radiate.  I would have to flee a die hard ND fan, too, but hey, he had lentil soup for you when you go home. 

Hope this helps, 

Karen 

Hi Linda--The shoulder feels great because I'm taking vicodin every 4 hours at least for the weekend.  I can't drive or work like this, but a couple of days free of pain is worth it.  Wednesday, PT.

Umm, I'm more sensitive to sound, maybe it is compensating for the loss of sensation in my nipples--kidding, you know they say when one sense is lost another becomes stronger...anyway, things do sound louder to me.  I have no idea why.

Hugs,

KarenW 

On the topic of bowel issues: I have discovered Smooth Move tea. You have to try it!  It works like a charm!

Jean,  Prayers for your friend, How cruel for all of this to happen at once.  I am at a loss of words for this situation. 

• Deborah, You crack me up!  It sounds like you are feeling better and I am glad that you were able to get out to the library.
• Coolbreeze,  glad to know that you are doing a little better.
• KEW,  Thanks for posting the healthcare rights informtion on this site.  

I have to tell you a funny story about my annual female check up.  My Dr. is great, I worked with her for years before I started seeing her professionally.  I wanted to be out of the healthcare business before seeing her for female exams.  I knew that she had BC 8 years ago, had lumpectomy and radiation.  What she didn't tell me when I saw her last year was she was dx'd with BC  recurrence around the original lumpectomy in 8-08.  She ended up with a mx and trans flap surgery and had just come back to work when she had to tell me I had BC.   Bounce forward a year,2009, This is the first time I had seen her since I was diagnosed.  I do my girlie check-up, we get to talking, We have a lot in common with the BC deal.   The hour long appointment ends up with her showing me her reconstruction and tattoo and the cartilage in her fipple.  "Yes I felt up my Dr. and she felt me up!!!   In the most clinical sense of course.  She really is an amazing physician.  I just thought this was too cool that she was willing to reach out to let me know what was ahead for me.  The bad thing was that she called me today (Sat) at home and said we got busy yakking that she forgot to talk about the colonoscopy that I need at my age.  Sheesh, I thought I had gotten out of it for a another year (haven't had one yet!)  How many of your Doctors will call you at home to discuss your colon needs?  I just wanted to share what a cool Dr. I have.  She stated her DH has been so supportive, but she is sure glad that that she is through, and prays she doesn't get it in her other breast.  Jan

Dani: I'll try the smooth tea. Nothing else seems to be working. Do you just get it at the regular grocery store?

Jean: Special prayers for your friend. I truly believe in the power of prayer.

Deborah: What is the recuperation period for your last procedure?

I'm feeling crappy today. Maybe I should not have stood in line at Walmarts for 2 hours to buy my grand-daughter a Zhu Zhu Pet.

Love and prayers,

Jane

Alicia,  I remember after the FEC chemo, I would not be able to go for at least 3 days, then back to normal.  Wish I would have tried that tea!  Good luck!

Don, take it easy!:)

Deen

Best wishes to Candi (Baxter).  You have her down for surgery 11/19, but I'm pretty sure she goes in tomorrow.  Deborah, you've been talking to her by phone.  Is it tomorrow?

Ladies ~  I wanted to give all of you who are undergoing chemo/rads a tip.  As you go through these treatments make sure you are maintaining your dental care.  Dry mouth syndrome (xerostoma) is a very common side effect with cancer patients due to tx from chemo/rads. When saliva flow is reduced, there is a higher risk for breakdown in the enamel...thus rampant decay occurs. Without adequate salivary flow, everything sticks to the surfaces. It is important that you use  concentrated fluoride products.  These types of products are not found in the OTC section.  You need to get them from your dentist since they are Rx items.  I usually recommend Prevident toothpaste for daily use.  Also, there are special fluoride rinses....Gel Kam is one of them.  I am sure if you inquire with your dental office they can provide you with what you need.  There are also products that help to keep your mouth moisturized.  This one is an OTC item.  It is callled Biotene.  It can be found at Walmart (cheaper).  

I really appreciate all those who have given me great advices so I hope I can do the same.

Oh ya....don't forget to floss, floss, floss.....

Jean - my thoughts are with your friend.  What a lousy thing to happen.  If her cancer dx was before her being laid-off, or was the cause of it, she should check into labor laws.  If it was just one of those things, I don't know what to say that could be helpful - but I will be thinking of her. 

Ladies, what is "cording?"  People have mentioned it and I don't know what they mean.

I am doing better every day.  Except for sleeping, I am gaining more energy and feeling better.  I almost think I can drive again.  I have a soft bra and have a fake padding now, so I'm not freaking out my kid.  Getting back to normal.  

I will not lift anything because that was responsible for my setback.  My poor old dog has to stay where he is, I can't help him get up.  :(  I was told not to lift my arm over my head but to do other stretching exercises so I'll set up a schedule and begin tomorrow when I figure out what kind.

Liz, I intend to get a silicone implant.  The risk of leakage is minimal and it's not as dangerous as it was back in the days of the famous lawsuit.  However, if that scares you - it can happen - you can try saline.  There are also new ones - one is in clinical trial on my area - a combination of saline and silicone.  I think it's called the Ideal.  Whippetmom is the resident implant expert and she can answer all of your questions.  I thought about joining that trial (you get 10k after 10 years) but I like my PS and don't want to switch.   

I have a funny story about constipation.  I never thought I'd share this but we do lose a bit of our body pride during this process, don't we?  :)  Anyway, after my surgery I was constipated, as many are.  I began taking senekot on day four, but it took three days to begin to work.  On my son's birthday, in the middle of the night, at about the same time I'd given birth to him, I was in the bathroom, feeling pretty much the same as I had 23 years earlier!  :)  I didn't get a baby out of the process but I certainly did get relief!  

I will not delay on taking the teas or laxitives or whatever when I start chemo after that experience!!

Hope you all are enjoying a lovely Sunday.  I see my onc tomorrow and should get the details of my chemo regimen.

The Ideal implant is only limited to breast augmentation patients for Phase 1 of the clinical trials - no reconstruction patients. Unless there are a good number of reconstructive surgeons with access to ANY implant in clinical trials, it will always be better to steer clear and stick with plastic surgeons who have sufficient experience in the breast-reconstruction-after-cancer-arena.  It will be interesting to see how they address this in Phase II.

The majority of us here on EC have silicone implants....there are many discussions on bc.org re: the merits of saline vs. silicone.  There was never any doubt for me that I would choose silicone.