TE TROUBLE
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Good luck with the surgery, beebop. Hope you have a great trip.
Yay, for being nearly done, momof3!
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Good Lord…..not once but twice! My hats off to you. I'm a big baby so I'd choose anesthesia over local everytime….even if it doesn't make sense.
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Dll - man, that just sounds scary! Thanks for the well wishes!
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what was melatonin good for besides sleeping? was there anything? I use it for sleeping but thought I saw something here about it being good for something else, but now I can't find that post....
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Hi there chick - how are your implants feeling?
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Hi all! YOu have been busy! I take a lot of vitamins too. Had to stop E, fish oil, ibuprofen, aspirin before surgery. Can't remember what else. I did take arnica montana a couple of days before the surgeries. Not sure if it helped or not. I had a hematoma after mastectomy.
I take (none of these religiously) vitamin e (ps says it is supposed to help prevent capsular contraction), coq10, , b complex, fish oil, probiotics,biotin,turmeric, lots of vitamin c and occasionally melatonin. I like it but I wake up at exactly 4.5 hours after taking it and the dreams are crazy!
Indianapolis is really hopping now. We are headed downtown to the Super Bowl Village several times over the next few days. It is so much fun.0 -
chick - apparently melatonin can possibly help prevent BC recurrence. This is based on checking the melatonin levels in people dx'd with BC and their levels are low.
www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20030714/hormone-melatonin-slows-breast-cancer
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Thanks SpecialK. I had not ever read that before. However have to agree with Fluff that I get about 5 hours of sound sleep.
MichM - The implants are doing just great. I see the PS on the 8th to discuss fat grafting. I wasn't going to do it (hate surgeries), but the cancer side has dropped and there are some ripples and the non-cancer side has some sort of divit at the end of the scar line (right in my cleavage). The cancer side is also a lot softer. Only 2 more weeks for you!
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DLL you are my hero. Holy moly there's no way I could do that.
Beebop- thinking of you today. I'm so sorry you're having complications, but I believe in time everything will be OK for you.
chick-WOOHOO! I'm anxious to hear about the fat grafting. Do they have to put you out for that?
I'm going to get melatonin and give that a whirl. I haven't slept well this week at all - I had a zoladex injection on Monday and my night sweats are on turbo mode this week.
Michelle-how did your dr. appointment go yesterday??
To all the new women who are in this "club"-you are in a great place. These women have a wealth of information, these women are compassionate and caring, and they are living proof that even when things go wrong, there's hope. I've learned that Time is our best friend and generally takes care of a lot of our issues. Time, laughter, and friendship! Have a great Friday everyone.
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MT he said that I could do a twilight sedative if I wanted. Still need to discuss that more. Not sure I like the idea of even being partially awake. I don't know how DLL did it!! I have has so many surgeries in the last year I have it mastered what I need to do inorder to not get sick afterwards!
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I guess I am just lucky that my PS does minor surgeries in the office, LOL.
Thanks for the melatonin info--I'm thinking of taking it in the near future.
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SpecialK: The only bad thing I have experienced with melatonin is that I experience weird dreams when I take it.
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mkw - I have read that as well. Interestingly, I am almost dreamless, or at least I am unaware of having dreams. I used to dream a lot. I don't know if being in pain much of the time is keeping me from reaching that state of sleep where you dream freely.
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SpecialK, I am really sorry that you are in pain. Hope it resolves soon.
Forgot to mention that I found a microbead pillow @ Bed Bath & Beyond for only $6. Looks like a neckroll pillow & I am thinking about taking some of the microbeads out so it is flatter.
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dll - it sucks! Hopefully as the Herceptin works its way out of my system and my TE discomfort goes away after exchange (hopefully!) it will be easier. I am really surprised how much my shoulder blades, neck, and node arm are bothering me. PS thinks it is the TE's and will improve after surgery.
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I will be heading to bed bath and beyond this weekend to check those out!
My appt went well yesterday. It didn't start out that way (my appt wasn't in the computer..luckily I had my appt card and letter with me). The doctor wasn't in. He was out on a family emergency so I saw his PA. She didn't speak English very well which was frustrating and I couldn't tell if she understood me because she couldn't reiterate what I was asking. But...in the end it was all good. I understand now how lymphnodes work. She said I did have a micro invasion and said I will probably have to take tamoxiphen after my surgery (uh, no I'm not). I already decided I'm not going to. We'll see, I go back in 4 weeks and will be seeing the doctor. She said my after care will include checks ups and labs. I didn't really go indepth in my questions because there was a barrier in understanding each other. I'm not going to worry about it, I'll see the doctor in a month. I got a B12 shot. Did that make a difference. I was falling into a hole again. My body felt like it's running out of gas. All this talk of vitamins in here made me put my symptoms together and I was due for the shot and I need to pick up my scrip for D2.
The weekend is finally here! Lets get some rest this weekend, shall we?
Michelle
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I'm now up to 420cc's in the right TE...yay!!! She says I have 3 more fills, but I thought it would be 2. The last one is to probably even them up. I am finally without any prosthetic foob on the right side for the first time in nearly a year. Symmetry - how I've missed it. They're not exactly even but close enough that you can't tell when I'm wearing clothes. I go again on Monday. So ready for that 3 month break of no appts. ((big sigh)) Happy Friday!!
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mrochon - why could you not take an aromatase inhibitor after your ooph? Technically you would be post-meno at that point.
momof3 - yay for no fake foob! The no appt. break is good but I seem to be filling it up with other appts!
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SpecialK - I don't know, but I thought I would ask the dr when I go back. It didn't make sense to me. I was having trouble understanding her as it was and didn't want to keep adding questions on top of that. It's going in the still need answers column.
Congrats on the fills momof3!!
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mrochon - man, doesn't it seem like there are always questions in that "still needs answers" column? If you could take an AI it would eliminate the risk to the uterine lining, but still give you the protection for the ER+. What is the explanation for the microinvasion in your nodes if you were a DCIS dx? That still baffles me - do they think it is possibly from your biopsy/surgeries? My understanding is that the disturbance of the tissue can cause isolated cells to travel into the lymph nodes (means they are doing their job) where they are stopped from going any further.
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Mrochon....I agree with special k. By definitin,dcis isn't invasive. Seems weird.
Specialk- i didnt have neck and shoulder pain with my te's but it was very strained all the time. Implants have made a huge difference. The only thing I notice now is that I have to make a little extra effort to keep my shoulders back. Not sure if that is due to pecs or just weakness from all the surgery, but I find it easy to get round shouldered if I dont think about it. So I am working on that.0 -
fluff - thanks - it makes me look forward to the exchange even more! It is also possible that I am exacerbating the neck and shoulder pain by sleeping in a weird position with the heating thing around my neck and shoulders. I also have a pretty intense pain right between the shoulder blades on my back. I have 575 in the R and 650 in the L - and I am a petite framed person, so this would account for the pulling/pinching feelings, I hope.
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fluff-I get "round shouldered" very easily also. DH says I am always hunching and it has gotten worse in the last year...you really think it has something to do with how the TE's/implants are under the pecs?
Well you ladies have a nice night. I am off to a brownie/daisy bash where I get to spend the night on a hard floor. The other adult had to bail on me because of sick child....
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chick - I think it is muscle weakness all around the shoulders and chest, and that natural inclination to curl around. I would say enjoy your evening but I am thinking that is probably not going to happen, lol!
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All - Yeah that's what I've read to and I asked her but she would just state what my path report said. I know this is bad but this is what the communication barrier was like...you know when you go to the nail salon and you tell the girl how you want your nails done and she'll look at you and smile and say...go pick color? That's kind how yesterday was. I took a deep breathe and told myself...I'm coming back in 4 weeks to see the doctor. Ask again, then.
chick - when I was the 'neck' doctor this week and he did the nerve test thing on my arms. Who by the way was hot, but anyway...he said i have arthritis in my neck. He's seen people with way worse necks than mine and have no trouble. When I told him what I thought was causing the pain...six surgeries, recoveries, wierd sleeping positions, etc...he agreed. My shoulders and blades are rock hard and not because I have great muscle tone. He traced the areas of pain that I had and showed me how that is all connected to the tissue and muscles in that area. I am sitting slumped over, which I never have before. I've alwasy had good posture. But I remember when I was being fited for my prosthetics. She said that women who have had masectomies hunch because we don't realize what our boobs do for us, posture wise. I remember thinking...hmmmm, that makes sense. But I obviously let that go out the window. But now that I know that my pain is most likely from all that stuff, I have been making a conscientious effort to make sure to pull my shoulders back. I have been doing doing stretches everyday in my office while in my chair. I pretend I'm pulling down a bar for a lat-pull. Put your arms wide, pull down, get your elbows and arms close down to your sides and squeeze your shoulder blades. It's actually been helping. We are weaker there and need to get it strong again.
It's almost time to go home!!!
Michelle
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I survived the dreaded first expansion and it was actually pretty uneventful. I even went to a Pilates class afterwards. The PS will only put in 30cc a visit so this is going to truly take forever AKA 11 weeks. LOL I'm counting the days until I can get rid of my puff and ditch the bra. Does anybody find that their bras press on all the wrong places? My ribs and armpit just plain hurt on days when I have to wear a bra for an extended period time.
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sunder - yay for your fill! If it makes you feel any better I did 25cc at a time too - took a while but mostly no pain from fills. I really have not worn a bra in quite a while except for stretchy ones! Even those now look like triangle bikini tops on these crazy foobs!
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I didn't have to wear a bra until after I got my nips done. They were just obnoxious. Thank goodness they have shrunk. Shortly after that righty burst open and I was totally lopsided so back into a bra. I got to take out a little fluff yesterday after the fill so I know there was some progress made. I loved my TEs the first time around and since they were a matched pair I didn't need a bra.
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sunder - I am trying to decide what to do about a bra now so I have one before my exchange. Different PS seem to have differing philosophies on bras - mine says sports bra, no underwire necessary. Some say underwire to hold them in place - so confusing. I don't currently own a bra that I can put these things into! I need a 34 F or something! I did wear a soft bra with a prosthetic when I was without the left TE but not one with regular cups.
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My ps said sports bra, I thought u kidding? I'm flat on the one side lol
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