August 2011 Surgery Group
Comments
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Susanwmcg The color sounds good and no odor is good. I would still call esp with the leaking!!! Let us know what happens!
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Nancyjill,
Your post surgery sounds like mine. No pain meds after 2 days. Was out on 2nd day, driving this week end. Made the mistake of lifting my 25 lb. grandaughter and felt it later. I have lots of overall swelling but soft, not red...not painful....still lots of sloshing in there! I had to buy some clothes to start back to work tomorrow. It was probably a bad idea to try on tops with the swelling. I switched to shoes.I am so glad to hear about your clear nodes and margins. I can only hope for good news. I had up to 1.9 cm IDC plus margins removed a week ago and there was also DCIS but I thought it was within the same area. I hope the margins on that are OK.
I get the lumpectomy report on Friday 9/9. They may call me before then.
I hope you get the go to get started on rads. Good luck with the onco appt. Mine is not until October and am 50/50 for chemo; but maybe I can move the appt. up.
cbecchetti -- sorry to hear you had to go back but glad to hear you got the clear margins. good luck with the other side - hope you luck out there. Will you start radiation soon or wait until you are clear on the other side? Good luck with your next steps.0 -
I'm seeing some of you post that you have opphorectomies schedule. What happened to determine that? I was advised by my GYN to get one, but the BS said she'd never heard of it and didn't think it was neccesary.
I was so happy when my surgeon told me I wouldn't need a drain, but the uncomfortable Seroma under my armpit is so annoying and I think it's just turning into a hard lump. I sure wish I had gotten more info about this.
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SUSAN, I fell in the hospital bed and it pulled my drains, and one leaked all week after surgey and until they pulled the drains and they closed up. I put dressing bandages over the drain holes to soak up some of the excess. Fortunately I did not get infected.
MAGS, I had the same thing with tenderness and soreness in my inner arm, everything hurt that touched it, too, just like you. Finally I hit on putting lotion, then putting baby powder, and it helped that rubbing feeling that is so painful
EEMA, wow, I feel for you getting so faint! I hope your husband was just worried about you when he got upset over another mother offering to take your child home. Actually, I wasn't allowed to drive for two weeks after surgery, and finally did a test run maybe five days after the two weeks. But I suspect the dizzy spell happened because a person loses some blood during surgery, AND surgery takes a lot of out of a person in general, and so we are super tired.
ALL who have sharp pains, I also was told by a nurse that I would feel those after surgery and it is normal. Another thing I noticed is, they put numbing stuff all over the skin where they do surgery, and I noticed when I finally washed all that off, some of the feeling returned, altho I suppose it could have been nerves repairing. As it is, one month later, the pains are gone, but from the center of where my boob was over and under the armpit, the skin is all numb and I imagine will stay that way. GG
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jjjsjames: Normally, oophorectomy is only recommended if you test positive for the BRCA gene mutation and are older than 35-40 years. However, when I went to the gynecologist to have my breast lump examined he also found pelvic abnormalities. U/s revealed that it's likely just a cyst but since my mother died from ovarian cancer a few month ago it was recommended that I have the whole ovary removed on that side. I have since changed breast surgeons but my first BS told me that I could have breast AND ovarian cancer. I have since been told that this is not likely. I am nervous about the pathology only because of family history. I opted to leave the other ovary for now since the research reveals more problems generally with removal of both ovaries before age 40. I did have the surgeon go ahead and do a tubal ligation on the remaining side since he was in there. I will likely have the other ovary removed sometime in the next 5-10 years unless something shows up in the pathology of this one. I was negative for the BRCA gene but family history and age indicate some kind of genetic componant.
If you are being told to have an oophorectomy I would find out exactly why. I ended up switching gynecologists too because the first guy told me that I needed to have a full prophylactic hysterectomy at age 31. When pressed for an explanation he backed down and said he would just do whatever I wanted. There are risks associated with hysterectomy especially in premenopausal women. I think my first gyno just panicked when he heard my breast cancer diagnosis and wanted to go overboard. I agree that a phophylactic oophorectomy and possibly hysterectomy is probably in my future but it doesn't necessarily need to happen right now.
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Dixiebell, thanks for the answer to the hair question. I am having the same issue. I didn't have this issue prior to surgery and wondered what was going on. good to know that it's normal.
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I have a question for y'all. So, today as I was about to take a shower, I looked at my scars. The come in from the sides in two well...they look like frowns. (How appropriate!) and the skin seems bunched and puckered in between the stitches. I started looking online and saw a lot more scars in straight lines going across that don't seem as gnarly as mine. Even on my prophalactic side, so it's not like it was because of the tumor. Are yours straight scars, or are they more like mine? I'm getting freaked that they will always look awful. I was hoping that the scars would fade (always be there of course), but that in the end I'd have the implants and a pretty nice set despite the scars. Now, I'm getting worried.
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rockym and dawmson, I had lump/SNB Aug. 26. 12 nodes removed, but no numbness. Just discomfort from seroma (fluid) and sensitivity of incisions due to that swelling, which didn't really kick in for a week. I'm allowed ibuprofen/ice packs and was told to take it easy to reduce fluid build-up when I called this weekend (holiday or no!). No more treadmill for a while.
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jjjsjames, yes, I wasn't expecting this seroma thing to be as annoying as it is, but for me it is better than no sensation/no breast--I think that for now, at least--who knows what may come later? We can only do our best to look at options and move ahead. I'm so glad this site lets me know some of what to expect because I didn't get all this from my BS!
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Nancyjill and Joan811 and others who had lumpectomy/SNB -
how much swelling do you still have? I am one week out from my lump/SNB and I have a small lump right in my armpit under my SNB incision. When I put my arm close to my body it feels like I have a little ball tucked in there. It doesn't seem hard, so do you think it's fluid? I have a lot of numbness along the back of my arm, across my breast and sometimes down into my forearm. I am NOT liking that and really hope it goes away.
My breast is also still swollen - the incision goes vertically along the lateral side of my breast and so the breast from the nipple all the way toward the side of my chest is swollen. The incision looks good, I think - still has the steri strip on top of it. I stopped wearing a sports bra today - I can't stand them and they seemed to make the swollen feeling worse.
I get my path results tomorrow and I'm really losing a lot of sleep over it. I've been told that the chances of my diagnosis changing are really slim, but I keep remembering all the docs who told me early on when I was having mammos and U/S and MRI that "we're just doing this test to rule out cancer; it's probably benign." So much for that story!
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Profbee- my scars run diagonally across my chest. They followed my lumpectomy scar on the left which started at 7 o clock and mirrored that on the right ( non cancer) side and they do curve a bit. I had skin sparing mastectomies so there is excess skin there that is wrinkled. Did you have one too?
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Thanks, Bobeena. No, I didn't have skin-sparing mastectomy. The visiting nurse today said that it will probably smooth out when the TEs come out and the implants go in. We'll see I guess! hmmm.
Dawmson, I hear you on waiting for the results. "I'm 80% sure your nodes are clear" is a big, big margin to me since I had like zero risk factors for having BC in the first place! Oh, and I had a BMX, but the side with the SNB feels like I have a ball under there too. I can't feel it on the outside at all, but it feels that way when I put my arm down. ugh.
Hope everyone is healing well!
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Hi Ladies!
Hope everyone is doing well. Profbee, my scars run from what used to be my nips down. I had SSM, so maybe I'm different, but I have some bunchiness too. PS says that will go away when I'm all full. I hope the same is true for you! Hey, are you a professor? I'm guessing because of the name. I am, although not this semester...
Dogeyed-- my husband wasn't made another mother took my son home for me, he was upset I tried to be Superwoman and do too much my first day out! I try to overachieve with everything I do, so I needed to be brought down to earth a bit.
Today I took a Tai Chi class, with the blessing and encouragement of my PS. My arms are SO tired from holding my chi! I took an almost 3 hour nap afterwards! Now I need to get my tushy out of bed and try to do the work I didn't do all day. My college asked me to take a medical leave this semester since I'm also having the ooph/hyst next month, so I'm not in the classroom, but I still have work to do. However, after reading all the comments, I'm going to ask my ME why I need it. I think because I can't take Tamoxifen the ooph/hyst would provide another layer of protection, but I need to hear it from her.
Be well, all my surgery sistas!0 -
tlaquepaque, thanks for the response. You certainly seem to be a good candidate for ovary removal, but being so young it also seems like a good idea to keep one, but keep an eye on it. The reason I was advised was that the GYN said the ovary is a good hiding place for estrogen positive cancer even though I only have one and it hasn't produced estrogen in 20 years. I'll ask the med ocologist.
Wondering about your screen name...Do you live in AZ?
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NancyJill, you sound like a "glass half full" kind of person. Wish I could be a little more like that.
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Hi All: (Posting this on a couple of groups.) Met with my new oncologist (yes I loved him) he is at a teaching hospital here in new Orleans. My oncotype score was 5. Here is the kicker. He does not feel there is an adequate data supporting the node positive pts. My oncotype results came with a number and a page specifically for node positive pts. Yet he still recommends chemo. (the test was ordered by a different dr before I was aware I was node positive with a 5mm tumor my chance of node involvement was less than 10%) - so far numbers NOT in my favor as I was node positive. I'm a numbers girl. This is what I was told today. Forgetting about the oncotype I have a 70% chance to be cancer free and alive in 10 years. But I have a 30% of either having a recurrance or not being here at all. With chemo only that number goes to 77%. With hormone supression therapy that number goes to 77%. With both that number goes to 82% - nothing I do can give me better odds than that. I love statistics so being told all this has been so helpful. Radiation will not help because the entire section and all the nodes were removed (radical mastectomy) . So I said well those numbers do not make me feel like the tx is worth it. He told me this: "if you were forced to play a game of russian roulette and you could take out 1 bullet would you", I said of course I would, "he said this is no different". It has me thinking. I loved this man! Still not sure if I will do any tx but love the facts so I can make an informed decision!
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Dixie,
I hate that we have to make a million decisions along the way--it's tiring. For me, I'm only 39 and HER 2 +, so it's aggressive and dangerous. So, I'm throwing everything I can at it for me, hubby, and our 5-year-old. Honestly, chemo wasn't as horrifying as I expected it to be...so far! (I've had Taxol and Lapatinib...AC starts soon.) No one ever talked numbers like that with me--I asked and they just said, HER 2 + equals chemo...and being 39 pretty much equals chemo too. With stage 2 and node involvement, I'd go for the chemo. But I respect any decision you make, and I'll be here to support you whatever you decide.
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profbee; I am as well her2 pos. and estrogen pos. I finished 8 months of chemo 4 weeks before my dbl masec, last week, Yes they make it sound very scary but I still have to do herceptin every 3 weeks until April and where I go they say it is like a miracle drug for us, so they seemed to ease my mind alot. At first I worried alot about it but there are 20 year or more survivors being her2. Today has not been a great day, it;s rained all day here in wva and very dreary. I don't know about the rest of ya gals but it gets so aggrivating every day with these dang drains just trying to find the right comfortable piece of clothing to put on. hope all u all are doing fine. Sweet dreams until tomorrow.0
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My Mom had HER2 + and I think that chemo is very different from the other kind. I will find out since mine is HER2-. I'm guessing that the + is much longer, but not as hard on the body. My Mom lost her hair, but her skin and nails weren't bad.
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Wow. lorenar! 8 months! I did 4 mos of Taxol and Lapatinib and will start AC soon--yes, and then Herceptin (and Tamoxifin). I am SO thrilled with all I've heard about Herceptin too...it does sound like a miracle drug. I'm planning on being a Granny someday, and my boy's only 5, so I'm feeling pretty positive about it. I just think it's a SUCK year, and I'm going totally aggressive (went for the BMX when I could have opted for lumpectomy since my tumor shrank so much with the first chemo round), and then I'm going to move on and put this past me.
The drains did stink. I wore (and am still wearing) tank tops (without the shelf bra--the spaghetti strap kind so I didn't have to raise my arms) with a shirt of some kind over it. I also lived in that Jackie top while I had my drains--so comfy! Sweet dreams to everyone too!
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I am from Tucson but live in Ohio. We were married in Sedone at Tlaquepaque chapel. I don't know, that's just always been my screen name.
Pathology report on the ovary was not ready today. My breast surgeon has me spoiled because he has a lot of pull at the hospital and gets pathology back within 24-36 hours. I hate waiting.
To those asking about scars, I have a large T shaped scar on the right side. The surgeon had to remove a large portion of skin. Left side is just a line. It is somewhat wrinkled and puckered but I think that will even out with fills.
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I had the appointment with MO today. They ordered the Oncotype test so now we wait until the 20th to get those results. Good news is if the score is low, no chemo. Just Tamoxifen. He also set me up with the genetics group for an appt on the 29th. We have four daughters so I want to know my Brac status.
I guess my leaky drain is "normal" . It only does it for a little bit after I have stripped it. The PS said not to worry. He also wasn't worried about the amount. Ughhhhhh. One friend told me today she had hers in for 7 weeks! Good gracious help me now.
My steri-strips are still on and with no shower I don't know what my scars even look like yet. I suppose ignorance is bliss for awhile yet. My swelling has gone down enough that I can feel the TEs.
Keep on healing,
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jjjsjames I was researching today and remembered your question about ovary removal. Here is an article i fell upon for you. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Removal of the ovaries (oophorectomy) plus tamoxifen, as adjuvant, or "add-on" therapy, significantly improves survival in premenopausal women with operable breast cancer, a study indicate. Here is the link! http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/hormonal/new_research/20080111b.jsp
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Dixiebell, Thanks. Interesting study. I'm post menopausal, and this was for premenopausal. Still, it would have been a good precaution that I wish I had done, but it seemed to complicated to schedule at the same time since the BS wasn't keen. Tlaquepaque will find the article interesting. Thanks for sharing.
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Dixiebell, yes, thanks for the study. I was approached with this exact option when I was stage II. It's a story but originally I was given a diagnosis of IDC Stage II but I got a second opinion on pathology and a lumpectomy that revealed it is DCIS only. However, I was stage II ER+ for a couple weeks and the removal of both ovaries as part of treatment was discussed.This is a risk for young women because of the possible side effects including twice the risk of heart disease and severe early bone loss. It was decided at this time to examine one ovary and leave the other for me for now.0
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EEMA, thank you for explaining your husband's concerns, I misread your post for sure.
PROFBEE, about the way your incision looks, I'm not having reconstruction, and yet my scar looks like yours. My surgery was Aug 2, and at first I was annoyed, it looked like a three-year-old made the bed and tucked in a bunch of sheets instead of pulling them straight. The other day, tho, I looked at my scar again, and those rumpled parts seemed to be more even, still looks pulled but not as poofy. So, I'm assuming it will eventually flatten down to something more normal.
My rads are to start either end of this week or beginning of next week, they're going to call me with the date and haven't as yet. I had five months of chemo, then surgery, and now rads. The rads are important because of my inflammatory breast cancer in my skin, and I presume it will be equally important for the melanoma in my breast, too, as it follows same pattern of treatment as I've already been thru. I see a melanoma expert today, don't know what she wants to do, seems like there is a drug named something like interferon that is helpful for preventing a spread of it. Thanks for sharing, all! Always, Gail
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For those questioning chemo, I have already finished mine (except herceptin, which is a biological drug and not a chemo drug), so anyone that has questions, feel free to PM me. It was tough but defiitely doable, as Profbee has said.
Profbee and Lorenar, I have asked this question on many different discussion boards, but I will ask you both too: Have you heard anything about the Tamoxifen interferring with the HER2 receptors and possibly making them grow once you are off the Herceptin? I have heard about this recently and am trying to get answers BEFORE I start the Tamox... meeting with my onc at the University of Michigan on the 19th and hoping for more answers but as the research is fairly new, not too optimistic... I just don't want to (purposely) do anything to make the cancer come back!!
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Dogeyed, thanks for the scar input. I guess I'll just be patient...the tucked in sheets comment totally cracked me up.
Abatellik, I have NOT heard that, but I'll tell ya what...I'm heading to my oncologist on Monday down in Boston at Dana Farber. I'll be SURE to ask about it. ugh.
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I had my surgery on Friday August 19, 2011 at University of Michigan Hospital.
Please add me to this group.
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dawmson and profbee ~ I also have that feeling of a ball being tucked under my arm from the SNB. It is really annoying. I sure hope it goes away. I find my self holding my arm away from my body so that it does not feel so uncomfortable. I go for a physical therapy assessment tomorrow and I am going to ask them about it. If either of you learn anything about it, please post.
I also have some numbness and tingling down the back side of my upper arm from SNB. BS said that it may get better, or it may be permanent. She said over time I would get used to it, or learn to ignore it.
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