August 2011 Surgery Group
Comments
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Yes I was dx in 2009 the first time. My mother was dx in dec of 2008. I have 2 sisters, so we all had our mammos in the spring after my mom got her treatment started. My mammo showed a spot, I had biopsey and it was IDC, .08 cm 0/0 nodes. At that time I had lumpectomy (after biopsey my margins were not clear so I had to go back to surgery), then I had the chemo & rads, was started on Tamoxifin. My cancer was pr/er +, her2-, so I had a complete hysterectomy in May of 2010. Then in July of 2011 at regular mamo a spot was found on my left breast and on my right breast. Left breast was IDC, <1cm, stage/grade 1, er/pr+, her2-. Rt breast was DCIS. Both the Surgon and Onco said by looking at path reports this was not a recurrence but a new primary in both breasts. Surgon recommended Bi MX this time. Onco did not recommend chemo since it was low grade/stage and I had Bi mx. But onco did change me to armidex.
Glad to know you did not get const. That makes you feel so bad. And yea, seems like this won't go away. My MD said breast cancer is like diabetes, "You don't cure it, you have to manage it" Some people never see it again but some do.
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JanaJ It seems like all I have heard this week has been story after story of either recurrances or new cancers. And it is so discouraging that you developed a new cancer on hormone supression that is er and pr+. Geez I am so sorry. Thinking of you sending prayers hugs and kisses!
BMX 8/10/2011 Left radical / right elective simple with 1 step alloderm reconstruction nipple and skin sparing Oncotype score 5. Started Arimidix on 9/14/2011
Diagnosis: 7/20/2011, ILC, <1cm, Stage II, Grade 2, 2/18 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-0 -
Hi Ladies,
Healing thought to all you undergoing challenges right now. Dixie, I feel for your daughter, I had one too before my son, he is six now and I'm so happy I get to be his mom!
I'm sooooo sore after my fill. It feels like something is sticking me in the rib and I want to cry. I had 80 ccs and it was my fiirst fill. Too much, I think.
Ok girls, typing is killing me, so xoxoxo to you all and good night!0 -
the port is in as of today....i hate anestesia as it makes me vomit but back to normal finally
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I know dealing with it more than once seems so wrong. But I have accepted that I am a breast cancer survivor and want to continue to be one. That was hard for me at first, to change from a person with no cancer to a person with breast cancer.
PS I also live in La. I live in Bernice (North of Ruston) and my husband has relatives in Covington.
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JanaJ My son is an LSU football player if your fans! He is redshirted but i was so excited to see him in uniform I dragged myself to the game last week and took 100 pictures of him standing on the sideline. I was up your way for high school state football playoffs last year my son's team played farmerville! I was born and raised in new orleans. Lost everything in Katrina and now I'm on the "good side" of the lake I hope"
Oh and I know what you mean going from no cancer to cancer. I still can't believe I have cancer. Have a great evening!
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Went in today to have the nurse look at my incisions and they ended up taking off the scabs and stuffing the holes with this tape stuff and then put a dry dressing on top. The idea is to get rid of the dead skin to give the new tissue room to breathe. I go back in tomorrow so the nurse can show me how to do the packing since I will have to do it daily. I am afraid that this might set back my radiation, but I am not sure yet. I'll know more next week.
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dixiebell- so sorry about your daughter's and your family's loss.
JanaJ - my cancer story sound s similar to your first cancer. I had a lumpectomy and re excision, but no chemo. I am 36, and decided on BMX as my final treatment rather than radiation. I was very concerned about recurrence, and felt "lucky" to have caught mine tumour in such an early stage. I am having delayed recon too (TE's hopefully being placed at the middle to end of Nov)
Had my small (30cc) seroma drained today ... yay no more sloshing! I also got a copy of my pathology report. No hidden insitu or invasive cancers (phew). I was surprised about the volume of breast tissue removed though ... I knew I was small but wow! No wonder the seroma seemed huge to me! I think I will be checking out the treads for smaller implants
It's my little girl's 5th Birthday today. Our evening has been full of all things princess and girly (with a little lego thrown in too). Hope everyone has a peaceful night, sleep well.
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blondelawyer: omg I am so so sorry. I wish I lived closer to you i would come right over. when I had my emergency hysterectomy at 32 I had healing issues. I had a wound 8 inches deep and 6 inches wide that they had to leave open due to infection. After 6 weeks of packing the wound and not getting better I finally went to a wound care specialist so keep that in mind if you find your not getting better. Also I was told no sugar. Also you may want to see what you hematacrit and hemoglobin levels are. The body cannot heal with not enough oxygen in the blood. I was told I have an allergy to many sutures so when I had my bmx he only used glue on the outside and a special suture inside. I wish I could help in some way!
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bobeena, I know exactly where your coming from with the "sloshing". I had that with my biopseys and lumpectomy. They did not put drains in for them. Only problem was when the fluid absorbed into my body my boob shrunk quite a bit. I thought when I came out of biopsey/lump surgeries my breast size was not affected (I am small breasted). Well, it was eventually. Anyway, I am considering having the diep flap reconst. Have not made final arrangements with my PS but we discussed it at length. Seems like there are a lot of women on here that are going with TE's and I am assuming that means implants rather than diep flap reconst. I go to see my PS on 10-20-11 to schedule reconst if all is well. From what I understand with diep flap reconst they use your body tissue & skin to make the breasts. I hope this requires no TE's but I'll do what I have to to have boobs again. Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your daughter! Hope yall have a good day. I have 3 daughters (15, 21, 23) and 1 son(9).
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dixiebell - YES all men in my family are LSU fans. I'll have to tell them I have talked with a players Mom. Can't believe you already went to a game. Must have been difficult, but I would have gone to if my son was on the team. Sorry about your losses during Katrina. That was really a horrible time for a lot of people. Glad your on the "good side of the lake" now. Hope we don't see a disaster like that again for a long time.
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Thanks dixiebell. I think that I have blood work scheduled for Monday. I'll see my oncologist then too. I'm just ready to get this stage over and move on. I'm set to start xeloda on Monday, but I wonder if that will be pushed back because of the healing.
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Am catching up with all your news - so glad to hear some good reports and very sad to hear the tough news. I pray that during the coming months we can put this all behind us - every one of us.
Dixiebell - I am so sorry to hear of your daughter's loss. There is no roadmap for dealing with loss.
You mentioned the BC statistics for women working nights.....I am 62 and started my career at about age 50. I immediately took on working several days of teaching night classes, extending my day from 7AM (leave home) to 10 PM (arrive home). I slept about 5 hours a night. I had never heard that statistic. It definitely is a stress to the body to defy natural rhythms and interrupt sleep.
I gave up my night classes as I still do not know what my treatment plan will be. I am still not sleeping though.
I wish you well on your treatment decisions.
JanaJ - I had sloshing after lumpectomy; but it is gone now (about a week ago). How long did it take for the fluid to be absorbed? My lumpectomy side should be smaller than the other side but it is still much larger. I guess I will have to wait and see. I am a C+ and BS said it should not be so noticeable because of my size.
Nanadeb - hugs, prayers for you.
Joan 811
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DIXIE, I feel for your loss, as it affects family similar to your sister. Before my nephew was born, my sister in law lost her first baby, talk about feeling shocked and bereft.
JANA, I am sorry to hear this cancer thing just keeps on bugging you! I think this time they will buy you many years.
BLONDE, ye gads, your scar is not cooperating at all! Oh, I hate the idea of you having to fool with the dressing on that thing now. I hope it's not too sore.
ALL, my rads began, and since they're every weekday, I am SO relieved it is Friday! All week I've had to do this thing and that thing after rads, and I am not a busy sort of person, so it's been a tiring week. As for my incision, my one-sided mastectomy was Aug 2, and now it's Sept 16, and I can say it was totally healed a week ago. It still looks like hell, tho, the skin just doesn't lay flat, and a little fatty place in the center of my chest continues to stay a little red, which this one of my dogears from the old boob. Last thing I want to do is diet, but eventually I assume that ear will go away when I lose some pounds. Bye! GG
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Dixiebell - I'm so sorry for your daughter's/families loss.
blondelawyer - I'm sorry for your healing issues. I had to have my right MX scar excised and resewn a couple of weeks ago and I'm still "spitting stitches" on both sides. Dissolving stitches don't like to dissolve on me. I hope your healing gets better soon!! xxx
eema - My jaw is on still on the floor!! 80cc's!!! I got 30cc's on my first fill and could only take 25cc's on my second!! I'm popping Tylenol during the day and Ativan at night. I look at the dilaudid, but refuse to take it!!
I had been on a slow carb diet (4 Hour Body) for about 6 months prior to my BC diagnosis. All sugars and white, refined carbs, & dairy were gone from my life!! Well....except for once a week in my cheat day. I'm still doing my best to get 30grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, but other than that, my diet has gone to hell. Everything that is gentle on my stomach is loaded with carbs. I'm having such conflicts with food!! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one.
Sending healing vibes to all
xxx
Kelli
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There are several studies from many countries about night shift workers and breast cancer but here is one:
Lately most of the attention has focused on a possible link between night work and breast cancer. A 2001 Danish study of 7,000 women showed a 50 percent higher risk of breast cancer if they'd worked nights at least six months. A 2006 study of 45,000 Norwegian nurses working the night shift found the risk of breast cancer for some of them was more than double that of day-shift nurses.
Why might night work lead to more breast cancer? One theory points to the hormone melatonin, which is secreted by your pineal gland and helps regulate your body clock. Melatonin is produced most abundantly at night, but this can be substantially reduced by exposure to light, including artificial light while you're on the job. Some researchers say suppressed melatonin levels can lead to an increase in sex hormones, which in turn can increase cancer risk. In support, they cite a couple of studies indicating profoundly blind women have only half as much chance of developing breast cancer as sighted women.
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I am so sorry that some of you are having an extra tough time. I think just one of these treatments (surgery, chemo or rads) are hard enough to deal with. Why does everything to do with Breast Cancer have to be so frustrating? I really have nothing to complain about in comparison, but I have only just gotten started. My surgery was three weeks ago and I'm realizing that the place under my arm where the lymph nodes were removed is getting tighter and now I think there is a little cording, that I've read about. I decided I would call my surgeon's office to see about a referral for PT. When I got to the scheduling department of the local Hospital's Cancer Treatment Center, they said the first available appointment would be in mid-November! I looked all over the Internet and couldn't find another place near me, so I called the Surgeon's office back and they gave me the name of another place and they were able to scheduled me for the 27th of this month and their therapist is LANA certified. This is like swimming in mud, every little thing is a challenge and then a setback and I've only just begun. I cry everytime I hit a wall, I guess I will learn to toughen up like the rest of you eventually. Thanks for giving me some role models, ladies.
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I had 6 tx of TAC then a lumpectomy and Axillary node dissection on August 29. Now, because of path report, they want me to have a mx followed by radiation and more chemo. Anyone have similar experience? Very discouraged.
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Oh, Artie. I'm so sorry. I didn't have this experience, but I was set to have chemo, surgery, more chemo and rads. I chose the bmx instead of the lumpectomy, so I got out of rads (confirmed no node involvement), but I am heading in for more chemo. They say the bookending of chemo around the surgery is the new thing. So, I think it's a pretty frequent protocol. But it SUCKS that you have to have a second surgery and things aren't going as planned. I'm sorry, hon.
You can make it through, and then you'll know that you did everything you could to be cancer free. I've gotten down lately over heading into more chemo when I'm pretty cancer-free since surgery really, but I just keep thinking this is all so I can say I did it ALL to avoid a recurrence. We're warriors! We'll make it through!
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Hi August Warriors,
Just got my Oncotype score back....ughhh...the dreaded 19. I had been so sure it would either be really high or really low. Now I just have the gray area. We see the MO on Tuesday so he said we could talk it through then. I think I will get a second opinion, too.
Yesterday I started to get the "waterbed" effect over my left TE. The PS office had me come in but said it isn't enough to drain off yet and to watch it. Just hope it doesn't get worse over the weekend. I am an event planner and have a huge wedding tomorrow. At least a 12 hour day for me.
Thanks for letting me vent. I haven't told anyone I got my score back yet but knew I could tell all of you.
Hugs,
Susan
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jjjsjames PT has been a lifesaver for me. I feel so much better. Although I still have the cording it is so much less painful. I had a radical mastectomy so I have permanent numbness under my arm. I am getting used to it. With only 3 nodes removed you will probably have a full recovery!!!
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Thanks Dixiebell. Yeah, I thought with only three removed it wouldn't be a problem at all. I never even thought about that part of the surgery. I keep learning, but too late to be of any use.
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jjjsjames Even with 1 node removed you are at risk for lymphedma so make sure to read up on that also. I was lucky that I had a lymphadema specialist as part of my pre-op teaching.
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Dixiebell, No one spoke to me about lymphedema. I had 2 nodes removed and no complications so far; just the typical lump and soft swelling. Is there something I should be doing (specific exercises) to prevent LE? (lumpectomy and 2 nodes 8/30)
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jjjsjames, I had 4 nodes removed. My under arm was so sore and it felt like a ball was tucked under it. I could not hold my arm down to my side. I had the begining of cording, but not bad. I started OT and have been 3 times this week. It is helping a great deal. Hang in there and look forward to your PT appointment it will help!
Dixiebell did you have your chest muscle removed?
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Here is a couple of links for info on lymphedema. There is also a group on this site. Key points from my pre-op teaching, It is very important to always wear bug spray and sunscreen on the affected side and not to cut cuticles on that side. No gardening or anything that may cause a scratch. Your purse should never be carried on that arm. Bras should never be confining in fact you should go up 1 size say if you are a 34 buy a 36, wide straps. Never wear a tight watch or jewelry on that side. No clothing that has elastic on that side. If you fly you should wear a lymphedema sleeve and glove.
And no I did not have muscle removed but I had the pec muscle pulled up over the implants with the allederm sling placed and attached. Still trying to get used to the feeling.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/lymphedema/Patient/page1
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Oh and I hope they told you no blood pressures, shots, IV, or blood drawn from that arm ever again!!!
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I can't get over the No Gardening or anything that might cause a scratch. We are always getting scratched up when we do a big tree trimming especially since everything that grows in Arizona has thorns or needles. And the compression sleeve for flying? What? Are we supposed to just sit and read the rest of our lives? It's overwhelming to read about things now that are never's or always'. No jacuzzi's. It's that glass half full I guess. It will take some time to get used to the new reality. In the meantime it seems so unreal. But thanks, Dixiebell, for letting us know.
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Dixiebell - thanks for the links. I did not know any of that. I have a large itchy/sore welt on my outer forearm that appears to be a bug bite. I have been scratching! I did not have axillary dissection after SNB; but I have a very sore spot way up under the armpit. I have been doing gentle massage and motion exercises. I'll check out those links for sure.
No sleep last night or tonight. I had to stay in a hotel pre-surgery for 3 nights and suspect there were bedbugs. My arm welt looks like a classic allergic reaction to same. I know that would be better than LE. But....if I brought hitchhiker creatures home - would have to replace all beds, wash & dry all linens and all clothing in 4 rooms, order beds and get non-toxic exterminators. I sure hope I am wrong. Sorry to go on and on...hope everyone else is getting sleep.0 -
JOAN, on page 17 in this thread, BlondeLawyer put a list of lymphedema massages you can do, it's on the same page as where she put her photos that are so cute. Also, if you just had one or two little bites on your arm, this could also be just a spider bite! I put hydrogen peroxide and it lessens the discomfort. Bedbugs usually bite multiple times and you can tell by a number of little red spots. And maybe I'm wrong, but if it's bedbugs, you can just wash bedding in hot water and vacuum the bed real good and then the floor, and see if that works, plus they don't like the smell of lavender. As for the sore spot in your armpit, this I believe is normal, sometimes it's a little fluid that naturally collects there or various other harmless things from the biopsy, usually goes away in a week, altho it can stay sore for a pretty long time. You can ask your doc about it AND you might consider asking him for some short-term sleeping pills, you GOTS to get yo sleep, child! GG
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