Shopping/packing/to-do list for surgery + recovery....
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Chi-Kat - totally agree with back scratcher - I have an adjustable one that I could never part with
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a back scratcher is a very good idea.
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Hi Ladies,
So happy to be part of this community, am a newbiee.. recently diagonised with nreast cancer, 32 with no kids, going for matsectomy in a few dayz.. fingers crossed and apprehensive.
Stage? i think stage 2 based on the size 5
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PrettyA, Welcome here. Geez, sorry you are going through this at your age (or any age for that matter!) Please know you aren't alone, and also please keep us posted on how your surgery goes. It is normal to be apprehensive, to say the least!!
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Bumping for soscaredhubby0 -
This is so helpful. Thanks!
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Hello mommacat4,
Do you recall where you found the "flowerpotz"? I've been searching online and cannot find them.
Thanks so much in advance!
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Hi Ladies,
Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions...now I know what I have to do in the next 3 weeks is go shopping & get things organized at home so I'm ready for my BMX scheduled for 9/14. Already have 6 pillows on my bed but will be checking out the noodle pillow and slippery pj's or sheets. Got my hair cut shorter and go back for a trim right before surgery trying to make it easier to care for.
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I go in for surgery on 9/4 Xjerseygirl. Nervous. Not sure if I am having a single or double yet. Trying to weigh my options. Ugh. Thanks for reviving this thread. I needed to look at it again.
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I want to thank everyone for this list. I have had a lumpectomy and re excision surgery over the past 3 weeks. Now facing mastectomy and reconstruction. I want to make my recovery as simple as possible for my hubby....he is the best. Things detailed here are items I never would have thought of. thank you all..
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good luck
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Good luck to all you ladies who are about to have surgery and to you all who are recovering from surgery.
I just had a total hysterectomy (robotically) and I am recovering from that. I had 5 incisions across my abdomen, all but one has closed up and is healing. The one is still open and I now have to clean it out every day with a q-tip and pack it with a medicated strip and bandage it back up. It can hurt if I am not careful but I think the worst part for me is seeing that deep into my own body. This hole is very deep and I can see all the way into my own abdomen. It's weird.
4 days after I completed radiation therapy for my breast cancer I was told I have endometrial cancer. Thus the reason for the hysterectomy.
Ladies, take care of yourselves and dh. He needs you too. : )
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Xjerseygrl, Simplicity, Gabby56b GOOD LUCK! We are all routing for you !!
mommacat4, we wish you fast healing!
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oh gosh mommacat14 so sorry you're having to deal with this. Things like this is what is making me super nervous. My first surgery is scheduled for 9/17. I'm worried after talking with genetics about the link with ovarian cancer. Will be talking with BS after I'm Finished upwith the mastectomies.
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gardengirls, I think my mastectomy was easier on my body than the hysterectomy however to be honest my body went through a lot before the hysterectomy. I had the BMX then port placement, then 5 months of chemo, then 5.5 weeks of radiation, and not even a month later I had the hysterectomy so my body was pretty warn out from everything. It still is to be honest.
As far as ovarian cancer is concerned, find the best GYN that you can and get checked out. Keep an eye on things. It doesn't always mean you will get ovarian cancer just because they may be linked. A lot of woman (depending on their age) just have an oopherectomy to be safe. It is a personal choice that you should really think about and weigh ALL your options before making that decision.
Mods, thank you for your well wishes.
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What a great list! Although I'm having Outpatient lumpectomy on 9/28, this helps a Lot! Buying prunes, I'm already on moderate pain meds for OA right hip.
- Three things I would add are: phone charger, glasses case & glasses cleaning cloth, list of people to call & who's to call them so it's off you.
I'm an obsessive organizer, but never in this situation before, so this was super-great! (If I didn't have something "real" to organize, I'd make up something. Think it makes me feel in control of something uncontrollable. Thank you!
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So helpful thank you
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This thread is wonderful--so helpful. Though there were things I went out and bought that the hospital supplied, like alcohol swabs for stripping drains. A few days past my surgery, here are a couple of things I haven't seen mentioned:
Instead of pants, I've been wearing skirts in a very soft, knitted jersey fabric. Very comfortable--there's no actual waistband. I think they were easier to deal with than pants those first couple of days. They were really inexpensive, so I didn't feel bad about buying a couple.
Noise canceling headphones for the hospital to go with iPod or iPad. Sleep mask: I couldn't figure out how to turn out the lights in the hospital at first. Chapstick and hand cream; my skin dried out in the hospital.
I ate a ton of fresh and dried fruit in the couple of days before surgery and as soon as I came home and managed to avoid needing a stool softener. I had it on hand but just waited things out and the system (for lack of a better word) started working again.
For drains in the shower, the hospital actually supplied an old-fashioned sanitary napkin belt (anyone old enough to remember those?). Great idea--I was planning on using an old pair of pantyhose, but this was a lot less messy.
Oh yeah: one of the meds they gave for surgery did a number on my tastebuds for a day. Just in case it happens to you....
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Im supose to go to hospital in 2 days they tols me nothing to bring especially no valubles. I have no family to go with me so I am scaared they told me not to bring any thing not even mu phone but I have to bring it so I can call a friend to take me home. What do I do I am getting really scared. Having a left masdectomy and reconstrction same day at MSK.
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Dear edith, Welcome to the community. We are sorry that your cancer brought you here and that you are understandably scared but we are so glad that you reached out to us. We wish you all the best with your upcoming surgery and we hope that you will stay connected here. You might also want to look at and/or post in the October 2015 Surgery thread. Stay connected her and keep us posted. The MOds
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edithcypora,
Yes, take your phone and charger. Also you might want to go back and read earlier posts in this thread to see what else you should take with you. I know you're scared; it's a scary thing to go through! The chances are excellent that you will do fine. Good luck tomorrow, and post again when you feel up to it. Do you have someone to help you at home for the first few days or so?
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Thinking of you today Edith! Hope you got Janets advice in time. Yes, take your phone and charger. I wish I could be there for you, sincerely. Were there, in your pocket, as some of the veterans of BCO would say
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Hope you get this in time, Edith. I had my bmx at MSK last month and it was fine. The nurses held my glasses for me and gave them to me as soon as I wanted them. So they will hold your phone if you need it and keep it safe. Good luck!
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Hoping you are well Edith! Thinking of you!
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I have another item to add - if you are pre-menopausal, panty liners. I had some spotting post-mastectomy (talked to the surgeon and it could have been stress or hormones) and when you ask for a liner in the hospital, you get a foot long maxi pad imported straight from the 1960s. I was surprised these things didn't have an old-fashioned belt. My sister said they probably got them from the labor and delivery ward. I just wanted a thin liner, this was way more than I needed, and not that comfortable.
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Thanks so much for this. I've been going through making little separate lists - ride home, before surgery, at the hospital, need to buy. I still don't even know what surgery I'm having, just that it's the 19th. I have an MRI tomorrow so maybe I'll find out then?
Trying not to complain and hoping to make it through.
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I only had a lumpectomy, but here are three things that helped when I was mobility-impaired after my knee-replacement surgeries:
“Sock aid” with long pull straps, which allows you to scrunch your socks on to it and then insert foot into sock and slip the sock aid out. Sort of like the sartorial equivalent of the bread-bagging tray at the self-serve slicing machine in the supermarket’s bakery dept.
Backscratcher--self-evident!
Long-handled shoehorn, with the business end mounted on a spring for flexibility.
Shoes you can easily step into, without need for socks.
And of course, the aforementioned reacher. Pretty good idea for preserving spinal health anyway, surgery or not.
When I attended my pre-op “teaching session,” my surgeon’s nurse gave me a pillow called “Protective Pillow Purse” (aka P3) to keep arm away from operated breast, used for going home the day of my LX, resting and sleeping (and acting as a barrier between breasts and enthusiastically affectionate kitties); and later, long-distance driving (the main pillow cushioning my elbow from the center console, the smaller “joey” pillow usually in the “kangaroo slot” between shoulder belt and operated breast. (Caveat--the angle changes where your shoulder belt first contacts you--in my case, my neck on the other side, which produced a convincing imitation of a hickey. Had some ‘splainin’ to do, not always successfully).
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Hi everyone! I am having BMX with TEs on Nov 20 and expect to be home on the 22nd. Thanksgiving is 4 days later. I have been asked if we will be attending the extended family Thanksgiving dinner. I have no idea what i will feel like on day 7 post op. Will i be able to go? (Local)
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I predict that you will feel like going to Thanksgiving dinner seven days post op. Since it's local, you can stay for awhile and leave when you get tired.
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