NOLA in September?
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Trishia,
Girl you look fantasitc! I am so happy for you. I will be praying for you and your sister.
Spring,
Please take my name off the list . I am on for stage 2 May 7. I have hit a little bump in the road. The spots that were picked up on CTA before surgery are bone mets. The onc. changed me from Tamoxifen to Aromasin and also I will be on Zometa every 4 weeks. I will also be going to MDA for radiation in May. This is not exactly the way I had my May planned, but this too shall pass. I still feel just as well as ever. I have a little hip pain but all in all I am OK. It has taken a little time to process this and get on with life, but I have a wonderful life filled with husband, children and grandchildren. I plan to enjoy my life. God is in charge and I am so glad He is. He numbers the hairs on my head...I trust Him completely. God bless you all.
I will still be reading about all of your progress. This has been a journey. I am still very proud of my girls. I feel so much better about myself and about life because of this surgery. Who knows when I would have known about the mets if not for the surgery.
Bettye
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Bettye, I am SO sorry to ehar about the bone mets!! Get them under control, then consider your Stage 2. No problem with delaying it at all. Keep living strong and enjoying the important things in life (family!) and know that we're here for you at all times!
Anne
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Bettye - I am so sorry to hear about the latest bump in the road! My thoughts and prayers are with you - and I am glad to hear you are heading to MDA - they will get things under control for you!!
Pam - thinking of you as well -
Eve - woo-hoo! You are on the other side!
What a busy few weeks in NOLA - happy for all of you that 'cleared the big hurdle' with stage I - and those of you that have paved the way for stage II!!
Happy April everyone!
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((((BETTYE)))) I'm so sorry to read this. You are going to kick some cancer booty with your killer attitude. I have no doubt!! Sending lots of positive and healing energy your way.
Pam~I wish I could calm your fears. You have such a rough go of it. If we lived close I would take you out for martinis.
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I was going to come in here and celebrate my last drain removal this morning... but instead I am just here to give you a big cyber hug Bettye..... I am sorry to hear that news and my prayers are with you.... you are right.. if not for your Stage 1.... you would have not known... I hope to see your name back up on the list in a few months....
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Minnesota's been up and walking, finally. She has been feeling weak and nauseous. Walked over to Jinger's room and visited a while. Dr. D. came in and said everything is looking ok but thought she'd be in the hospital at least through Saturday.
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Bettye, sorry to hear your news. I am glad you checked in too because I was wondering how you were doing. Like you said, a bump in the road, but after you deal with that you will be back up for stage 2. You will be in my prayers. Like you said, God is in control and I (too) am so glad He is!!
Holtbolt, congrats on your drain removal. Don't you feel like a new person?
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2tzus, don't worry, they will even things out at stage 2! I think it's common to have differences. Mine aren't exactly the same size either, and I'm counting on stage 2 to adjust them.
Looking forward to stage 2...7 weeks from today!
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Bettye- I too am so sorry to read this news. My Prayers are with you as you meet with MDA & Kick some Cancer Butt!
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Trisha, How did you post that picture? (you look great!) I've been trying to post a couple of pictures and can't get them in here!!! can't wait to hear your secret.
I'm at week 5 and my right drain just went from 40 cc to 65 cc !!! I go back to work in a week, I sure hope to be drain free, but at this rate it's not looking good. the right one was already at 23 cc first thing in the am!
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Bettye,
Just want to publicly add my prayers,
Sending powerful healing vibes your way...and hoping Zometa & Aromasin knocks those mets to the curb!
Marcia
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Bettye~ My thoughts and prayers are with you....I hope MDA comes up with a fantastic plan for you.
Pam~ I wish that I was in NOLA at the same time as you. Hang in there everything is going to go right.
So today was show and tell to one of my hairdresser. I hope I didn't tramatize her too much. I wish that I was heading to NOLA this week. I am ready for stage 2
I have 26 days until I board a plane headed for NOLA Minn.~ Glad to hear that you are getting about. I hope you feel better everyday.
Trishia~ Still thinking BM thoughts for you.
Wow did anyone see the advertisement at the bottom of the form ?? CRBS should advertise there to make things equal...lol....
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BettyE... am so sorry to hear tis. But it sounds like you are being positive and that helps so much as you know. Take care and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
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Bettye
So preparing for stage 2 caused you to get tests that you otherwse might not have gotten for some time, and that is how you found out about the bone mets. Life is so strange sometimes. Please stay with us and keep us part of your journey
Some updates (in case someone else experiences the same thing) ..... My pre-op work up showed a change in EKG --not abnormal, but a change --and they said any change should be checked out, even though it could just be a misplaced lead. So my primary told me to get a stress test. I had the stress test, and they thought it looked fine, except they couldn't get as good an image as they like of my heart because of all my prior surgeries on my left breast. Well, they said, you could get a nuclear scan....That would be definitive --and 4 hours long!. They faxed the results to the PS, and he is satisfied with the stress test.
The telangiectasia of my breast--where small blood vessels turn the skin reddish --appeared and then 3 weeks later disappeared. We don't know why it occurred or why it cleared up. The Raynaud's syndrome I had regularly in my fingers since surgery stopped. The pain in my left leg has gradually diminished. It may be the PT I am dong regularly, or may be just letting things heal. My seroma is down to 60 cc. I thought it would be with me forever. I have dreams of not wearing a compression garment in May...
I've been giving thought to how long it really takes to recover frm this surgery. I swear I read 6-8 weeks in the literature before I started. Well, if that's so, I am slower than average. I would tell someone considering th surgery to plan 3 months. But we do get better, each at our own pace. I walked two miles yesterday and almost cried from happiness.
Happy Easter and Passover to all. I hope spring is as glorious where you are as it is in Philadelphia.
Regards
Margit
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Wow, ladies - I have kept up on reading but was unable to post the entire time we were gone!
Bettye- I am so sorry to hear this latest news - my thoughts and prayers are with you. I agree, who knows when it would have been picked up if you didn't have stage 1 CTA and screening.
Trishia - Also sending positive thoughts your way for benign results for both you and your sis.
Pam - You know they will take good care of you in NOLA. I have faith that it will all work out.
2T - I waited 7 months between stages - and I am actually glad I did, so you will be okay.
Okay, so what a fun trip! It sure beats my stage 1 where I didn't get to get out and do anything. We had so much fun meeting everyone and eating out... and eating beniegts (sp?). 2t - I know I said they were "okay" the first time we had them... then I found myself craving them everyday!!! Even my hubby said what a great time we had and how all the women we met were so fabulous! He said it felt like a sorority!
Okay, so stage 2 went great. I initially was going to have a full tummy tuck, but opted out of that since I didn't want a circumferential scar around my entire mid section. Dr. S didn't think that a mini- tuck would help much, but I thought it would, so we compromised and I got a mini-tuck - with some extended scar lines, but he left a good 3-4 inches on each side of my abdomen scar-less so that I could move lymph fluid through there. I had lipo as well and much of that was used to fill in a few areas on my breasts. I also had both nipples reconstructed. Dr. S was fabulous as I needed a bit more revision to even the nips out (I told him I had one headlamp and one foglight) and because I had kids waiting for me at home, he chose to do it at my post-op in the office, rather than having me stay another night. I now have perfectly even "headlamps" (teehee) and I could not be happier. Yes, I am bruised up and sore, but nothing I can't handle and I will go to the ends of the earth to tell people how wonderful these doctors are. I am happy to be done, but had so much fun in NOLA this time I am wondering when I should go back there on vacation!
Sandy - so, so curious about the return air travel drama... PM me!
Marcia - hugs!!!! I just got your messages from before my surgery! You know now that I was at my sis-in-law's at that time! Thank you!
Jennifer jane - thank you thank you for your words of advice!
Cat1 and Sally - I am so sorry I didn't get to say goodbye before I left St. Charles - I finished showering and getting my stuff together and before I knew it my car was there and I was out the door!
BCDiva - Can't wait to hear how you are! Hope your trip home was good!
Laughlines - You will be hearing from me soon!
Minnesota and SueinFl- glad to hear all went well - will be keeping tabs on you!
I hope i didn't leave anything out... but you all know I am thinking of you and even if I haven't posted, I have been here reading!
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LOL - Margit - I just read your post! I also had a change in the EKG since stage 1! I had to spend part of my pre-op day at a local cardiologist's in NOLA getting clearance. He had said it may be electrode positioning, or even the amount of tissue that is now sitting on my chest that causes a decrease in the ability for the electronic waves to move through the tissue. Imagine my stress and anxiousness when I read my ekg and it said "possible anterior infarct"! I said, "That is a heart attack, don't you think I would remember having a heart attack?!" Anyway, all is well, but the cardiologist there recommended an echocardiogram since I had adriamycin and it has the tendency to be cardio-toxic. So... just another test to add to the follow ups in May, I guess!
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Nordy & Margit- I had a different EKG from last Oct too. My PCP said it was ok though. Just different. She said Probably because before with my Uniboob implants that it sat very different on my chest then it does now.
Good to hear from you Nordy!
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Bettye, my best wishes go to you. I have been praying for you.
Leah
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That is one of great things about this thread---to find out that soemthing that is happening to you has happened to other people too.
So, you know how we've said that a sense of humor is important....... here goes.
The other day I was in bed staring at one of my new boobs, and I said to my husband, -"Bill, did I have hair on my butt, because I now have hair on my boob.."They are fine and not very visible, but they are present, at the scar line. This is not the first time I have had hair on my boobs. I had a few hairs when they were my own boobs. Then, when I had nipple reconstruction aftr my impants 20 years ago, they took the skin from the panty line (a technique they don't use anymore), so I had pubic hair growing on my aereolas -- soft and furry, not very sexy. I had it removed with electrolosis. I like chest hair on my men, not on me, so this week I went to an electrolosist. He said hair often grows at scar lines...all kinds of scar lines..who knew?
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Bettye my thoughts and prayers are with you. You will get through this. And to think it was picked up with the CT scan from stage one. Thank God!
Nordy so good to hear that stage 2 went well and you had a chance to have some fun.
Yeah Holtbolt "Drain Free" I still have one to go but it should be out in the next day or so.
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Cam, let us know what Dr S says about your swelling. I felt pretty puny after phase 1. Hang in there. It does get better.
BetteyE - I am so sorry about your news....
Please keep in touch with us, we will all be thinking about you. It sounds like your ONC is totally on top of it...Ladies, we will be traveling home tomorrow and I will not be online. Will check in when I can. If anybody new comes, pls welcome them as you always do!
Spring.
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BetteyE--adding my thoughts, prayers and well wishes to the mix. Your attitude is such a positive witness...thank you and God bless.
Pam--prayed for you in the prayers of the church tonight...for peace in the waiting and a totally successful surgery.
My husband thinks this is a totally cool sorority too...I think he's a little jeolous that guys don't do the sharing thing more readily...Bless you all!
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Bettye, Stephanie just alerted me to your latest news and I will add my prayers to those of everyone else. For you and your sister too, Trishia, I'm hoping that everything is benign. You look absolutely amazing!! I'm so happy for you....and I hope to do as well, although the max I'll lose looks to be about 1 to 1.5 pounds a week. Nordy, I will PM you about the plane ride home!
Thought you ladies might enjoy this story from So. Cal.
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Sandy, that is all I am losing too. It seriously took me 3 months to lose 10 lbs!!! But I feel really fantastic and I keep remembering that I am losing all that visceral fat inside. Remember that first pic I posted? That was in December. It has taken me that long to get down 10 lbs!
I LOVE that story!
How I post pics...you have to have URL. So photobucket or something else. Then you cluck on the photo icon and copy and paste the link to the picture.
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Has anyone heard back from Cam about the swelling? Did I miss it? So many posts... it's hard to keep up... I hope that was resolved and all is ok...
Trishia.... I also hope you and your sister fare well with the latest developments... ugh. On a good note.. you look fantastic in that photo. I don't think I will ever be in a bikini again but who knows... we'll see what I look like after Stage 2...
Margit.... that is funny about the hairy boobs... and I'm thinking 6-8 weeks to recover from these surgeries may be normal but not for me either.... I'll be hitting the 6 week mark on Tuesday and there is plenty of healing left for me....
Nordy - great to hear you are happy. Dr. D offered to "take care of my flabby belly" (oh my decription not his even tho that was in quotations-lol) at Stage 2, even tho I had an SGAP... I brushed it off but I'm wondering what that really means.... I don't want another incision but... can he help me in that area with lipo with a tiny like 2" incision or go through my oophorectomy scars do you think to do lipo there? And, if he did... would I just have a bunch of flabby skin hanging there then? I don't want to pass up an opportunity, but I seriously don't want any more pain and any more big incisions.... I just want to be done with this....just curious about that....
Hello - I do feel like a different person, being drain free... I immediately went shopping after it was pulled... just wanted to wear something cute instead of frumpy big tops to hide plastic tubes...
Have a great Easter weekend!!!
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Margit, I had a hairy boob, too. Not to worry, it will most likely disappear before too long!!
According to facebook, Eve had to have a transfusion. Here's hoping she'll be up and around and feeling better soon! It's been a less than easy road for her.
A pound a week is very sensible weight loss. The visceral fat is really hard to melt away. Make sure you're getting tons of Omega-3s and other monounsaturated fatty acids.
Anne
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Hi you guys! Bettye, I'm so glad the docs caught this when they did. We're all behind you.
Well I've had a bit of a rocky ride, but hopefully the worst is behind. I feel a lot better tody than yesterday. I had absolutely no strength or energy and no apetite. My body felt like it weighed 500 pounds. They strted the transfusion last night and it takes a long time to drip on into you. D, D said that if I was really against a transfusion, I didn't hve to have it, but that it ould help my recovry if I had it, I was feeling so crappy and was happy for the treatmnt, This morning my appeptite is back and I feel like I finally have energy. It feels like weeks ago since I saw all yu guys down here, what a roller coaster!
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Minnesota - great to hear your starting to feel better.
Betty & Trisha - will be thinking about you and praying for good results.
Nordy - I do wish we could have meet again but totally understand. Friday I felt like crap and didn't get out of my room once.
Question - with the DIEP, how does it take before you can walk straight again? It gets better every day but looks like a long haul before I'm normal again.
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Minn, glad to hear that you are feeling better! I called last night, but they said you were sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you.
Trishia, thanks for sharing. It's tough to try to lose alongside a husband who can drop 3-4 pounds a week, but I am working out hard and so I'm building up some muscle too....have to remember that. I think I've already lost about two pants sizes since the first of the year, so my body is changing, but the scale is not being my friend right now. We've ramped up our walking and now we climb up and down the hills at the beach early in the morning rather than walking flat trails, and we ride bikes.
Holt, Dr. D can do a bit of lipo and you won't end up with baggy skin, and I'm sure he can use the ooph scars. He has used my existing incisions for all of my lipo with the exception of my lower back and butt. For those areas, he hid the tiny incisions really well. They are probably 1/4", not 2". Dr. Chang did my laparascopic hyst/ooph all through my DIEP ab incision, which made Dr. D very happy.
Cat1, within a couple of weeks you'll be much straighter---every day is better.
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Okay I need some input quick. I had stage 1 in Jan and Lanita and I came up with a price that I could afford Which at that time I was told that the price was for all 3 stages. Well today I got a phone call from someone in the billing department trying to give me my price for stage 2. When I told her that I did not have any additional money she said what about your tax return ?? I am shocked and floored to have been treated this way after I have been making my payments on time everytime. Is this the way that it normally works ?? I was told I am sorry Lanita is not here anymore so we can not speak for her BUT I will put it in your file that you are going to pay with your tax return. WTH ,,,??? So I repeated myself again that there is no tax return and that I have not worked very much in the past 15 months as I am a photographer and I did not handle chemo well at all.
So is this normal ???0
