NOLA in September?
Comments
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Yup..... kbodie, I'm feeling it. It's kinda like chemo anticipation.
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Betsy, I found I needed a 2b, but it took me almost a year to decide I was really going to do it. I think a lot of ppl would have stopped, but knowing you could go back, well, I just kept looking and thinking about it. I'm glad I did. I think with 3-4 flaps and belly and backside areas involved, it is more complicated.
There was somebody here before, Deejaboo (Pam), who had hard breast and worked at it and broke it up. Not sure if her's was necrosis or what. But it was very hard and I remember her being so glad when she was able to break it up or soften it.
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Another topic
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Does anybody have a vote on what I should do with all those surgeries listed above when we move to the new year? I was thinking of keeping December for a while, but then copying all the info, putting it on a page like this, and then up in that area above, putting a link to the page where the 2011 surgeries are. I haven't done this in the past (2009, 2010) and now I regret it, because I wish I could add them all up and refer to it to rememer names. Any thoughts, let me know.
Spring.
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Spring - your record keeping idea sounds great to me. Thank you so much for this thread (and keeping the list of all the surgeries and dates).
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YOU GIRLS ROCK!!! I knew that you all would say just the right think to make me feel better. I am very excited to meet some of you who will be done at the same time. I am sure along this journey i will meet more of you too.
Just to have something on my left chest...will be better than nothing! I have had this "hole" in my chest since June and prior to that for ten years since my diagnosis i had my ROCK HARD CRAPPY ASS implant. Sorry for the language. So again...anything that feels a tiny bit normal is good for me:)
So i cannot wait for December to see Adey, Kathy and joasta7 and whoever else may be there when i am there. I will put my name of my door...please stop by:)
Oh yeah..is there a list somewhere on this board of things to get before stage one and also anything special to talk besides yoga pants:) I swear i saw something at one time..
hugs to all of you:)
Michelle
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Stage ONE musts:
SlippersLarger underwear to go over the DOM (if you get one)
Yoga pants
Baggy shirts (some like button down)
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What is a DOM?
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The compression garment some get post stage one... Hip flaps do, DIEP flaps don't I, think.
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Beverly.. I do know I have had a lot of surgery so far, and that means a lot of revision... and I also realize that I had my failed flap thus a rebuilt flap, so my current expectations to date are fine.. I just know I need a lot of work... My left breast is very firm and a bit misshapen (mostly due to the firmness) and my right breast has a skin flap due to my August wound, but has good shape and feel... But even with all that, I have cleavage and look normal in a bra. So it may take more than a stage 2A, but I do believe I will have the outcome I had hoped for. My goal from the beginning was to be as similar to my old self as possible..
Nov 3 was my original Stage 2 date.. so thinking of those down in NOLA now, and wishing I were there now too... soon enough.
OH and Beverly.. I think copying the last month or two and adding the link is a good idea.. You can always take some off... you could even copy 6 months and then in the Spring remove them.
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hahaha... or NO underwear for over the Dom! Many of us prefer to go "commando"!!!
Betsy, I had a very large area of necrosis on my left breast... it was the size of a golf ball... or bigger, I think. It eventually just softened up on its own. I did however, have 7 months between stages 1 & 2, and I don't remember exactly how long it took for it to soften, but it did. Hoping yours does too.
Good heavens, you leave for a few days and it is impossible to catch up. I don't know who talked about being concave after removal of implants - I was one of those too. I lived concave on one side and flat on the other for 15 months after the removal of my failed expanders until I found Dr. Sullivan. That was the best day ever and he is my hero!
Sandy - I sent you a PM - we are going to miss each other and I am completely and utterly distraught about it!!!
Minnesota - I hope you are doing well! And I can't wait to hear how your Halloween costume worked out for you! Please let us know how you are!!!
Djf - I hope that you are feeling well and that everything goes off without a hitch tomorrow! Sleep well!
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Spring, your idea sounds great. Just so I can be "featured" longer, please put me down for tattoo re-do with Vinnie on Jan 11th. Nordy, hope to see you in NOLA. I've got my flight and hotel booked, and I arrive on 1/10 in the afternoon. I'm leaving 1/12 on a 6:15 a.m. flight to Atlanta, so it's a quick trip this time. Doing the New Orleans bridal show on 1/11 and I expect Miss Katie to be in attendance this time, finally!!
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Nordy, are you serious???? So close, and yet so far......or would it be the other way around?
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Yes, Sandy! I am so upset! I was totally looking forward to seeing you again in January! Well, we will just have to make a trip to Cali again! We are wanting more of that yummy vegan food!
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Cool, we have a new vegan place...The Spot in Hermosa Beach. Making it a regular Sunday lunch outing with my daughter and future daughter-in-law.
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Great! We will look forward to it. NOT that we are vegan... but we are trying to reduce our animal protein intake and keep it less than 5% of our diet. We are a work in progress.
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Oh and Minn is good. Somehow, Dr. D found a bit of fat to lipo....where, I have no idea!
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The DOM has been good to me. It doesn't bother me yet. Commando it is so far. lol
The weather this time of year is great! not hot....not cold....just right.
Kaitsmom remember when i visited you in your room and thought i needed a wheelchair to get back to my room after stage 1. Stage 2 is totally different for me. I am able to walk! yeah.
My post op is on friday and then i head back home. I didnt want to leave the hospital today!
Whole Foods here has a concierge service and delivers if you want. Just another helpful hint.
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Minn- How about a photo of you in costume? Love to see it! (c:
All- Has anyone stayed at the Residence Inn? There are some great and reaaaaalllly bad reviews. Also, Springhill Suites anyone? Thanks!
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Sandy I added your Jan 11 date for the tats. I will be anxious to hear how your tattoo redo goes. I will need mine redone at some point. I will likely go to MD to Vinnie as it's just a few hours up the road from NC. Has anybody else here had a tattoo job with Vinnie? and how does it look?
Nordy, will I still see you in early Jan (eve of 4th) in Portland area? Or will you be gone to NOLA already? We'll be there that eve at a hotel and flying out early the next am. Any suggestions for fun place we can meet? Maybe dinner?
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OK, venting time ... I have been trying to get things lined up (can you say obsessive?) for my December Stage 2. Looking for a place to stay as this time I will have to eat all of the costs. Found possible vacation rentals/apartments. Have a friend who lives in NOLA willing to transport and anything else I need. Husband CANNOT come as we are in the middle of the B&B renovation then and I get blowback from Katie saying that there MUST be someone dancing attendance on me 24/7 first out of the hospital and to fly me home! I am staying through the 28th (post-op is the 23rd and they would put me on a flight that day!) so I have additional recovery time. There simply isn't anyone else in my family who can drop everything, pony up for tickets and other expenses and be there. This had better not mess up my Stage 2 ...
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springtime - let me know when you are headed to get your tattoos. i am not sure when i am going but maryland is closer to me than new orleans. driving distance. me and my friend are lounging at the hotel today. post op and flight home is tomorrow.
celtic - sorry you have having problems with your arrangements. hang in there.....i hope it all works out.
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Today is 1 week post stage 2b....and I so wish I could talk about how great I feel...but I don't and it is really depressing to me. Four surgeries in 9 months and I guess my body just can't take it. Besides a coldsore the size of a dime on my lip I am constantly lightheaded and nauseous. The clinic prescdribed anti-nausea meds but they make me dizzy, along with anti-anxiety meds, but they make me dizzy too. So I've stopped all of them and am only taking tylenol right now. I wish someone had some advice for me...but I guess this is just part of the process. Funny, for me, Stage 1 was in some ways the easiest...maybe because I had much lower expecations for myself. Thanks for letting me vent...and I welcome any advice for getting my spirits back up!
PS- Can't imagine where they lipo'd from Eve either!
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Kathryn - I felt the same way after Stage 2. I thought that Stage 1 was easier. I'm 2 weeks out today and finally feeling like myself. I think that the only answer is time and if you're dizzy, drinking even more water then you already are. Sending you healing thoughts!
Tig & Spring - Let me know if you plan a trip to MD. I'm thinking that I'm going to wait awhile for my tats just to give things time to settle down but I'd love to get them with someone else!
Celtic - Sorry for your stress. I ran into the same thing for Stage 2. I stayed with friends after hospital discharge and had planned to travel home alone after a week. I ended up flying my brother in for a night so he could fly home with me. Fortunately, I got reasonable airfare!
Adey - I liked the Springhill location better then Homewood so decided to stay there for the night with my brother post stage 2. I would say that it's okay. Our first room was 88 degrees and the tech spent 2 fixing the air or so he said. We went out and came back and it was still 87 degrees so they changed us to another room. The rooms are clean and the location is good. It is not as nice as Homewood.
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I think I have found a vacation rental in a nice part of town that is manageable. I flew home alone after Stage 1 and no one said boo! Yes, it woul dhave been easier with assistance, but I don't have it. End of story. Man, I am grumpy today ... sorry ...
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(((celtic)))
Thanks toomuch!
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Kathryn, just be gentle with yourself. I've really had to set aside feeling like my old self, feeling good for a while now. 8 rounds of chemo in 4 months really knocked me out. I tried fighting it early on and I got worse. So now, even though I am frustrated with my weakness and fatigue, I do what I can right now. I'm worried about Stage 2 coming up next month. I feel like I won't be as strong as I'd like for recovery. Before stage 1 I had no treatments, so I was strong and healthy (oh, besides the cancer!) and recovered quickly. For Stage 2 I'll be going in 'weak.' It sure makes sense that you'd be so worn out having 4 surgeries in 1 year! I keep reminding myself this is temporary. I often use HALT to see how I am doing: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. If I am feeling any of those (or all!), I stop and figure out how to address them. I find it surprising how often I am unaware or ignoring myself. I've had to say no to a lot lately, otherwise the stress is too high. I take deep breaths, drink water, and listen to music I like (or just the quiet). The body does a lot repairing while we sleep, so I am OK with sleeping when I need to!
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cider -- Like the HALT. I don't think many of us practice that (perhaps why I am so cranky today!
). I will have to adopt that a little more frequently. Then again, How DO you address them when there doesn't seem to be anyone (other than the gang here) who are willing to lend a hug or smile or whatever. Man, this is a bad day ... 0 -
HALT........... Good stuff. Thanks.
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Sorry I haven't checked in until now. And so sorry for not making it to see Tigsun and Rogam!
I'm ALL DONE (except for one nipple tattoo) and back home! I had a wonderful time in NOLA, culminating with by stage 2C surgery, carried out in the early morning hours of Halloween, and in time for me to get back to the hotel and sleep off the effects of anesthesia, in time to make it back out onto the streets for Halloween 2 (Halloween 1 was on Saturday night). I will try to paste a photo, but I haven't had luck in the past, so if I don't now, somebody tell me how to do it! I was able to put my costume -- the bodice of which was made of one of my old doms -- over the new dom and bra I had from the surgery. It wasn't as provocative as without the post-surgical apparel, but it worked. I needed to bundle up anyway, as the nights were pretty dang cool for a Black Swan costume. I was surprised to wake up with a drain, but was able to hide it nicely in my tutu. If you can see the photo, you will also see that, while Dejaboo's Hand Grenade was sloshing around, I had blood sloshing around. Luckily none of the vampires that were out and about caught wind of that red liquid...
So it was a mystery to me what all was beneath the new surgical garment and why the pain. So when I removed it all to shower, I saw why. You gals are nice to wonder where there was excess fat, but there always is, right? So he took some from the back of my upper thighs and also some from my back (?). Or so the bruising and little pieces of tape would indicate. He revised my breast scar, as I'd requested, since some part of it had healed raised and very red. The drain coming from the same area is because he broke up some scar tissue that was making kind of a butt-crack-looking area on the side of my breast. And then, to my total surprise (and maybe because they had to turn me over to get the back and thigh fat (which also helps define my petite derriere -- I prefer that to "flat butt" - which I've always had and is not due to my SGAP), he also revised my SGAP scar. Dr. D. is an incredibly kind and generous man. I'm sure all of us feel like we can never thank these docs, and all the rest of the staff, enough. It's very humbling to be privleged enough to be the recipient of their caring and expertise.
Kathryn - It was great to be able to meet you. All of you who haven't met her, know that she is totally gorgeous! Even with the cold sore she says her lip has manifested, she's still a total 10! OMG! And I saw her the day after her surgery! And I don't think she even had any make-up on or anything! Geez! But I'm so sorry you're feeling so down. This is so normal and so many of us have gone thru this post-surgery. (I think I just used so many "so's") And even to the point of clinical depression. You and your body and your psyche have been thru so much that I think that NOT feeling really down is probably abnormal. Try to do something that brings you some simple pleasures - some really good treats, a fun dvd, have someone rub your back or your feet. Come on here and vent - we've been there and know how you feel. Be kind to yourself.
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"hide it nicely in my tutu"! You're an inspiration. (c:
Hugs to beautiful Kathryn.
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Beverly, Amy and Teresa.. I will also be going to Maryland to see Vinnie... We should make a plan.
Kathryn... I was nauseous at stage 1B.. I stopped the loritab and everything improved.
Eve... Glad to hear from you.. and a decsription of your DOM costume.
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