Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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Oh, dearest Peggy! You have such a way with words!!
Sleep well, friend!
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A friend of mine was diagnosed with BC at around the same time I was. Then when I started talking about it I found 3 or 4 friends who had it in the past, and several cousins who had it when I asked about for some family history! Then another friend, a guy, found out he had throat cancer. It was kind of crazy... But I guess it just shows that there are way too many people in the Cancer Club. --Good to know that the people I know are all survivors, though.
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Good to hear of the good path reports and getting back to work and all.
I had a good month free of treatment after my LX. I just had some friends come into town to visit and we went whale watching (no whales but a lot of dolphins), and had a nice lunch at the San Clemente Pier... and went to dinner at Downtown Disney one night. It was nice to do something normal and not cancer-related!
But I just started the first of 35 radiation treatments today! Back to the grind!
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Totally weird question:
I've developed a raised, kind itchy red line between my breasts. It looks like a big scratch, but I don't remember doing it. Also, I would have sworn it wasn't there on Monday or Tuesday (but my mind is suspect for those two days). Does this ring a bell with anyone? Is it perhaps from something they might have done or used during surgery? FWIW, the tumor was in my right breast, upper/inner quadrant.
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Inkster!
So glad to hear no lymph nodes and wide margins. Wonderful news for you. Enjoy the weekend.
PMR53
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I am 20 years old and I have had my tumor biopsied and on Thursday it was confirmed as cancerous. They want to do a lumpectomy ASAP and I was able to schedule it after the 4th of July so I could have one last fun holiday before my summer turns to sh*t. I am extremely nervous and have no idea what to expect before and after this surgery. My lump is 2cm and I need any advice on how to get through this. I was planning my 21st birthday but now I have to plan for surgery, this is not fair.
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Hi 20 and scared. So sorry this is happening to you. I hope your family and friends are supportive. The lumpectomy itself is not bad and being young, you should recover pretty quick. If you could provide more stats from your pathology report I'm sure we could give you more helpful advice. Is it DCIS or IDC? Her2 pos or neg? etc. Hang in there and keep coming here for support. If you peruse the threads there are a lot of other young women on these boards. Keep us posted!
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Hello 20 and scared.... Has anyone talked with you about whether having your tumor treated before surgery is something to consider? I was like you, wanted to have the lumpectomy asap... and I did. My biopsy results came in 11/16/14 and my LX was 10/31/14. Then, in early November I traveled to MD Anderson for a consult. One of the treatments I was interested in (perjeta as a combo with herceptin) I learned that day is only approved for pre-treating early stage breast cancer. Long story very short, I made a significant decision ( get it gone quickly) when I didn't fully understand the implications. Having insight into your pathology results will really help us support you...... and please know you have some amazing women here ready to assist in whatever way we can.... Maggie
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Hi 20andscared,
Along with the others here, we're so sorry you have to be here, and to hear of your diagnosis, but really glad you found us!
When you receive your pathology report, come back here and we can all help you decipher what you're looking at and help you through it.
To know what to expect with your surgery, you may want to check out the main Breastcancer.org site's section on What to Expect With Any Surgery and also the section on Lumpectomy for what to expect, questions to ask and more!
Thank you for posting, and let us know how you're doing!
--The Mods
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20andscared--so sorry ÿou have joined our club. Yes, it is scary but the actual surgery is not that bad. I felt tired for about 5 days after surgery, then gradually started to resume my activities. Now, after 2 weeks I am pretty much back to normal.
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Hi 20andscared...I was so scared too when I was first dx'd and I was 59. Never thought I'd feel normal again, but I'm 9 months post lx and feeling great! Keep us posted we are all here to help you get thru this and you will! (((hugs)))
p.s. and yes it's not fair, you are so young to be dealing with this crap.
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Hello fellow Lumpy's,
Happy Summer,
I have not posted in a very long time and thought it was about time that I did, LOL.
I wanted to share that it has been 16 mo. since chemo and 14 months since radiation and FINALLY my nails are looking decent again. Fingernails look good and toenail beds almost there again. I developed this fungus caused by the chemo drugs and used to have very pretty nails. I am so glad I will be able to wear sandals without being embarrassed this summer.
Had anyone else experienced this?
All the best ladies and gents,
furfriend2
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20andscared- Feel free to come here and ask any and every question you can think of. The ladies here are wonderful! Good luck. Like others have told you the lumpectomy is not that bad of a surgery. I was given pain meds and stayed the night in the hospital mainly because of my distance I lived from the hospital. Hugs. Let us know how you are doing.''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
I was diagnosed at age 44 with my first ever mammo. I had heard to many horror stories of mammos that I was scared to have one- now I have had many many and its not a big deal. I just with my first one had been a better experience but the gal doing it was well- uffff-- but she did find the cancer. I only decided to go in because I had a horrible feeling when I turned 44 that something was going to happen and my sister passed from stomach cancer at that age. Then my cousin was dx with bc at age 45 in Jan- my niece at age 33 in May and then me in July and my big sister in Sept all in the same year. 3 of us have been BRACA tested and are negative so makes a person wonder where does it all come from and why are people getting younger at dx?
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20andscared -- The lumpectomy is pretty much out-patient--you go in in the morning and change and wait about a bit, then they probably will do the wire thing to make sure of the exact position and then the actual surgery only takes an hour or less and you are totally out for it and just wake up in the afternoon and will most often go home. That's how it happened for me, anyway. I was tired afterwards and just slept-in over the weekend (I had the surgery on a Friday). I took pain pills, but really didn't have any pain... just discomfort, then would pop a pill and feel fine! I took it easy for the Monday and Tuesday, then got up, showered and went to my post-op appointment. I just had small pieces of surgical tape over the incision--just an inch or two on the breast and an inch under my arm for the Sentinel Node Biopsy. Stitches were self-absorbing. They told me to just leave the tape on until it fell off. I felt pretty OK after that. I can see the incisions... Pink lines. But some people say they fade so that they can barely see them after a while... I'd never had any kind of medical thing done to me--no broken bones or stitches or operations... so it IS a bit creepy to know you have to go through this stuff. It's normal to be scared. But you can do it!
Definitely check back with us and with other threads here. They are SO helpful! There's such a lot of things to learn and you get thrown into the pool without knowing how to swim with all this stuff. Telling us your diagnosis details-- Invasive or not, ER/PR/HER2 status, etc., will help us help you!
It totally is NOT FAIR that you have to deal with this. And you can get through this and get on with your life!
Furfriend2 -- Gah. I hate the nail thing! I'm only a month and a half out from chemo, so in a slightly different place than you. I didn't get a fungus... so far! My nails were going all white during chemo, from the moons to half-way to the tip. But now some got white spots and are wanting to separate from the nail bed at the tips... Not all the nails, just my pinkies and a bit on my middle and pointer fingers... So far they have stayed on, though. Bleh. I'm still getting over the effects of chemo... but was hoping the nails would improve instead of keep going bad after chemo ended! My hair is slowly growing back though, which is good. And my neuropathy (leg weakness) is slowly improving.
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Hi Ladies,
I have been back to work for s week and was feeling really exhausted. I have a very long commute, and I thought I was overtired. After a week of dragging myself around, I went to my doctor today and I have a bladder infection! Hoping the antibiotics clear it up quickly!
Also, I received a call from the company that performs the oncotype test. I didn't get home in time to return the call. Any idea what they want? I am hoping it is to tell me my insurance will pay for the test...
Cheers!
-Midgie
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Hi Midgie, I got the same call. It is to talk insurance. Results were supposed to be in for my first MO appt. this Thursday but they called and requested another sample from the hospital lab. It has been processed but now no result til Monday!0 -
Hi, The Onco DX people do call and ask about insurance and ask about income- I believe if we were under 100 K a year then they would not worry about my deductible and it would be covered. They never asked for proof or anything but I never got a bill from them either.0 -
Hi,
NDGRRL,
The call was exactly what you said! The woman I talked to was very nice.
Thanks,
~Midgie
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Hi Everyone,
Posting my "seroma" outcome (sorry it is so delayed) in case anyone in the future gets this challenge to deal with - it was certainly quite unexpected by me. The seroma finally burst the night before my final radiation "boost", so they cancelled the final treatment. I had several days of thick, yellowish drainage coming out of it. My MD instructed me to clean the hole out twice / day with a qtip soaked in hydrogen peroxide. They chose to "watch & wait" to see if it would heal / close on its own. The hole (an opening the size of a dime) that was created was the entire length of the lumpectomy site that had previously healed so nicely. Fortunately the drainage turned into a clear, serous one and never became infected. The hole slowly became smaller & smaller, & amazingly healed on it's own with no surgical intervention. It took until the end of May (3 months) for the hole to finally heal from the inside out & close. I now have a small indentation, that looks like a healed bullet hole. I think if they had opted to suture it closed, it would have probably refilled back up & taken longer to finish heaIing. I was finally able to get an explanation from my surgeon as to why this happened - it really bugged me getting no answers along the way. He said that the radiation caused tissue damage & the fluid accumulation built up into a seroma because microvessels in the lumpectomy site were damaged an unable to facilitate removing the fluid which results from tissue damage.
Hopefully this won't happen to anyone else undergoing similar treatment regimen, but wanted to share my experience because I found for the most part when I was going through this, I found no information out there about seromas occurring during radiation. They usually occur post op from the lumpectomy.
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What is really odd is we were just talking about the Onco test on here and what they say on the phone and billing etc. Today I just got a letter from my insurance company from way back in Sept of 2013. It stated how much the insurance had paid. Seems odd it took that long to finally go through the insurance company.0 -
Furfriend2,
During my chemo (last Oct - Dec 2014) I didn't notice that much about my nails - other than their appearance was changing slightly - I never had great nails to begin with so didn't think much about it. However once chemo was done, I began to notice that the white part of the nail was getting larger & headed toward the nail bed & hard as cement. I also realized that most of my toenails were black or had black stripes. When I asked my oncologist why it was showing now (3 months post chemo), she indicated it was because the damage was in the nail bed under the skin & now emerging as the nails were growing out. It's amazing how long it takes for the effects to disappear. I'm six months out & toenails are still recovering!
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Is it common to have the area where the tumor was start feeling hard...? I don't see any discoloration. The whole area isn't swollen-- but whatever fluids were in the long space where the tumor was now feel hard... and a bit bumpy/uneven, after a week of rads...
No pain or anything. Breast looks pretty normal. I can just feel it when running my fingers lightly over the area.
The BS and assistants said the incision could get hard due to scar tissue, but didn't say anything about the area where the tumor was getting hard.
What does a hematoma or a seroma look/feel like?
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Others will chime in I'm sure, but I have a hard area around the scar line and you can see from my stats I'm 3 months out from radiation. My radiation oncologist said it may not change much over time. My medical oncologist said to massage it to break up scar tissue and just be aware if the area would get bigger.
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April - Seroma. I didn't know I had "that" but did feel a bit of a lump down in the breast, under the scar, towards one end (not entire length). RO said something about my seroma was getting better.. I thought he had me confused with another patient. His view is that fluid will naturally seep into the cavity left by surgery, guess what, called a "seroma"... I didn't notice "it" until ~ 2 1/2 months post surgery. His comment was 5 to 6 months post surgery. Now at 8 months can't feel anything other than breast! Happy Saturday! Maggie
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Hey, thanks, Reader425 and MaggieCat! I know people were talking about seromas and edemas and it occurred to me that I had no idea what those things actually looked/felt like--so I might have them and not know! I've only had the one Post-Op exam 5 days after surgery and haven't seen my BS since... and things have changed since then (a month or more later!). Nothing scary or worrying, exactly, otherwise I'd call them... Just some changes... like the hardness where my tumor was... It was a bit swollen right after surgery, of course, but still soft. I figured either the rads was making something harder or fluids were filling it up making it harder...
I wasn't told about seromas. They just said to call if things looked red and infected. And they mentioned that the area right under the incision might get hard due to scar tissue... but didn't mention the area where the tumor was (areas around my incisions seem fine... but I had a 3cm long tumor and calcifications plus margins taken out, so that's a fairly big area--feels to be like 3 inches or more!). But I guess there's not much they can do... and I have to just wait until it goes away. It's not troublesome at all... I just wondered if it was something I needed to be concerned about. And it's good to know it's something that happens... and to connect it with what everyone is talking about!
So I guess it's not the rads doing anything--it's just the fluids in the space left from the LX? And it'll gradually go away? That's nice to know!
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April25, When I had healed, and went back to the RO for the 6month followup, he told me to massage the area with a good cream that has Vit E. (I did have internal rads).. that was over 3 years ago now and everything is back to normal, except for the divot where the tumor was removed. Small price to pay for getting the monster removed....
Vickie
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Vicks 1960 -- Congrats on being three years out! And good to hear everything is back to normal.
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April25--I'm a month shy of the 2-and-a-half year point, and still have that hardness at the tumor bed site., My surgeon has been watching it as it slowly shrinks, including with an MRI, but is not concerned about it. The radiologist who read my 2nd-year-out mammo picked up on it in the 3D mammo and asked for a 2D mammo view of that area only. to see it in greater detail, and his report noted that the area was smaller than in the 1-year-out mammo, And I can feel that the area is getting smaller and softer, which I'm sure is what the surgeon will tell me next month. So my timing seems somewhat like Vicki's--some of us just take longer to heal fully than others do! One of the many good things I've learned from this bc experience is that patience truly is a virtue!
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Good Morning Ladies,I am starting radiation in July and the RO ordered a mammogram and ultrasound done before we start, did anyone else have that? I guess maybe that is standard procedure to make sure that everything is all clear. I asked this on the summer radiation thread and a couple of ladies said no, just wondering if I should question the RO about it.
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6doggies, I did not have additional screenings, such as mammograms, ultrasounds, etc., between chemo and rads. There was a brief break to allow my body to recover from chemo, but that was it. Next visit was for the rads simulation. I would definitely call the RO office. As someone else said on the board, remember they work for you! I would ask all of the questions I have!
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PoppyK,My RO also did a breast exam, did yours do that? Thank you, I'm thinking of talking to my Oncologist. My RO seemed a little thrown off when my boyfriend and I started asking him questions when we saw him last week, I don't think he was used to people questioning him.
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