Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
Comments
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LisaZac Its great to hear that everything went well. I'm glad you have a wonderful team looking after you. It makes such a difference when you have confidence in the medical team. I hope the pain continues to be minimum,you heal quickly and your results come back on Friday. I'll be thinking of you.
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Which one did you get, Peggy? (I'm always looking for suggestions, and Hawaii would be a setting I'd enjoy.)
I like to shop locally but Amazon does have a couple that are designed for cancer patients and/or specifically breast cancer patients that get good reviews. Our library has a limited selection of Yoga DVDs, despite having a huge collection on other subjects.
I had a book from the library written by a German nurse who's done studies on yoga for breast cancer pts. that I liked a lot. They had women coming to class still with their drains! If that were available as a DVD I would purchase it in a heartbeat.
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LisaZ, really happy for you that everything went so smoothly! Hoping your recovery proceeds just as smoothly. Mine has so far. Although despite being now 2 weeks post-op and feeling close to normal, I'm going to have to take to heart all these recs to hydrate! Why especially hydrate, ladies? I'll have to go back and hydrate extra! I never iced after my lx, but I did find the gentle compression of a stretchy bra like the Coobie was helpful and soothing (only just now started leaving it off at night). LisaZ, if you get your pathology back that soon, that will be fabulous. Mine took a full week-plus, and the waiting was hard.
Hope all you yoga folks enjoy, whether at home or out. It all sounds good!
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I just picked one from my local Meijer store: Rodney Yee's Yoga for Beginners. Just got it this afternoon and haven't even unwrapped it. It says "build strength, lose weight and feel re-energized" - perfect! They didn't have anything for cancer patients and, frankly, I wouldn't have thought to look for them either. I'll let you know how it is tomorrow when I try it out. That's amazing about that book that the German nurse wrote. I can't imagine going to yoga with a drain in (though I didn't have drain) - it sounds challenging! That would be some class! HUGS!
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Peggy, Rodney Yee has a GREAT reputation in the yoga world!
The great thing about the German studies was that women felt so nourished and empowered by their yoga time that they WANTED to be there as often as possible. They were encouraged to do only what felt right for them at each step and to modify as needed. It was interesting to read this and catch the subtle differences in approaches.
Enjoy your yoga time, Peggy. Take it slow at first!
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Don't worry, Hopeful, I will take it slow. I'm 69 and while I can do most of the poses, I'm still out of shape and need to re-connect with my 20 year old self! I'm very glad that Rodney Yee has such a good reputation. I picked the one that seemed the most basic and it just appealed to me. Don't you wish we had someone like that German experience here?
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Peggy...hope you enjoy Rodney! I used to do the AM and PM Rodney Yee VHS years ago. He is very relaxing.
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Gee, Nash, seems like I made the right choice by accident! Thanks!
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LisaZ, glad your surgery went well! I hope your recovery goes smoothly, too. It would be fantastic if your path report was ready by Friday. Let's hope it only brings good news! Thanks for the update.
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Peggy--Hawaii sounds great too! On Tuesday we just decided to stay in and work out, rather than face the snow until we had to go out and deal with the driveway and steps! Believe me, hot yoga is for the 30- and 40-somethings, not for us seniors. It is rather Zumba with yoga moves, intensified--the whole idea of it is to sweat like mad during the session. My Japanese daughter-in-law does it and has even taught it in Japan, but she is just 39! Trudi
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Ah, Trudi. Scratch hot yoga off my list of things to do. Not interested in anything INTENSE. I'm mellow these days. Thanks for the heads up. I wouldn't have known otherwise. Good for your DIL for doing it! I'll stick to gentle Hawaii
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I don't know - there are days when hot yoga sounds really, really good to me but then, I'm cold so much of the time that 110 degrees sounds appealing. I think it would definitely loosen up the muscles and joints!
I do know a few women who do it and are all but addicted to it - and it's changed their lives. On the other hand, it's more expensive (at least around here) and NOT something one can do from home, unless one has a home sauna, which, I regret to say, is not the case for moi!
Trudi, how's the snow situation now?
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Lisa & Shaz, glad your surgeries went went and praying you have a speedy recovery and good path results.
I have never tried yoga, maybe I'll check it out. I do do at least a 20 - 30 min brisk walk, but I live in AZ area where the weather lets me be outside daily.
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Hopeful, I'm always cold too. I was happy to have hot flashes! I don't know anyone doing hot yoga around me (the studio I'm not going back to has it). But I know I wouldn't do Zumba so not a likely candidate for hot yoga. Where do you live? It doesn't show up on your profile
MM68, yoga appeals to me because of the stretching. I love to stretch. I will often reach up to the archway molding in our house and stretch (about 7 feet or a bit less so I really have to reach at 5'7"). Great feeling. Your brisk walk is so good for you. With the ice around here, I'm not inclined to walk. I took our rat terrier for walk today and spent most of my time worrying about where to put my feet safely. Think I'll wait awhile before going again.
HUGS!!
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Hi All, Going for radiation measurements tomorrow and preparing to live at the hospital away from my family and start radiation next week. Feeling down. Not looking forward to another round of suffering, or to being away. Which is worse, lumpectomy surgery or radiation? I just don't want another round of suffering! So tired of being in pain and uncomfortable. Thanks for letting me whine a little. This all will pass soon enough...
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Lisa and Shaz, that's great news that your surgeries went smoothly! Best wishes for healing and restful days.
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Ndgrrl, That's too bad that now you have to worry about the pain in your stomach. I hope that turns out to be nothing.
It sounds very hard what you went through after surgery. How are you feeling now? Glad you got a new doctor.
I got my oncotype back and it was 19. They were expecting lower so it was not what I anticipated. But I decided not to do chemo.
Did you get your oncotype back?
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OceanGirl, for me there was no comparison. I sailed through radiation (did well through my lumpectomy too). I had no SEs from radiation except slightly "tanned" skin. There was some fatigue but all quite manageable. Many women have no trouble with radiation. Remember to think positive. It's too bad it works better for you to live away at the hospital. Takes lots to read. Radiation takes a teeny amount of the day so you'll have plenty of time to do anything that pops into your mind. You are definitely entitled to whine. We all do. And we all go through feeling sorry for ourselves. That's what is so great about this forum. Everyone understands where you're coming from. Loads of HUGS!!!!!!!!
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OceanGirl, I'm sorry your oncotype score wasn't lower. It's a hard decision to make, isn't it? But once you've made your decision, don't second guess yourself. Just look forward. It will get better!!!!
NDGrrl, any word on your tummy?
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Oceangirl....the rads aren't painful just inconvenient. I did internal so mine was only a week twice a day. How many weeks will you be doing rads? I know it's a pain in the butt....but you can get thru it. Enjoy your family time and take in the sites!
My onco score was a 24...no chemo for me. I feel good about my decision and it was also my BS recommendation that I NOT do chemo.
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Oceangirl, Wishing you minimal SE from the rads. I imagine it will be more difficult since you will be away from your family. I drive myself to rad every day with out problems. It doesn't take very long, even on the days you have to see the RO. It seems that most people don't experience much redness until the third week. I get tired, so I take naps. But I also just finished chemo which might explain some of the fatigue. I have 4 more rad to go and am red, and even dark gray in some areas. That said, rads are easier for me than my surgery was. Where are you receiving treatment? Many of the centers have activities such as lectures, tours, tennis and golf, and dinner nights at restaurants for the patients who are away from their families.
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Hi, Ocean Girl - That's got to be tough to be away from home while dealing with so much of the unknown. if it is any comfort, I would be whining, too.
Please let us be your cyber family for the duration. It won't make up for being away from the comfort of your own home but please remember that we care and do want to know how it's going.
I do hope you find something fun and I testing to do every day as well as making some new friends there. Safe travels.0 -
Hi Everyone,
I had my surgery yesterday. It went very smoothly. I am surprised, like LisaZak, by how good I feel. Sore and tired yesterday and today feeling pretty good. This morning I felt like I had a slight hangover (from anesthesia) but tonight good.
I've been icing and taking motrin instead of the prescription. I'm so curious what my breast looks like under the dressing. I have so many new questions now:
Does anyone else feel their nipples tingle after surgery? Even day after. Like when I breast fed and felt the milk let down.
What's radiation like? I was told I'm going to have 30 rounds.
Now waiting on Path report. I feel it will be all good.
Hope everyone heals nicely
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Glad you're doing so good, Carriek. I also felt good right away. And I was surprised. Icing is good. All those nerves are going crazy in your Lx area and will be zinging all over the place for awhile. I didn't have that "let down" feeling (amazing what the body remembers, isn't it?).
Radiation is mostly tedious. You go every day for 15 minutes, even the days you see the RO aren't much longer. All your time will be spent commuting to and from the radiation center. There's some fatigue but it's usually manageable. I had no SEs other than slight "tanning."
Wishing for a fantastic path report for you!
Keep feeling great! HUGS!!
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Carrie--Great news about the surgery and recovery. And I too had that "let-down" feeling, and also what I call pings, or zingers too. Don't worry--the surgeon traumatized some of your tissue and nerves, and those pings are its reactions and its healing, and they will continue. (I think I still had very occasional ones 6 months or so after surgery.)
Radiation is an interruption in your schedule, but otherwise no big deal. And 30 days isn't that long a time anyway (I had 35). The 50-minute round-trip drive was longer than the 10 minutes of treatment (that included the changing time), so the extra time with the RO once a week improved the drive/treatment ratio! And on 3 of the 5 days each week, I just went straight to the gym to work out--no fatigue at all. At the end I had a little "sunburn" but the Aquaphor my RO told me to apply did a great job; that was the only special treatment that the radiated area needed.
Here's to a good path report too. Soon this will be just a memory! Trudi
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Trudi, looks like our Rx experience was pretty much the same. I used only Aquaphor, too.
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Oceangirl, how long is your course of radiation to last? Wow, that's really tough that you have to stay away from your family that whole time. I hope it goes smoothly, though, and the time flies for you. I am due to start rads at the beginning of March, and though I don't have to live away from home to do it, I will have to drive about 40-45 minutes each way, every day. I have a lot of anxiety about the whole thing—not pain, really, as I'm told it's not really painful. More the skin effects, which I hope won't be too bad, and the fatigue that may come on toward the middle to the end and for however long beyond treatment. I hope to be like Peggy and sail through it with ease, and I hope the same for you.
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KayFry, the fatigue for me was more of an inconvenience. I certainly did what needed to be done during the day but by evening I was tired (not so different from how things usually are
). That's a long drive but it will go by quickly. BTW, the treatments are not painful. What can be uncomfortable is holding your arm above your head if you've had lymph nodes removed. It's just like an x-ray for how it feels. 0 -
Glad surgery went so well, Carrie. I felt pretty good quickly, too. By day 6, I even rode my horse. It took a little while, maybe a week, for the aftereffects of anesthesia to go away completely, and a nurse had told me I shouldn't take NSAIDs like Motrin even AFTER the surgery (not sure that's even right), so I didn't for quite awhile and as a result I was more uncomfortable from a sore back and my arthritic knee than anything else. Sounds like you'll do great, and best wishes for all good news in your path report.
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I'm hoping it's true that keeping up with exercise helps minimize the fatigue with rads. Sounds like it worked for you, Trudi.
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