Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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Hi, Faye31,
I am Day 4 post-op from a left breast lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy. I have an incision just under the aureole that curves down to my chest wall, plus a 1" incision under my arm. Everything is sealed with surgical glue. Here are the things that I found helpful for home and recovery:
- Definitely having a basket of clean "go to" clothes right by the bed was helpful (socks, underwear, loose fitting clothing). I've been wearing sweat pants, extra large loose tee shirts, and a light robe or cardigan sweater most days.
- I invested in a giant "cooler" bottle which is always full of liquids (pomegranate juice cut with green tea, usually, or just water). I try to drink 2-3 bottles a day.
- I have a "caddy" I carry from room to room with lotion, baby wipes (since there is a moratorium on showers for you--I was allowed one the afternoon of the day after surgery), and lip balm. I keep both my mobile phone and regular phone in the caddy or in my pocket. My hands, lips, and throat are very dry.
- The bra I got at the hospital was...a nightmare. It was way too small--I understand the need for snug and supportive, but this was horrible--not to mention the velcro ripped and scraped my incisions. I immediately replaced it with a soft cotton fasten-in-front sports bra (hooks and eyes), which I wear 24/7 (I got 2 so one could be clean if other was in the wash). I leave the top couple of hook and eyes open.
- I live with 2 starving males, so a friend of mine came and stayed for a couple of days--she cooked and did laundry, and this was wonderful. She froze a bunch of meals for us as well. If you live alone, cook ahead and portion out easy to digest foods in small containers (i.e. soups, mac and cheese, etc.) to reheat. I also am eating a lot of yogurt and a probiotic.
- Cough drops--I had to be entubated, so my throat was raw and sore for the first few days. (It feels like someone punched me under the chin, honestly ). Even if you are not entubated, they will still help your throat feel better from the dry, cold air at the hospital.
- This is an odd one: Baby/diaper rash cream. I was so terrified of getting constipated, I took the strong stool softener. Ouch. I'd have some stool softener just in case, but it's not really needed if all is "moving" well with drinking fluids and eating fiber alone.
- I used my Rx pain meds (Lortab 5/325) on the given schedule for the first 2 days because I needed them (the underarm incision HURT, though the breast incision really didn't). I started cutting back on day 3, and I've only taken 1 today. My philosophy is better to have them and not take them if they are not needed, but do take them if you have pain. I rely on Tylenol and Aleve otherwise (I did have to wait 24 hours post-op to take Aleve--everyone's doctor is different).
- Small ice packs: Definitely helped with swelling and pain used in short increments.
- Plain, cotton dry square bandages--nothing sticky or plastic. This is sort of like the gauze your dentist might use. Sticking these in the bra really helped. I think mine are about 3 x 5 in size--they can be folded or pulled apart, depending on how much protection you want.
- I made a list of all "important" stuff (phone numbers, appointments, where to find papers and bills, etc) and gave it to DH and my friend. I paid all bills ahead of time so as to not worry about it for the first week.
- Don't forget to take breaks--I have a short walk and exercises to prevent lymphedema, but after I do those, I sit and drink my water and rest a bit.
- On Etsy, I bought a seatbelt pillow and a small U-shaped pillow I wear between my arm and chest at night or when sitting--it has helped a lot.
I know there are more lists around here somewhere, but I hope this helps! Best of luck with your surgery!
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ReadyAbout:
I had extreme nipple sensitivity after surgery on both sides! It eventually went away. I wondered if it had anything to dowith me stopping my birth control pills after taking them continuously for about 16 years.
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Faye 31, get front closing sports bras. I ordered mine at walmart.com for about $12 each, but you probably don't have enough time left to order them. Call around and see who carries them. Be sure you sleep in them for a while.
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I had the 5 day and had terrible results. There are higher risk factors like breast size, age, diabetes, obesity, immune disorders, etc that you should research. Not only am I sorry I did the 5 day accelerated radiation, I am sorry I had radiation at all. Please do plenty of research before you choose. Search on this forum for radiation and you will see many posts about side effects. Also google radiation side effects. To be fair, many women don’t have side effects but more women do than the oncologists will admit. Also when I had problems they didn’t know what to do. I was in pain for 8 months. Red, hot, swollen and sore. 2 weeks after radiation the skin fell off my breast and I had open wound for about 6 weeks. I’m not saying don’t have it, just get some facts before you decide. If you have no reason to get it done quickly I would do a longer treatment. If you don’t have the risk factors, you’ve may be OK. Please keep us posted.
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Thank you so much! All the information was very helpful!
I did find a front fastening sports bra at Walmart a couple weeks ago from a clearance rack, I have no idea why I didn’t buy two, I will have to stop there today and see if they still have any left. My husband took a couple days off from work to tend to me and probably keep the kids under control lol. I have 4 kids in the house from ages 8 to 13. The older two are very helpful.
I caught up on the laundry yesterday. And I am going to buy some groceries today. I am positive I am forgetting something important I needed to do before surgery. When I remember I will just have to delegate it to someone.
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Hi Faye! Check Target as well for a sports bra - I’ve been living in my zip front since my lumpectomy on 2/22. Our Target had a lot of them on sale recently
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I just got a copy of my surgery report and it says, "Marking clips were placed into the lumpectomy bed and the incision closed in layers" Although I'll have to ask my surgeon, it appears that new clips were put in. Why would I need this?? The old clip put in during the biopsy was removed because I asked the surgeon about this but he never mentioned putting in new clips.
Anyone else have clips put in with their lumpectomy?
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Hi, Veeder 14,
I got new marking clips too. They were around the edges of my Biozorb insert. They’re there to mark precisely where the tumor was located. She talked to me about this in pre-op. The Biozorb is slowly absorbed by my body as new tissue fills in, but the markers remain. They’re tiny and quite useful for my follow up mammograms.
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Faye, I found it very difficult to eat anything the first day or so after my LE as my throat was so sore. My DH went out and bought me popsicles and soup. Just a suggestion!
MJ
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Veeder 14, Yes, the clips are there to identify the location of your tumor bed to guide radiation treatments. I don't recall being told about the new clips either, but then again, the initial information was clouded by so many other things at the time
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Feeder and Variable,
Thanks for your comments. I had never thought about new clips, but what you say makes sense. I’m going to make sure I get a copy of the surgery report and ask about any new clips
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Truth be told, this is our new normal. Forgo radiation and you run a risk of recurrence. Everything (even doing nothing) has side effects. As to radiation, a lot of folks I know who went the brachytherapy and ultra-hypofractionated 5-day (twice a day) routes had side effects comparable to those who did the standard whole-breast 33-day protocol (28 regular and then 5 "boosts"). I did the 16-day (once a day) hypofractionated partial-breast protocol and my side effects were fairly mild and short-lived. Thing is, we can't predict how well we'll tolerate a treatment and won't know until we've undergone it. It's a crapshoot...as is life.
Cloth or nonwoven nursing pads can be good "buffers" for your incision(s). I also saved the little round disposable icepack with which they sent me home after my biopsy, and used and reused it till it fell apart. Those U-shaped "neck pillows" sold for plane passengers are just the right shape to cushion your incisions. As to front-hook stretch bras, it's never too late if you have Amazon Prime--some things can be not just overnighted but delivered w/in hours. If you can send someone to Wal-Mart or Target with instructions (including what size to buy), so much the better; you'll have it in time for surgery. I bought my Leading Lady leisure bras afterward (already had a couple of soft-cup non-wired bras which I'd bought for post-biopsy wear--not very supportive, but still held "the girls" in place) from HerRoom.com and BareNecessities.com. My surgeon also sent me home in one of those ugly white stretch-cup velcro-front surgical bras, four sizes too small!
To the suggestions above, I'd add that in that "go" basket at bedside should be a couple of button-front tops & nightie/PJs, or something you can step into instead of pulling overhead. And make sure you have lots of takeout menus (or a food delivery website like GrubHub in your area). I grocery-shop for mainstream brands (which the Whole Foods down the block doesn't carry) on Peapod.com. The delivery drivers will even put away your groceries for you. As to carrying restrictions, nothing heavier than a half-gallon of milk the first week and then a gallon the next month.
It is also a good idea to get a medical ID bracelet (pink emblem) and wear it on the wrist of the arm on the surgery side. The back of the plaque should say "Lymphedema risk this (or R or L) arm--no needles or blood pressure." Mine gives my name on the top line; second line "Lymphedema R arm No Ndls/BP;" third line hasmy drug allergies to penicillin, sulfa & cipro, "Algy PCN Cipro Sulfa;" fourth & fifth lines are my emergency contact numbers ("ICE")--home and husband's cell. Why a pink emblem? My doctor explained that unless EMTs or ER crews see pink on medical alert jewelry, they won't think to look for lymphedema restrictions. Now, the hospital or surgeon's nurse will give you a pink plastic warning bracelet if you ask, but it looks like a hospital patient-ID or festival beer-tent wristband, and will likely fall off. Not something you'd want to wear every day.
And make sure you carry a wallet card with your medical ID data--and upload it into your cellphone's Health app. (All smartphones have one).
Finally, make sure your Netflix account is current. You're not going to feel like spending an evening going out to the movies for awhile.
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My last mammogram revealed at least 12 clips, that was how many I counted. Looks like I was shot in the boob with a shotgun. Or some kind of crazy connect the dots. How anyone could tell the location of anything with that mess of markers in me is beyond me!
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That’s interesting about the clips. My tumor was so close to the nipple that it wasn’t hard to locate I suppose. I believe I only had 2 or 3. I have no idea if I still have mine or not. I thought they were strictly used for tumor location during surgery, then taken out along with the tumor. I just started radiation treatments. I had my first Accuboost yesterday in which I was told it zaps the tumor cavity and is more intense than the monster TrueBeam - at least in my case. I have all this week and half of next for a total of 8 boosts, then a continuation of the external through April 16th. Something tells me I’ll be fried by the end of next week.
I have to carry a card that tells ER that I’m a cabbage victim, but my scar down the middle of my chest would be obvious to any ER person. The card even shows which leg was used for vein removal - not sure why that’s so important to know. At the rate I’m going, I’ll need a medical bracelet along with a medical alert button around my neck - but I’m too stubborn to fall and not get up. If I don’t get up - that would be due to a heart attack and most likely the end of me. I’m glad I didn’t have Lymphedema to complicate matters
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My clip from biopsy was removed during LX, taken with the tissue. No additional clips were put back in. I have small breasts, I'm guessing they have no problem identifying the area.
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I guess I don't have a problem with having clips put in however the surgeon should have told me he was going to do this. I had a problem with the biopsy clip that migrated 1 cm in less than a month and hurt so hopefully these clips stay in place.
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I hope you all don't mind me asking a question here, as I have not been diagnosed with BC...
Did any of you suffer from shoulder/collarbone pain after your lumpectomy? I had my surgery about 10 days ago, and yesterday my shoulder started to ache. Now the pain is pretty much in one area - right around the collarbone.
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Yes, both my shoulders were killing me. Mine was cumulative from many face down MRI's then surgery. I have back/neck/shoulder/elbow problems anyways. I went to physical therapy who realigned my shoulder blades, neck, back. Now it's ok.
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Thanks for the reply! I’m glad to hear you got some relief.
I sent a message to my surgeon, in case I might need a referral
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I had a little shoulder ache for a week or so, probably from having to adjust my sleeping position. A little roll-on Bio-Freeze, arnica or Traumeel gel helped. They removed my clip along with the tumor.
I'm only 67, so I'm not going to get one of those emergency-alert-button pendants. But I might upgrade my Apple Watch for a Series 3 with LTE so if I do fall & can't get up and can't reach my phone, I can call 911 from my wrist. My Series 2 will let me take phone calls and answer texts if I'm in range of my phone but not make calls.
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Hi, same as what others said...yes, because my left side was how I slept. Both shoulders have partially torn rotator cuffs, treated with physical therapy and things like heat or ice. But ouchie, sleeping on the right side for a week has sure aggravated it. I look forward to being able to switch around soon. I’m one week post op tomorrow. Bio freeze, arnica, and Voltaren (if you’re in Canada, are indeed helpful. I’m glad my surgeon was very detailed. Yes, Veeder14, I agree—you should have been told. I like having all the info, too.
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Adding to the bra discussion...I have had two stretchy front closing bras for a while, started to wear them at nighttime, but found that the hooks would come apart during the night so I felt as if I had no support. (Am a 40C with very solid, dense breasts) Was out doing errands today, stopped at a specialty lingerie shop and was properly measured and fitted (although I was happy to see that I have been wearing the correct size already) and left with three very nice and comfortable bras. One had wider straps, but the armpit area was cut a little lower and deeper, so I think there will be less to rub and irritate (know I am having node biopsy, expect one or more to be removed). The second one had very stretchy but flat material, so could envision the cup size would still work after some breast tissue removed. Band felt really comfortable so I think this will also work. Bought a second color (black) just because...
Chatted with the fitter, who wished me luck and said they would help me with whatever future fitting needs I might have. Felt like I added something positive to a more somber event. A little more pricey, but it’s only money
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I also have the medical alert bracelet. It has my name;Lymphedema Risk; No BP/IV Right Arm; HBP (I have high blood pressure); and ICE with my son first & husband second. S always has his phone on him. H rarely remembers to take the house phone outside when he goes out to his shop and never looks for messages. Forget his cell...I'm not sure he knows how to answer it! My son has assured me he will answer an emergency call and then notify his father. I only wear the bracelet when I go out or if I am alone in the house. I don't have a pink tag, though. I only saw the red emblems when I was ordering. I will look for the pink tags.
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Lauren's Hope and N'Style both have pink-emblem plaques (or heart-shaped charms you can hang from a bracelet or chain).
Astyanax, Voltaren "Emulgel" is OTC in Canada? Sheesh, it seems to be OTC everywhere but the US and maybe UK. Here, it recently went generic--and though it's crazy-expensive (and not covered by insurance) in most pharmacies, Costco's price for a 100gm prescription tube of 1% is $33--about twice the price of a 60gm tube of OTC Voltaren Emulgel 1% in Europe. (In Italy, you can even get the 2% strength OTC). I notice that in Europe, when you buy a drug OTC that requires an Rx in the States, it's usually the brand name--not the generic. (Blew my mind to be able to buy actual Celebrex, not merely celecoxib, OTC in Paris--and Ventolin inhalers OTC for a quarter of what they cost here with a prescription). Were it not for Costco's low price, I'd be planning a little overnight driving trip to Detroit-Windsor as we speak.
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ChiSandy, we do a huge stockup on Voltaren when we go to Canada. Yep, it’s right there on the shelf in a variety of strengths and sizes. It’s good stuff! My radiologist says she buys it when she visits family in Italy, too. And $5 Z packs....
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Oh, wow! Hope the Bar Assn. trip to Rome (and its HQ hotels) still have room for me next month! Time to buy meds OTC (though the last time I did a Z-pack I did get a few heart palpitations...maybe it was because I also drank wine during the course of the abx). I'm of two minds about the Rome trip: on the one hand, I'd love to go; on the other, Bob doesn't want to visit Rome three times in 3 yrs, and says he can't come along (especially because he'll be taking off a few days in early May so we can go to Boston), and the price will be fearsome ($900 CLE fee is the least of it--there's also the hotel, $300/night if the room block is still open, $400 if not, and airfare--and for a trip that long I need at least Premium Economy for the legroom to avoid DVT). We do have some timeshare points we must use up before the end of the year--maybe I can convince him to do a getaway at an RCI or HGV property instead of my taking the Rome trip, or find out if there's an RCI property in Rome close enough to the Bar Assn. trip (Pantheon/Spanish Steps) area. If I don't go to Rome, that means I have to get 30 hrs. of CLE before the end of June--which means having to go down to the Loop several times a month for seminars and watching stupefyingly boring videos (which I can at least do while multitasking).
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We always stock up on Voltaren 2% when we go to Italy and Novalgina pain killer, which I believe is paracetamol and very easy on the stomach. We will be in Venice in July - I can't wait for the R&R. And wine. And cheese.
Rome is divine. I hope that works out for ypu ChiSandy
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We always stock up on Voltaren 2% when we go to Italy and Novalgina pain killer, which I believe is paracetamol and very easy on the stomach. We will be in Venice in July - I can't wait for the R&R. And wine. And cheese.
Rome is divine. I hope that works out for you ChiSandy
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I hope so, too, Paco. I've been twice: once after finishing rads in Dec. 2015 as our embarkation point (Civitavecchia, an hour south) for our Mediterranean cruise; and again in July 2016, bookending three days at an HGV timeshare in rural Tuscany. We stayed at the Hilton Airport both times, so we could walk to & from our hotel and save taxi fare, take the free shuttles into & out of the Centro Storico (and skip the subway), use our HHonors points to cut the cost in half, and have free hot breakfast and cocktail/early-supper buffets in the Exec. Lounge. I'd do that again this time in a heartbeat, except that the course's hotel is too far from the shuttle dropoff or subway station...and I am NOT a morning person. The idea of rising at zero-dark-thirty to arrive in a lecture hall or courtroom by 9 or even 8 a.m. doesn't exactly spell "la dolce vita" for me.
I was in Venice only once--in 1996 on one of those Medical Society "if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium"-type tours, based in Kitzbuhel. We took the tour bus across the Dolomites and holed up in a motel on the Tronchetta isle (which is literally a giant parking lot/garage). Took a "water bus" across the Giudecca to the edge of town and then a vaporetto to Piazza San Marco. I was a good 20 lbs. heavier then, cardiovascularly-deconditioned, with horribly arthritic knees. It was also 95F and more humid than a schvitz room. Walking around Venice means crossing streets by crossing mini-canals, which involves bridges with stairs up and stairs down. It's no place for the physically-disabled. And after dinner, it was back to the vaporetto, to the bus, to the motel--and next day only a couple of hours on our own before getting back to our bus and back into Austria.
Of course, even though I'm 22 years older (!!!) now, I have two painless bionic knees, am thinner and in much better aerobic shape. But now Bob's knees are arthritic (one of the reasons he stopped doing cardiac caths at 65 was that standing up for long periods in the cath lab without walking around was brutal on his knees), he's too proud to use a cane (or even the trekking pole I used as an "undercover cane), and is in no shape to do all those mini-staircases.
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Sandy, it sounds like boring videos are in your future. I'm sure you can find something to do during them (knit, crochet?) Poor Bob. Can't blame him for not wanting to cope. And with it so damned expensive. It's nice you can upgrade to get leg room in the plane. But those fares are so hard to swallow whether you can afford them or not. Windsor is always a nice trip for meds. You can hit the casino if you want some excitement!
HUGS!
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