Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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Poodles, in spite of the topic, the books are very heartwarming and informative. Hope you like them.
HUGS!
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Thanks for responding. I think I got everything in my profile but don't see how to make if "public." I'm not much of a techie and am having trouble getting around this website. I was very glad to find the lumpectomy lounge as I was scaring myself terribly in the first rooms I went to. So thank you to those who started and maintain this room.
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And I will echo the others in that fatigue after (or even starting towards the end of) radiation is definitely par for the course. My experience was unusually mild because my treatment was short and targeted.
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Taco, this site IS confusing. Here's where to make things Public: Go to My Profile. Click on the Personal Info tab. Right under the title for that tab is a link to SETTINGS. Each item has to be ticked to make it public. Hope this helps. We're here for you!
HUGS!
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Celand - I went through all of my radiation treatments without any noticeable fatigue...BUT I was exhausted for several days immediately after. Didn't even have the energy to go to the grocery store (DH took over). I didn't feel so much sleepy as just "spent". It lasted a little less than a week and then I was fine.
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Gail...welcome...so glad others were able to help you. This site is so good.
Tara...welcome...sorry your here. I remember the shock and how emotional it is. It still is emotional some days I just tear up over the small stuff. I am having radiation on my left side only 5 left to go.
Concerned fam...so sorry about your mom. I hope she gets it checked right away & please keep us posted.
Celand... Your fatigue is normal from what I've read. Would love to have some of that kings cake to share with DH ....bakeries here make a poor attempt at it.
LG...hope it's not LE ...please keep us posted.
I am burnt, toasted and sore thinking my left armpit and nipple have taken on a life of there own but I'm almost done ...yay!!
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Peggy, I haven't heard how your arm is doing? Did it resolve or are you still having issues?
🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆
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Traci, it seems to be doing fine. I just have to make sure to stretch it regularly. All very weird
Thanks for asking!HUGS!
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Caligirl, you had me remembering when I was doing my rads and the boosts had me thinking my nipple took on new life and was it's own separate entity screaming, "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" LOL!!! I wouldn't have been able to laugh back then, but I can now! You'll get there one day soon!
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Thanks to all for sharing your experiences with post-radiation fatigue. I will take it easy for a few weeks - already told my boss and co=-workers that I will play it by ear on weather I need to work a reduced schedule.
I went to an appointment with my MO today - he wants to give me more time to completely heal prior to prescribing an AI medication (since blood work indicated that I am post menopausal) generally, all went well except he asked me a question at the end of appointment that struck me as odd. He asked me why I just didn't have a mastectomy? It really caught me by surprise as I told him my reasons for choosing a lumpectomy vs mastectomy - he really acted like a mastectomy would have been easier or there would have been less to it than my lumpectomy w/radiation. I told him that I saw my mother go through a mastectomy years ago and I remembered how she suffered not only with the surgery but post surgical healing/complications, so I did not want to begin with that.
Well, anyway, is this a standard type of question that the MO would ask?
Celand
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Celand, perhaps he should stick to his area of expertise which obviously isn't surgery. I can understand why he might ask your reasoning for choosing an Lx vs Mx, to learn how you thought. But the way he did it and what he said? He seems very uninformed IMHO. For me, I would be uneasy after that and might consider finding another MO if that is an option. Very strange conversation.
HUGS!
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IMHO, MOs should stick to medical management of breast cancer, just as surgeons shouldn’t opine about adjuvant treatment.
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Well, regardless of how my MO felt about my decision or his own feelings, this decision was not his - this is my body and my decision! I just thought it was an odd question for him to ask me - maybe it was because of when he looked over my radiated area and said "you really got burned good" and that he would be allowing me several weeks to heal completely before starting me on AI medication. Perhaps that is what prompted him to ask me this.
But weather lx or mx, neither procedure is a "walk in the park" so to speak, and each woman must make this decision depending on her individual circumstances and feelings. My surgeon recommended lx but told me that if I absolutely wanted mx he would do what I wanted.
Now that I am thinking about it, I wonder why I would need to heal completely prior to starting AI medication? Why would that matter? Of course, I think of ???'s to ask after I am back home from appointment!
He also indicated that my Vitamin D levels were low, so he wants me to take a supplement to build that up - and he wants to make certain that I am truly post-menopausal - he wants to communicate with my gyn and get her agreement that I have indeed reached menopause. But he also said that my blood work supports that I am post menopausal.
Just a really confusing visit - have another appointment at end of February. I liked him until this visit - he keeps this up I may have to consider finding another MO.
Thanks to all for your input.
Celand
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Celand --- Every doctor is different. I started my AI one month after finishing my Chemo and a few days before starting Rads. I take extra vitamin D too along with Calcium/Magnesium. AI can cause bone loss and bone density should be monitored closely.
KB870 --- Where are you being treated? I went to Juravinski in Hamiliton They did the lx and the removal of the sentinel nodes at the same time. Looks like we have the same Dx.
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I was allowed to delay my AI until New Year's Day, even though I finished my radiation Nov. 23. I was going on a Mediterranean cruise Dec. 15-22, so my MO agreed that it'd be a shame if SEs were to hit me during my vacation and the Christmas holidays.
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Celand, I started my AI the day after I finished rads. I had no trouble with rads but that didn't enter into my MO's decision. He gave me the Rx before I started rads and told me when to start. I've had no trouble with my anastrozole either.
HUGS!
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Celand, I started AI the same day I started rads. I was fine up to a few weeks ago when I started having lower back pain and some other joint pain. I do have arthritis though so hard to know if the pain is from AI or arthritis.
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LG...thanks for helping me feel like I'm not alone with this miserable boob I have. My radiation was postponed because of burnt split skin in my armpit. I don't think I signed up for this??
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Arthritis can accelerate with estrogen deprivation—slowly during & after natural menopause, more rapidly when the deprivation is abrupt such as caused by AIs. So yes, it’s arthritis…and yes, it’s the AI. I do notice, though, that the aches I sometimes get during the night if I sleep too long in one position don’t feel quite the same as those I got from arthritis before I had my knees replaced. I don’t have cartilage (just Teflon), and I don’t have ACLs or PCLs. Could be the remaining MCLs and other soft tissue. I did get sort of a “flash” set of sharp pains on the outside of my L knee, very much like those lightning “zaps” of nerves reconnecting months after my knee replacement surgeries.
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Thanks Peggy! I'm still waiting on getting my van towed to a used car lot.. and then back to paratransit and taxi...
I just got a notice in my mail to have a mammogram and see the BC.. so i called them and they moved and aren't even set up in their new place yet.. may call the mo and see if she wants me to have it done
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Im happy that the hospital where I've had all my surgeries and where they first found my cancer, has the new 3D mammogram machine. The other place I went wasn't as comfortable and I didn't like the radiologist. He was also young and the other radiologist has many, many years of experience. The young one told me I had lots of hemorrhaging and scar tissue, " even if cancer was there, I wouldn't be able to tell, there still could be something there". My RO told me yesterday that I have a large Seroma that may or may not get smaller. There is a difference between old hemorrhage and Seroma. Seroma is a collection of mostly clear fluid leaked by the cells in the tissue that was damaged. The mammogram results per the young radiologist just said "area of increased density" Is it irrational for me to be so aggravated? ?
I do have axillary web syndrome, or cording- Thank God it's not lymphedema!!!
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LG, nope. You have the right to an accurate reading of your mammo, not some off-hand comments. I'd be PO'd too.
Judy, glad you are managing to get around. That's frustrating about trying to get your mammo.
HUGS!
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Seromas are very common after any “-ectomy” surgery (or one which leaves an enclosed empty space)—nature abhors a vacuum, so when something is removed and the space it was in gets re-enclosed, the cavity often fills with fluid. They often happen at both SNB and lumpectomy sites, and sometimes even at mastectomy sites after drains are removed. The body resorbs them in whole or in part. (My husband had one after a hernia repair). I had a tangerine-sized one at my SNB site—the weight of my breast pulled the incision open; so the remaining fluid was “expressed,” the incision sutured (rather than glued & steri-stripped) and the seroma shrank to the size of a grape before it disappeared. I developed 15 cm. tumor-cavity mammary seroma post-lumpectomy, which radiation swelled to 20 cm. After a year post-op, it had shrunk to 14cm. and at 18 mos. is now 10cm. It might or might not continue to resorb. If it doesn’t, my breast will continue to look “normal” (albeit perkier than my floppy non-cancer breast). So a seroma isn’t always a bad thing.
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Sandy, yours didn't cause any major pain? Mine is pretty big and breast hurts more now than when I finished rads. Having difficulty wearing my underwriters again. I guess I shouldn't worry about draining it unless it doesn't go down. Thanks all!!
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I just got diagnosed last Thursday, and it's IDC and small, so I expect to have a lumpectomy. I have no idea what to expect, and just wanted to be here so I can ask questions.
First one is, my cancer is on the bottom of my breast below the nipple. So do they always do sentinel node removal, and if so, will there be 2 incisions? Second, even if the lymph node is clear, how do they know whether there are other, smaller cancers in the breast? Do they ALWAYS do radiation after a lumpectomy? How often does a lumpectomy turn into a mastectomy? Do you need any reconstruction after a lumpectomy?I'm going to be reading the posts to see what info I can glean, but always appreciate people sharing their knowledge with me.
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KB870, we have similar stats (but mine was grade 1, plus there's a DCIS hiding in my breast still) and my RO has me doing 21 radiation treatments (15 whole breast + 5 boosts). It'll be interesting to see what your second-opinion RO says.
Also, my surgeon told me about 15% of the time when he goes to take out a DCIS it turns out in fact to be invasive in the pathology report. Uncommon but not rare.
I'm from Kingston, so it was cool to see you mention KGH
When you say your rads would be 1.5h away from your home, do you mean you'd be treated in Ottawa? I can tell you where the free parking is if you do!
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Natsera, unless you already have a lymph node diagnosed as malignant (in which case they would do the more extensive axillary lymph node dissection (ALND)—removing the first level of nodes, testing them and going deeper till they reach a level where all nodes are negative) for IDC they always do sentinel node biopsy (SNB) to assess if there is any spread to the nodes. It's less invasive than ALND, which was the standard until about 15-20 yrs. ago.
How many incisions you get depends on how close the sentinel node (the one that “lights up") is to the tumor—some patients get a single incision, but most require two.
Your imaging (mammography, ultrasound, MRI) apparently didn't disclose further cancers in the breast, otherwise they'd have told you. You will get followup imaging every 6 months.
Radiation is always done after lumpectomy—it's the patient's decision to say no, but usually surgeons will refuse to do a lumpectomy unless the patient commits to radiation.
Lumpectomy sometimes requires going in again for a wider excision to get clear margins, but unless the breast itself is so small that the first and subsequent surgeries would end up leaving too little, it rarely “turns into mastectomy." Mastectomy following lumpectomy is usually patient-driven, by the patient's perception that it would create more peace of mind and avoid radiation. (Or if there is a local recurrence or new tumor in an area that's already been radiated or would leave too little remaining breast tissue if removed by another lumpectomy).
Whether you need reconstruction after lumpectomy (called oncoplasty) depends on how much tissue needs to be removed, and whether you would be dissatisfied with a smaller and asymmetrical breast. It's between you & your breast surgeon—and if you decide to have it, an oncoplastic surgeon would be consulted. But unlike reconstruction after mastectomy, which is usually initiated immediately after the mastectomy in the same O.R., oncoplasty isn't usually done until clear margins have been achieved (confirmed by final path report several days later)—that way the oncoplastic surgeon's handiwork wouldn't have to be undone.
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LG, my breast seroma never hurt—just looked awkward after radiation (like my boob had swallowed a softball on one side, making my cleavage skew to the left). The SNB seroma was sore, however. My surgeon’s NP said that they usually don’t drain seromas because of the risk of infection and that they often refill (like that Doritos commercial “crunch all you want, we’ll make more”). When mine burst, she wanted me to just pack it several times a day and let it heal from the inside out…for up to six weeks. Not gonna happen, I told her—I had gigs to play and travel plans. So she called my surgeon’s partner and he squooshed out the remaining fluid and sutured it, saying my breast was too big and heavy for it to ever heal and stay closed otherwise.
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Natsera, Welcome! We're glad you found our forum. ChiSandy has given you good and accurate information. My BC was located below my nipple at about 6 o'clock. I'm small busted and a sizable chunk was removed (5cm x 3 cm x 2.5cm) for a 9mm tumor. But the margins were clear. My surgeon but things back together so well that unless I'm naked you can't tell I had any surgery. I had 5 nodes removed through an underarm incision. That one was more annoying than the one for the lumpectomy. Radiation was fine for me. No skin issues. And I've been on generic Arimidex for well over 2 years with no problems (depending on your menopause status you might be on Tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor like Arimidex).
Please do help us help you by filling out your Profile and, via SETTINGS, make each item PUBLIC so it will appear below each post. It also is immensely helpful to know where you live - treatment and options vary widely by country or even state. Plus there might be a BCO sister nearby which is always wonderful.
Keep asking your questions and we'll try to answer each one.
HUGS!
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Natsera....Welcome...sorry you had to find us....sounds like you have gotten some good answers.m
I wish I could say I had no skin issues like you Peggy....I am so tired of my burnt, split, throbbing boob at this point. The have postponed rads all week but I will go in today for my first boost if I can raise my arms. I was in so much pain yesterday they called me in a pain prescription....800 mg. Motrin.... Seriously?? I'm miserable and I get ibuprofen!!
Did any of you have the split skin in your armpit area? You can put the Silvadene on but it rubs right off. I can't go to work naked 😳
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