Nipple Sparing Mastectomy with immediate reconstruction
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Congrats on being on the other side!! Wonderful news about node! Your feelings are completely normal. You should visit some of the other threads regarding mastectomy... we had one for October that I was a part of and you'd be welcome to pop in there and take a look at how emotional we were. You'll pop back, but give yourself time to heal right now!
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Kitchenwitch- Oh, (gentle) (((HUGS))) to you! The first few weeks are rough but it does get better each day, I promise! Having the nodes clear is huge so.....YEAH! Hang in there! We are all here for you- whatever you need! Remember to keep up with your pain meds and stay hydrated. Drinking a lot of fluids will help flush out the anesthesia which, believe it or not, will also help ease the depression as well. (Anesthesia does crazy things to us!) The fluids will help with some of the SE's of the pain meds as well. Once you get the drains out you will feel so much better. Something about being tethered to those darn things makes it so much worse. So that part will be over soon! Get lots of rest and keep us posted on your progress. (((MORE HUGS)))
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Kitchenwitch-Congrats on making it this far and no nodes! Cc4pg and Kate gave you great advice. Get rest. Your body has been throught a lot! it's normal to have all the feelings you have. Let your husband and others care for you, you need it. I just slept a lot in the begining and took my pain meds. I didn't mind sleeping and resting. Your doing good and I'm sure the nips are going to be fine. Rest, rest and more rest! Fluids too like Kate said.
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Thank you everyone! It's true that rest and fluids are the key. It's actually kind of pleasant to sit in a chair, sort of reclining, watching a movie (I bought myself an ipod touch for this and it has been the greatest thing ever) and the next thing .... O-U-T. Then you're up and you feel a bit more human.
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KW...
Yes, just let everyone take care of you! I am now 5 1/2 weeks out and still being well taken care of. You need this time to heal, let your body do what it needs to do in regards to healing.
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Just wanted to wish all my NSM friends a very happy Thanksgiving Day tomorrow!!!
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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I received wonderful news yesterday: a path report that says no radiation needed! BS actually used the phrase "you're cured" - which i don't think he'd say lightly. So I'm enjoying being 1 week past the surgery, thinking that my new breast won't be damaged by radiation and that the only surgery I'll be looking forward to is entirely cosmetic: just to make the other sie match. Also my PS says she wants to go back aand get my stomach really tight, but I'm not convinced I really need that so badly. Don't really need to look like I never had kids!
I wish I felt i had more feeling in the nipple but I am willing to be patient and see if it returns slowly. The whole breast feels weird and swollen but drains are still in and it hasn't been that long. I do think it is going to look beautiful when the swelling and bruising disappear.
Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!
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Happy Thanksgiving!
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Happy Thanksgiving to all!
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Happy Thanksgiving!
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Happy Thanksgving to my NSM sisters!
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Hi, I had my surgery yesterday. Got the pain under control, feeling much better today then yesterday. Looked at my new breasts and very pleased with the result. Nipples look good .
Question: how much time should pass for me to know that nipple will survive? When does problem show up usually , in first 2 weeks or more or less? If my nipple is ok for lets say 2 weeks, does that mean I shouldn't worry about it any more? Do you girls have any advice? Should I start eating cayenne pepper or something?
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BRCA1, I am wondering the same thing about mine! Mine is SO dark and bruised - I see my PS on Monday. I am one week (and 1 day) post surgery. My PS told me to keep it really really well lubed up with bacitracin. She said even vaseline was good. I'm using bacitraciin/zinc and sometimes bag balm (cute tin, cheers me up).
Here's to keeping our nips!
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Kitchenwitch was your nipples turned dark and bruised from the beginning or later on? I will see my PS next Friday and will ask him this question, but would you be able to get some info from your Dr and share it with me?0
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Kitchen and Brca1, My Nipple was very dark and bruised for about 3 weeks around the half moon insicion they made. Yesterday I completed one month after surgery and I only have a tiny scab still hanging on. As i started to shower the scabs were falling and now the nipple looks nice and pink. I know you girls will be alright. Have a great day everyone.
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I had bad blistering on my breast that extended to my nipple. The day after surgery, when the PS came in and looked at my breast, he when "eww.." (not a good sign). Never said anything about losing it. It wasn't until a follow-up visit with my surgeon about a month later that he said I was going to loose it, and I did. Just to clarity, I had terrible blistering, big, fluid filled blisters and my nipple turned black. Hopefully yours is nothing like that.
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Thanks, Monika & nmi - Visiting nurse says it looks fine to her. It has been very darkly bruised since the surgery. Husband says it is a bit lighter (I dont' believe him) but the skin itself, the feeling of it, is fine - feels smooth and all right. Not blistered or swollen or festering. just terribly terribly bruised. the rest of the breast is slowly starting to turn yellow and other fun colors. I'm just worried. I see PS on Monday (actually BS too) and I'm sure they will give me an accurate report.
Sending healing thoughts to all the nipples out there that have come through this surgery so bravely!
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Kitchenwitch-sounds like it looks good to me (in my unprofessional opinion)!
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Most surgeons know whether the nipples are viable during surgery itself, but you wont find many that will admit to this little secret. Usually within the first 72 hours they know for sure. If u have concerns, face the docs and ask point blank. I know women who hung on for weeks, before having them removed and this is wrong. Many times the nips look worse than they actually are too. Be persistent if u have concerns. Best wishes.
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Hi Y'all ..... hope eveyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families.
I came across the slide show presentations by the plastics team at Moffitt and thought it was interested and wanted to share. http://www.health.usf.edu/nocms/medicine/breasthealth/PDF%20Documents/NSM%20Presentation%20Info%20Updated%202.1.10%5B2%5D.pdf
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Vanderlady,
Thank you for the powerpoint presentation. I really found the stats interesting as well as all of the information. I might want to warn potential viewers that there are some graphic surgical photos midway ... hmmm.. "that's what I looked like during surgery???" I have to go now and try to purge bloody images from my minds' eye ((((runs off and thinks about baby bunnies and yellow chicks)))))
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I only made it to page 7, I think...TMI for me
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First of all I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It was so nice for me to have my husband pull his weight in the kitchen like I have never seen before. It allowed me to make apple pie (he peeled and cut them up) and also do a few other of my traditional things. This is a man who I originally had "no hope" so I am looking at him in a different light now!
As far as the "black" look of the nipple. I a little over 6 weeks out now. When I was 4 weeks out I had a black round spot just on the nipple, it was a scab and very black. My surgeon said, "have you tried to pick it off" I gave her a strange look and said, "YUK,,,,,,,,,NO!" She said we'll let me see what it looks like. They were just sort of barely hanging on and she took tweezers to pulled them off and said they look great. Since then they have scabbed over again and one has come off "On it's own thank-you!" the other is hanging by a thread but my nipples look great!
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For those that just had their MX the #1 thing the surgeons forget to warn us about is that, more than likely, your nipples will develop black scabs. This does not mean you're losing your nipples. It happens to just about all of us. It's pretty alarming when it happens if no one tells you about it. Just let them heal and the scab will fall off on it's own revealing nice healthy pink nipples. Good luck everyone!
whitedove- Baby bunnies and yellow chicks! Hilarious! Since I just had lunch perhaps I will watch the video at another time. Thanks for the heads up!
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My PS loves bacitracin or vaseline in enormous amounts on the nipple (and belly button). I have no scabbing - and maybe that's why? In any event I'm fairly afraid to look at my new breast.
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Do any of you know if there is an alternative to bacitracin ointments? I am allergic and my PS commented that he practically "dips" patients in the stuff...he said not to worry, there are other options. Just wondered if there was any advice on here...thanks & hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!
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I thought I will be very scared to look at my new breast too, but the first thing I did after I walk up after the surgery is I looked at them and I was happy to see great result. Also, I figured if I will faint from looking at them at least I am lieing dawn and I have nurses around to help me to get better)))
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Vanderlady-thanks for sharing the link. I agree it's a little gross but I actually find it facinating to look at it and see what they really do during the surgery.
Firedancer- I was using bacitracin per my Dr's order but I had an allergic reaction to it after a while. It caused my skin and nipple to get really dry and blister. He switched me to Aquaphor which kept everything soft and moisturized.
I had the black scab on my nipple but mine was really thick and crusty. It didn't really fall off and my Dr. removed it at my second surgery (he had to replace my TE due to a wound opening) after he took it off I lost part of the nipple. I often wonder what would have happened if we just left it alone, but as someone said earlier Dr's tend to know from the start if the nipple will make it. I think I am the exception here and I think most if not all of the other ladies who had scabs or blk nipples were fine.
BRACA1- I couldn't wait to look either. I wanted to show everyone after my surgery. I don't know why but I was just facinated with the process. Now that I look back at the pics I was really bruised and blk and blue and looked pretty aweful. It's amazing to see how much better things look day by day and months later. I really just think us women are a lot stronger than we think when we have to be. Glad your doing well.
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fire-dancer, My PS said she just likes to keep the site really moist and gelled up. She said vaseline was a fine alternative, if that helps. I also use something called Bag Balm (probably just vaseline in a cute green tin with flowers on it). My dresssing this whole week has consisted of a layer of vaseline or bacitracin, and then this yelllow thin film which is basically coated in vaseline (or something like it). A little gauze over that and then my bra.0
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Most surgeons know whether the nipples are viable during surgery itself, but you wont find many that will admit to this little secret.
Wow, really? What specifically makes them know whether it's viable or not?
fire-dancer, I will be using iodine liberally on my nipple and incisions. I wish doctors told patients how useful iodine is on incisions and scars. I recently started using it on my really ugly lumpectomy scar (it was dark red and had spread out, and looked horrible even 6 months after my last surgery)... within a few weeks the skin started regenerating itself. Since iodine is also antibacterial, etc., I imagine it will be fantastic to use right after surgery and in the weeks following.
I'm going to ask about using coconut oil instead of vaseline since I don't use petroleum waste products anymore.
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