Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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Teamcookie, just adding a 'ditto' to what Poodles and the others said. I have a very similar profile to yours it looks like, and had chemo also. It wasn't fun but it was doable. (((hugs)))
((((hugs))) also to you poodles! Glad your family is there!
Octogirl
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Judy - My thoughts and prayers are with you. May you be comforted by the memories of happy times with your brother. Hugs
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TeamCookie....Welcome...I remember the shock when my doctor said Chemo ... It just hit my emotion button & I cried through the rest of my appointment. I'm glad you met a good support person. Hopefully we can give you support here too.
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Thanks Katz.. My sister is coming for a week today.. it'll be good to see her
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TeamCookie, I know chemo may be necessary in some circumstances, but my understanding is also that treatment recommendations may vary based on doctors. It might be worth looking for a second opinion. If nothing else, it may help you feel more at peace with your treatment decision if the recommendations are the same from two different sources.
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Hi BCO sisters,
Please help me decide if I should consider having mastectomy (even BMX) instead of lumpectomy!
I am halfway through neo-adjuvant chemo, I can feel my lump has shrunk a lot form the original 2.5cm so I think lumpectomy is possible. Another reason makes me opt for lumpectomy is I am negative for the genetic testing! Yay! However, my breasts are extremely dense and I know dense breasts have higher chance to develop BC. If recurrence happened to me I would really regret my decision!
I am highly ER/PR+ and will turn 30 in 2 months. Please help me decide!
Thanks
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Judy...glad your sister is coming. How are you doing?
stephi....welcome...I had a lumpectomy but I was 1cm stage 1B which could be the difference. I was happy to have lumpectomy to start. Praying for you as you decide
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Hi steph, I think maybe some pros and cons and consulting with a plastic surgeon would help. Here are some things to consider :
1. once your breasts are gone there's no changing your mind.
2. With dense tissue you will have frequent surveillance. How will you deal with the stress?
3. Depending on your choice of reconstruction, you may have several surgeries.
4. You lose sensation in your breast with mx.
5. You can have recurrence even after mx.
6. You are young so you are stuck with risk of recurrence longer so cutting your risk with mx helps.
Please consult with a plastic surgeon before making your decision. Read the reconstruction forum. Make the best decision for you and your family.
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Update... my mother decided on Sunday that she liked me again. She had a great day visiting with grandchildren and was her normal self. Then yesterday the doctor spoke to her about going to rehab, ostensibly to learn to eat better and get stronger with PT. By the time she got there she did not know why she was there; even with reminders she did not remember having that conversation. This morning she is angry with me again and thinks it's all my fault. So, I am staying away and doing errands for my sisters today. At least we got the durable power of attorney invoked so my sister can contact her Banks and get everything transferred to her. Did I mention we found nine bank accounts? Oy
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Poodles, what an emotional roller coaster you're enduring. I'm glad that mom was able to interact with the grandchildren and was "normal." That will give them good memories. And it's good that she's in rehab vs at home. Great news that you got the Durable Power of Attorney invoked. NINE bank accounts? Wow. Now you can straighten out her finances. I'm sorry that you seem to be the bad daughter again. It's hard to deal with even when you know it's the disease speaking and not her. Continuing to send virtual hugs and positive vibes.
HUGS!
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Caligirl, Thanks! I'm doing ok, still waiting on nephew to set a date.. we will get him on that today.. he's trying to procrastinate and you can't put these things off...
Poodles, Glad you had some good time with your mom..
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Yes, I am grateful for the hours during which my mother was lucid and happy. That's the thing--she can hold it together well enough to snow the doctors and her friends. But with us she lets her guard down. Repeats her stories endlessly, asks why she is there, tells us that she never consented to go to rehab. Of course, she did. She thinks I'm the one who "did this to her." However, I wasn't even in the building when she had the conversation with the doctor and my sister, and I didn't transport her to the rehab; my sister did.
I'm just so thankful that there are four of us girls. If I had to handle my mother's health AND finances, I would be out of my mind too. At least we're able to spell each other off. One sister will be with her for the next two day, giving another sister some down time. Then another is coming in on Thurs and staying through the weekend (this is the one she currently loves.) Thankfully, my brother hasn't made an appearance yet and doesn't plan to until the end of the month (which well may be too late, but his decision.) He got drunk and called her a few nights ago, got her all jacked up. He doesn't think she sounds all that bad. And she doesn't, on the phone. But spend a few hours with her at the end of the day and holy cow!
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Poodles, aw geez. Glad you can take a break because it sounds like you need it. Sounds like your brother is in denial. Good luck and sending you lots of love.
HUGS!
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(((Poodles)))
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Fightingirl....I was offered both and chose brachy... (1)I wanted to get it over and done with as quickly as possible (2)it was more targeted (3) my surgeon had done over 1,000 implants and I was comfortable with his experience. I was told it's not offered mainly because the equipment is very expensive and a lot of hospitals don't have it therefore most surgeons don't have the experience. I had the implant in me for 8 days. I had treatment 2x a day for 5 days. One at 7:30am and then another at 1:30pm. The treatment itself wasn't bad. I'd go in and they would insert the radio active seeds....leave the room for about 5 mins and then come back and take the seeds out of the tubes. I had a great RO who was very talkative and put me at ease. I only had one day where it was uncomfortable for me. The RO taped it back in place too tightly. I had my husband change the bandage for me the first 3 days (i'm extremely squeamish ) until actual treatment started and then the nurse would change it. The insertion and removal was painless...I took a valium both times just in case.
I have a divet where it was inserted but I would choose to do it again if I had to.
p.s. I was 59 at the time of treatment
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Hi Stephi, I'd follow Molly's advice and weigh pros and cons and consult with plastic surgeon. My diagnosis is different from yours as well as age difference. But I too have to deal with dense tissue and concern about BC screening post BC. I chose LX over MX because it was a shorter recovery time and the because LX + rads have about same chance of reoccurrence as MX alone. I had to have a re-excision to get clean margins, but still happy with choice of LX. I also take Tamoxifen because I'm er/pr+ 100% which also lessens my chance of reoccurrence. I recently had my first mammogram post BC and had the 3-D imaging. The radiologist told me that the 3-D helped her to see better through the dense tissue which gave me a great level of comfort. That first post mammo was very stressful, but came back normal & I go back every 6 months for 2 years. Hope this helps. Sending you positive vibes as you work out your treatment plan. Hugs!
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Tbalding & Molly50, I will take your advice into serious consideration!! You all are so amazing!
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Welcome Stephi but sorry you need to be here with all of us. Molly's advice is best. I did tons of research each step of the way as I wanted to have as much knowledge going forward as possible. This site is truly a Godsend, and the women are a great support no matter what path your journey takes. As you can see, we're all here for each other both for bc and life. Congrats on the genetic testing!
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Nash54!! Invaluable info...thanks so much! I'm pretty squeamish too...I could hardly scrape the dermabond glue off my lymph incision! Did you have any side effects? Tired or pain after the treatment completed?
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Hi everyone, I hope you can share your thoughts on my current situation. I posted this in the triple+ forum but hope I can get some insights here as well.
I was just recently DX with triple+ IDC also with a DCIS in the left breast. I already got a lumpectomy and sentinel lymph removal last week. I'm currently ~24 weeks pregnant, hence why I preferred to do surgery prior to chemo, hoping that it could buy me some time to start the chemo after birth of my baby.
The lump was measured at 1.7CM and all 4 nodes were neg. However, my surgeon just informed me today the pathology report shows there's still some cancer cells left by the margin of the IDC but doesn't know how extensive it is b/c she couldn't do a MRI on me. She said she'll talk to the pathologist and then bring it to the tumor board on Monday to come up with my suggested treatment plan. Meantime, my oncologist didn't make this meeting so I didn't really get a good sense of my risk if I choose to postpone all treatment until after the delivery date, which will be in ~4 months.
So I wonder if anyone was in a similar situation as me? What is the risk of waiting to start chemo for 4-5 months if there are remaining cancer cells after lumpectomy? I wouldn't mind getting another lumpectomy (as long it's safe for my baby), but my surgeon seems unsure whenever she'll get it all b/c she can't do a MRI? Isn't there another way to be sure? Ahhh, so frustrating.
Please help
- E
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I would imagine that at the very least the tumor board would insist on a re-excision to get clean margins—that would not affect the baby the way chemo might.
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e12345e, Welcome to the Lumpectomy Lounge. What hard decisions you are faced with. I'm with Sandy that I would think they might want to go back in and try to get clear margins at the least. Others here have had re-excisions. I don't recall (and I could be very wrong) that an MRI was done to see what was needed for the margin. How's baby doing?
Would you mind filling out your profile and making it PUBLIC via the SETTINGS? That would help us immensely.
We're glad you found us and we'll try to help you as much as possible and we're very good at listening!
HUGS!
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Fightingirl....I didn't have any pain after rad treatment. I got a little skin burn a couple of weeks after rads but aquaphor cleared it up.
My node site was the most bothersome and some strange zinger sensations from the nerves regenerating for a while. I do have a lot of hard scar tissue at my lx site and where the savi device was inserted but no pain.
Also, you can't shower while you have the device. Sleeping comfortably was a challenge...I used lots of pillows and slept with a tank top to help keep the tubes in place. The tubes were really long and were taped to my side....I think there were about 7-8 tubes. It's a little freaky but I figured could get thru 8 days and be done. I really did not want to go in for 30 treatments. I absolutely hate doctor appts.
Good luck to you!!!
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e12345e....Welcome ... So sorry you have to be here. I know in my chemo in August 2016 group we had an expectant mom who just delivered recently but i will be no help for you. I did not have a MRI before surgery. They did another mammogram to compare to my original on before chemo. Prayers for you & baby.
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e12345e, welcome! I agree with Sandy on re-excision. I had to have one to get clean margins and they didn't do MRI before. Positive thoughts to you.
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e12345e -- Hi! Talk to your MO. There is only a finite amount of time between the surgery and the start of Chemo for it to be effective according to my MO. In our group, Anyone starting chemo August 2016?, we had a pregnant lady taking Chemo. There are some of the drugs that do not pass onto the baby. Annie just posted the pictures of her little girl who was born in November.
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Feeling anxious this morning. I am having a "I can't do this day!" Just don't want to tell anyone about the surgery and definitely not telling that's its BC.... I still haven't told the people I work with and it needs to happen I just can't do it
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Varagdoll...I remember how hard it was for me to tell anyone. Just saying the words "breast cancer" was so scary to me. Fortunately I don't work so I didn't have that to deal with. I only told a few close people about it but once I did it was less scary. I had several days where I just didn't think I could get thru but I did and you will too.
(((hugs)))
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Thank you Nash54. My job is basically my life that's what makes this so hard! I have missed 11 days in 17 years. My work goes where I go and I go where my work goes....
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Thank you Nash54. My job is basically my life that's what makes this so hard! I have missed 11 days in 17 years. My work goes where I go and I go where my work goes....
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