Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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Shumba, I had a large hematoma following my lumpectomy, which developed into an even larger seroma after I had re-excision for margins. I'm sure my BS would have preferred to not tap them but there was so much blood the first time (over 500ml) and so much fluid the second time (beyond counting) that there really was no other choice. She tried the wait & see approach. That ended with the seroma breaking open like Niagara Falls. And you would have thought that would have fixed it, but no. It continued to fill and break open. My BS tapped it several times, just to relieve the pressure. She never got less than 150ml. Finally it got badly infected. I had to go on sick leave for 3 weeks and took antibiotics for 6 weeks, but that regimen finally cured it.
I had it happen again after my BMX. HUUUUUGE seroma on the left, over 5". It leaked a little, until the doctor saw it. She opened the little leak hole to about the width of a pencil and holy cow! Would you look at all that! Fluid just poured out and poured out. Un-freaking-believable. I ended up having to pack it for 16 weeks to get it to heal properly. But at least it didn't get infected that time.
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#3 down yesterday. They gave me an extra bag of steroids and extra benedryl before chemo drugs so no allergic reaction. Shared this pic on another thread. If a certain F word offends you, sorry! Just scroll through this now~ A friend gave me the coloring book when I was first diagnosed and thought it appropriate. Only one more infusion left, then on to rads! The journey marches on! Seeing my BS for 3 mo check up today. Can't believe it's already been 3 months, but then it also seems like a year!
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Dara, glad you're doing much better with the extra "goodies" added. I think the F word is quite appropriate. (And I'm not easily offended anyway
). HUGS!
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Molly, thanks and my brother is doing better for now, we don't know how much time he actually has, so just take it day at a time.
When i had my surgery, i just had a couple of clear dressings over the steristrips.. there was no wrap or even a mention of one. i'ts healing ok, no one mentioned exercise either, so didn't know till i got on here.. under my arm can get pretty sore..
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I was not wrapped after my lumpectomy but my BS had me fitted for a compression Bra which hoked up the front and had me where it after surgery for a week or so until swelling went down now I am wearing sports bras which are really comfortable I am or was a 34b not sure that why they are comfy or not
I met with the physio deptt before surgery and therapist gave me exercises to start 7 days after surgery and I meet with the therapist every few weeks. I had 180 movement before surgery and am almost back there now last week I was 175.
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please overlook my spelling errors the dam auto correct keeps changing my words and I cannot figure out how to shut the darn thing off
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Wow! That's definitely wrapped..
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Did anyone else have itching near lymph area?
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I still itch near my pits, but the skin itself is numb.
Well, we made it to the hospital in plenty of time. (Even 5 min. before the parking valet went on duty). But the whole time, my gut was telling me "don't do this, don't do this..." Every time someone came in to see me (take vitals, sign consents, pre-anesthesia talk, etc.) it seemed I was in the bathroom--dumping everything I'd eaten in the past 24 hrs. My thumb had stopped painfully triggering (except for the first minute after waking up, and not even that this morning) and pretty much stopped triggering at all two weeks ago; and something inside said to leave well-enough alone--especially the ordeal of starting an I.V. and the ever-present worry of my stage 0 lymphedema raising the risks of cellulitis from the anesthesia shots and the surgical wounds & sutures (not an LE attack, since there's no tourniquet). If I was still hurting, that'd be one thing. The anesthesiologist and scrub nurse said not to do anything till I spoke to the surgeon, something I never got to do since scheduling the surgery--all my communications were phone and patient-portal messaging back-and-forth with his NP. Neither he nor she had seen my now-well-behaved thumb.
He came in (1/2 hr. late--he's a new dad) and finally examined me, holding the base of the thumb while I flexed it. He said he didn't feel the nodule and said that either the cortisone had finally been absorbed & processed or that the triggering was self-limiting & may never come back. But he said he had no idea how long till the cortisone wears off. I asked him what happens, in his experience, in situations like this. He left the decision up to me, saying "It's a 'lifestyle' surgery, not even ‘elective' like your cataract surgery. I have patients I have to practically drag into the O.R. for a crucial operation, and you're not one of them." He said that any stiffness I'm feeling when not triggering is the mild-to-moderate arthritis he saw on the first X-ray, which this surgery wouldn't help; if it comes back to the extent I can no longer tolerate it, I could always reschedule or try another shot first and cut later. And he said I could refuse sedation, pop a Xanax first (if I wasn't driving) and just have a regional & local--the only downside, he said, was that I'd be awake for the 10 minutes the surgery took and would remember it (just like I remember the L thumb surgery 7 yrs. later). I apologized to him (and especially to my housekeeper--whom I'd paid a bonus for this) and he said no problem, he had a full schedule of patients who would be glad to have their surgeries start on time after all. He also said, "Now you can go have breakfast at Walker Bros. Pancake House down the road." Which is exactly what we did--sharing the baked cinnamon-apple pancake and bringing half of it home for Gordy.
Got home about 9:30. I took the rest of my a.m. meds, told my housekeeper to take the rest of the day off and headed upstairs for a nap. Woke up 3 hrs. later and...ouch--triggering, sore enough to feel in my palm! But by the time I'd gotten to the bathroom to put in my second eye drops, it was gone. Think I will ride this out and maybe revisit it when I get back from Iowa, after my second cataract surgery Nov. 2.
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Sandy, OMG! My heart goes out to you. What an up and down morning. Looks like no surgery is the right option (for now, at least). Your celebratory breakfast was smart!
HUGS!!
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Wow Michelle! Maybe if I had been wound up like that I wouldn't have had the big hematoma OR the seroma. As for the itching, I found it was most intense in the first month post-op, then it died down. Unfortunately, it has gotten going again just recently, for some reason. I have had the most demanding itch in my left breast (which is no longer there.) When I go to scratch it, I am reminded that most of my chest is completely dead--no feeling means no satisfying the itch. Sometimes it drives me crazy. I have taken to scratching lightly around the areas of numbness to see if that might calm things down. I don't think it's working.
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Charlene try switching to plain text editor
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I wasn’t wrapped, but rather stuffed into a way-too-small surgical bra for 48 hrs., after which I was free to wear any non-wired bra that supported me and I could don without discomfort. (I alternated between the Leading Lady front-close leisure bras for sleep and a slightly small Lane Bryant rear-close sports bra, a Wacoal soft cup rear-close smooth bra, a rear-close Playtex--the band three sizes too large in order to fit into a DDD cup, the largest they make, and a correct-size Freya front-close sports bra that gave me a Madonna-esque twin-ice-cream-cone silhouette). Somewhere, I still have that size XL Royce surgical bra--I marvel how they managed to squeeze poor Thelma & Louise into it!
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OMG... I feel my armpits again! I started wearing my compression sleeves last week, I wonder if the lymphedema swelling going down is why I can finally feel them again!? Progress!!
I've lost about 40 pounds and my swelling has gone down so they don't fit very well, but the custom sleeve company is remaking them for free for me. I should have them in a couple of weeks.
I'm struggling with doctor and lymphedema appointments, insomnia, and getting back to work so I haven't been posting much. I read your posts everyday and appreciate your support even though you don't know you're supporting me!
Gentle hugs to you all, I couldn't have made it through without you. Looking forward to things settling down a bit so I can connect more.
Traci
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Tracy, congratulations on swelling going down & weight loss! Sending positive thoughts your way for things slowing down
Charlene, so sorry you have to wait longer! It's just not right! Hope you are able to keep busy. Praying no chemo.
Sandy, you've been through the wringer today. Sounds like delaying was right decision. Hope pain doesn't return.
Dara, yay for getting through 3rd infusion. Hope they gave you enough extra to keep all se away & you'll soon be done. I think the coloring book title is appropriate
I had itching at SLN site as well as lx site. Was worse during rads. Still have some now, months later. I was sent home with exercises to do & wearing a front close surgical bra. Wasn't wrapped. But my tumor wasn't huge either.
Hugs to all!
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The BS who did my surgery was a 2014 fellow at University of Southern California, the only medical school to teach oncoplastic methods. Every tiny thing she did in my surgery prep, contact, wound wrap, was spectacular. I just can't believe that our city got one of the best young surgeons just out of a prominent fellowship. She insists on wrapping each patient, no matter how large or small the tumor was, by herself and she is 5'2" tall. I don't have any scar on my breast, just under the arm for sentinel biopsy, and even that is fading away. The breast that she operated on looks better than my natural breast..
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Michelle- How large was your mass that your surgeon removed and how much skin did they take? My mass was 1.9cm and I think the size of tumor and tissue they removed was size of lime? I'm not sure, I haven't asked. How did your surgeon wrap you after surgery? No wrapping for me- just steri strips. I wish that I had been provided more education on this prior to the surgery- I just panicked- I was diagnosed on the 18th and had lumpectomy on the 22nd - I didn't think to ask many questions about complications nor was it discussed with me.
I initially wore soft bra post surgery but after my initials seroma developed, he told me to wear something more supportive- so have been wearing sports bra since that is quite snug- I'm not sure what genie type of bra is but I want to know more. I'm overweight and my breasts are DD so I need all the help with compression I can get.
I am thinking that writing here is helping me to look at this (I HAVE CANCER) more closely. I've been avoiding so much of this by just dealing with this stupid seroma. oh this is so hard.
Thank you for your response.
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That's a wrap!!!
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Traci, that is so darned awesome! Great job losing 40 lbs. You are one terrific woman with huge determination (obviously). I'm glad you're thrilled at feeling your armpits (I guess). Or do you mean you HAVE FEELING in your armpits? That is definitely a milestone.
Shumba, please please please fill out your profile and make it public. It helps us so much to know exactly what your diagnosis was, the treatments you've had and will have. We also like to know where you are. We can't remember and may not have seen any previous posts you've made. I had an "ace" bandage type wrapping around my chest and left that on for a couple days then just had the steri-strips. I wore Genie bras for awhile. Once I started rads, I wore nothing. But I'm small. I had a 5 x 3 x 2.5 cm chunk removed. I would guess there is fluid there filling up the "hole" but both breasts look about the same. My incision runs from just below my nipple straight down an inch and a half or so. I did not have a seroma so can't answer to that. BTW, the time between diagnosis and surgery was nearly 7 weeks for me. And that worked for me since I had to arrange for my sons to each come in and care for their father while I recuperated from surgery.
HUGS!
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Hey, Shumba, you are not alone. I would not have known to ask for a wrapping such as the one that I had. It was the luck of the draw with surgeons. I basically went to walmart and bought a universal cup type bra and I wear two at the same time. I was having a shoulder ache when wearing a regular bra, so I doubled up per my nurse navigator.
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Shumba, if your doctor removed a 1.9 cm tumor, it was one inch, a lime is more like a 5cm tumor. If they removed that much tissue without reducing the amount of skin, you could be sloshy. Can you feel your seroma moving around?
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lol Peggy! Have feeling! 😀😀😀
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My tumor was 1.3 cm and they removed a chunk roughly the size of a Double Stuf Oreo (same diameter, maybe a tad thicker--sort of a mini-moon pie). Scar is barely noticeable and the breasts are the same size (though the “healthy” one is long & droopy). I could not find a Genie that would fit me (DD is what I would consider a reasonable goal for reduction surgery), but the Leading Lady bras were perfect till the SNB seroma sutures were removed and I could start wearing underwires again.
I do have a bunch of pretty, shirred velcro bustier-style “binders” but my belly is too big for them to fit me.
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I've just figured out that hitting the "post a reply" button does not reply directly to the person to whom you want to reply.
ChiSandy-Is the seroma in your tumor cavity or at the sentinel node biopsy site (or did you have an axillary node dissection)? Initially it was in my arm pit- they removed about 1.5 cc that time, had immediate relief. About 1 1/2 weeks later the fluid developed in my breast- I was traveling at the time, by the time I got back in to see my surgeon- he removed 80cc - each time subsequently has been less. I get that each time they aspirate increases risk of infection but OMG it hurts SO BAD - I can't sleep and really function well when the pain is so bad.
How many nodes did they have to remove? 3 It's possible that when your lat was removed some lymph nodes may have been compromised as well.I don't know what lat is, i'm terrified of getting lymphedema, I have some lymphedema in my leg from my injury in 2007 = I wear compression socks every day at work, and can't sit or stand for too long anywhere. So i really don't want lymphedema in another limb.
I don't think I'm responding to everyone in this by name- Just want to say thank you. Reading these posts has been very helpful.
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tsoebbin, I love to hear good news! Hopefully, it will be nothing but UP from now on.
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Wow. I just realized that between the two of us, we have spent 13-14 days in the hospital in the last 12 months and probably cost our insurance company over $500,000. And it's not over yet! Soooo, about a week ago my DH showed me a large lump on his abdomen. In fact, I could see it through his shirt. My heart just sank--an abdominal hernia. More specifically, an incisional hernia related to his laparoscopic prostatectomy 8 weeks ago. Thankfully, it's not causing pain or any trouble, but it's got to be fixed with a mesh patch to keep the bowel from strangulating. I took him to see my surgeon today and he was rather surprised to see how big it was--about 4"x6"x1". About the size of a paperback book or a good steak, LOL (I must be hungry!) Anyway, we were able to get him on the surgery schedule, which was no mean feat considering how much other stuff I have going on in the next 4 weeks before hysterectomy. DH will not be allowed to lift anything for 6 weeks (sound familiar??) He'll be allowed to drive after a week, which is good because I have my hyst 10/20 and I imagine he'll need to drive me around for a couple weeks. We are a matched set, I swear.
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Traci, great news on the pits (lol), Sandy, sorry about your surgery but I do think trusting your gut is important. Poodles, geez can you catch a break?
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Hello everyone, I was looking for some words of wisdom from those who've had experience getting a lumpectomy. First, I haven't been diagnosed with cancer... But atypical ductal hyperplasia, instead (for the time being... Results this Friday). My right breast excision surgery was on September 16th. They told me they'd be doing a wire localization beforehand (I had a marker already inserted from my stereostatic core vac biopsy prior). When I was getting the Mamogram and wire inserted, the radiologist said they were going to insert blue dye into the breast as well so that the surgeon could "see" it better? They never told me that they were doing that so I was surprised. Has anyone had a similar situation with getting blue dye before excision/lumpectomy too? Im so confused thinking back on it. I thought blue dye was for lymph node biopsy. Can anyone clarify why they would've injected blue dye before an ADH removal andexcision? When nodes, (sentinel or lymphatic) weren't even on the discussion table? Thank you in advance for any insight you may have. Hugs to all.
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My surgeon wrapped me tightly with the surgical bandage, and then I wore a sports bra over it. I even stayed wrapped at night for over a week or wore a tight sports bra. At night I found that wearing a soft t-shirt UNDER the sports bra was most comfortable. When my breast ached, I'd put the surgical ace bandage on, too. The research says that wrapping tightly for the fist week or two decreases your chance of a seroma--don't give the void room to fill up!
I'm really looking forward to seeing Peggy on October 2nd. Let's see, it's me, Alice, KatzPJ, Peggy and anyone else? Should we go out down town by the Riverfront Park or one of those parks downtown? I was reading what to do in Spokane, and it said to make sure you go to the parks!
My mammogram was good, so I don't see the surgeon for a year. Kinda scares me! I have an appt with my MO on Thursday, so I'm a little nervous about that. But, I feel good, so that should count on the positive side. I swear ladies, my yoga class really teaches me to take my mind off cancer. Actually, I hardly think of it anymore.
For those of you who are thinking of cancer 24/7, make sure you train your mind. If you start to think scary thoughts, say to yourself, "No negative thoughts!" and keep saying it until your mind changes direction.
Good thoughts going your direction for those of you waiting for the ki-67 and oncotest scores!
Sandy -I hope you're feeling better soon. It's funny how we get to the point where we say to each other, "I hope your thumb, knee, eye, and boob feel better soon." lol
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