Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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I am recovering well from the lumpectomy3/6. Yesterday was hard. The Danskin zip front sports bra I got from Walmart is fantastic though! I wish I had worn it yesterday. I’m only an A cup but the little bit of bounce I was dealing with was excruciating. I also made the mistake of leaning over the table to help my daughter with her homework, don’t do that! Total face palm moment there.
The dr had to take a little more tissue than she originally thought was necessary. Just waiting on pathology to confirm the whole mass is benign.
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Glad to hear you're recovering well! I totally get what you mean about leaning over - the first time I was able to shower and took off the bra they put on me after the surgery was oh so painful!
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Hello. I had my lumpectomy yesterday. I had my nuclear injection one hour before the surgery. I was terrified because of what I read on this sight. When the doctor came in they told me that they don't numb the area before the injection. I kinda lost it but they assured me I would be fine. When he gave the injection I actually laughed because it didn't hurt at all. I worked myself up for nothing! They loaded me up with pain medication in my iv before I left the hospital and it made me loopy the rest of the night. I filled my prescription for pain meds but I haven't needed it. I have only taken three ibuprofen all day. I went for a 2 1/2 mile walk around our lake with my daughter today and felt pretty good. I did take a pretty good nap this afternoon. My bs told me she should have some of the results by Monday.
One weird thing happened during my surgery was that she found two tumors instead of just one. She removed them both and she thinks one is B9 but I wonder why the mammogram didn't show both?
And by the way my pee has been blue for two days! Lol
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98hgmom,
Glad to know your surgery went well, especially your good pain control. Saying a prayer for great results
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glad for you Faye3. Prayers for good results.
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98hgmom your diagnosis is similar to mine. Faye31, best wishes for a b9 report. Happy to hear your surgery is over and went well. Mine too was better than expected and I got my results yesterday: clear margins, no lymph node involvement and downgraded from nuclear Grade 2 to Grade 1!! All is healing well though my breast still looks like a bulls eye with blue from the dye and yellow from the bruising.
The path report was done in three days. It just seems to take time to get it to the patient but my local clinic got it for me before I meet with the surgeon next week.
So far, so good. There may be challenges ahead with rads and hormone blockers, but hopefully no chemo and I am celebrating for now!
Many thanks to all who helped me through this experience. Your support and advice meant a lot to me.
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Great news for you DearLife! I am really hoping for no chemo. I would rather deal with radiation. I’m feeling great again this morning. So far so good! I love all the support and advice through this community.
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Hi ladies .... I know this probably isn't the best place to post this, but you all truly are the best at responding and giving input! My body is not loving Tamoxifen - honestly, I don't feel terrible - a few aches here and there, but exercise works that out. But my liver enzymes keep climbing as well as my blood pressure. My MO wants me to have the ovaries out so I can then switch to an AI. Would love to hear your experiences and thoughts. So thankful for this tribe of amazing women!!!!
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Hi Faye31, good to hear from you. I too was glad I wore my bra--it did help. Ouch on the leaning. I laid around for the first 3 days post-op other than some walking. Hope you are feeling better!
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Hi 98Hgmom--great news on the shots! I think, honestly, it depends on the skill of who give them. 1 of mine did not hurt--the other 3 did. Not being a medical person, but having heard from many of them on this--it has a lot to do with the angle. 2.5 miles?!? WOW! That's amazing--I was proud of 1 on post-op day 2.
I also had 2 tumors (well, bear with me)--one was IDC (invasive ductal carcinoma) and the other was ductal carcinoma in situ (by definition, not invasive). They got the IDC out pretty quickly, but kept checking margins on the DCIS, which was just under my skin. I hope the one they found is absolutely nothing and all comes back good news on the path report.
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98hgmom- my mammogram never picked up the tumor, the US picked it up. I too had both IDC and DCIS. Maybe that's what yours was. The nuclear injections, I too thought it was going to be bad, but I had 2 shots and it wasn't. We can work ourselves into a frenzy for nothing, its just a part of the bc journey. Glad you're healing so well.
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Thanks Cindy and ast for the positive thoughts! What a journey we all are on!
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Hi! First-time poster here.
I had a lumpectomy done in January. I had prior to the surgery been diagnosed with DCIS, but at the follow up visit at the doctor's I was told that I have pleomorphic LCIS and that the surgery hadn't been success with clear margins. I'm going in on Wednesday for a second lumpectomy.
My recovery after the first surgery was fairly easy. My pain levels were alright. I had two days and a weekend off before going back to work. I'm hoping to do the same this time around.
I wonder if those who've had two surgeries have had any differences in their recoveries? Was it harder to heal after the second?
Thanks!
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Greetings to the newbies and gentle, healing hugs. 98hgmom - Yes, that "smurf blue" pee is a little freaky! DearLife, your info sounds similar to mine. Wishing that those of you waiting on results hear the good words that no chemo needed. Radiation scared the heck out of me, but made it through OK. Was also surprised to find that post surgery lumpectomy not as bad as expected.
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TheSwedishOne- I had a reexcision too. Mine was done right where first one was. Much easier, didn't need to be intubated, faster surgery - they know right where to go. I think you'll do fine. My breast incision never really bothered me, the ancillary node removal was the pain part. Best wishes!
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Does anyone have pain in their rib area? It’s located on the side of my body underneath my arm where the bottom of my bra rests. I noticed it during radiation and it’s always been there but now it’s much more painful to pressure such as laying on my side in bed.
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Shockedat48 - I also have rib pain in a similar area. Mine started during chemo. My MO did another CT scan just to make sure, but everything seemed ok. She feels it some inflammation going on. I will say that the past 2 weeks it seems to have improved - which is what she said hopefully will happen. The further out from treatment, hopefully will improve. Crazy thing was it went away in between chemo and radiation - so it has to be related somehow. Once radiation started - it returned.
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I too have rib pain on the breast cancer side. It is often sore to the touch.
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I too have pain when touched on the surgery side towards the side and back 2 weeks into rad treatment. I have decided that I won't lay down on that side since I was advised that to prevent lymphedema, no BP cuffs, needles, etc. for the rest of my life, ever. Been sleeping on a lazyboy chair to keep from turning over. Got tired of that, so I'm sleeping in the guest room with a body pillow with the bed against a wall, laying on my back. Takes some getting used to. Before surgery, when I slept on that side, my arm would fall asleep big time. Would hurt when the circulation came back. Being in the mold that they made for me for rads also made my shoulder hurt after treatment (numbness experienced in that shoulder and arm). Getting used to it though. I attribute that pain to post surgical numbness is wearing off gradually, but we'll see.
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Have you ladies with pain been doing lots of physiotherapy exercises? I was assigned a whole list of exercises. I initially had some pain and tightness in some muscles by my ribs but that's gone now with the stretching. If your pain is continuing, maybe a pt consult is in order.
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I hope I am doing this correctly new to breast cancer and new to posting.i had a lumpectomy on March 5 2018. I have had in consistent fatigue. What I understand is I have invasive ductal and globular breast cancer. They did sental nodes 1 node out. The core biopsy saidestrogen high positive progestin minimal positive her2 negative. I am me awaiting bits and pieces of pathology report that will be telephoned to me. I want to know what should I be asking or trying to hear.
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Welcome MotherChicken. You're at the right place. There certainly is a lot to learn. If you can, get a copy of Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book. It tells you everything you ever wanted to know and probably more about breast cancer. I'm not surprised you are experiencing fatigue. Your lumpectomy is major surgery. Just because you have it outpatient, doesn't lessen the shock and stress on your body. Listen to it and rest. Definitely don't overdo.
You can help us help you by filling out your profile and then clicking the SETTINGS tab in the upper right and make everything PUBLIC. That way it will show up after your name. Most of us have a hard time remembering what everyone has gone through, diagnosis, etc and this is a good reminder. You can also personalize your signature to give more information. And we'd love to know where you are located. We probably have BSO gals near you.
Take it easy!
HUGS!
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Hi Motherchicken, sorry you find yourself here.
just fyi, if you want you can enter your diagnosis into your profile (top right of screen) & then set it to public in your settings (in the menu on the left) & then it will show up like some of ours do in the signature.
I think the questions you'll want from your final pathology report will be:
the size of the tumour
any lymphovascular invasion
status of the lymph node that was biopsied
Also whether you qualify for Oncotype testing which is often used to predict recurrence and assess risk/benefit of chemo.
Since you had a lumpectomy you will probably need radiation.
Once your oncologist has all the info they will present you with a treatment plan & outline your options.
Sorry you're still feeling tired. Are you able to eat and go for small walks? Staying hydrated? Pooping? Are you on may pain meds still? It takes time to clear the anesthesia meds sometimes - the more you move, drink,and poop the faster it clears....gentle hugs
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Hi ladies, I am schedule for lumpectomy tomorrow morning 6am
. Wire guided. Thanks for all the info here. You all have been so helpful 0 -
Motherchicken, assuming your surgical path comes back ER+/PR+ (whether or not weakly) and HER2-, you'd be a candidate for OncotypeDX if it fell into a "gray area" (any one or more of the following: size >0.5 cm, 1-3 positive sentinel nodes, very weakly PR+, mitotic rate of 2 or 3, lymphovascular invasion or micro-invasion). If the tumor lacked all of those factors, it's assumed chemo would not be an effective addition to anti-estrogen therapy alone, so OncotypeDX wouldn't even be ordered because it's almost certain the score would come back in the "low risk" zone.
What you have is invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), apparently mixed with invasive lobular (no such thing as globular) carcinoma (ILC). IDC arises in the milk ducts (that flow to the nipple), ILC in the "lobules," where the milk is made and stored before it flows into the ducts.
As to the node that was removed, it is called a "sentinel" node because any cancer cells that would enter your lymph system would have to show up first in that node closest to the tumor, which is a "gatekeeper," hence the term "sentinel." Sometimes it's more than one node, and sometimes even a non-sentinel node is stuck to it and gets removed along with the sentinel(s). During your lumpectomy, your surgeon locates the sentinel(s) because it takes up blue dye that was injected &/or sets off the Geiger counter if you had radioactive tracer injected. You had only one sentinel node removed, which is a sign that it was probably negative. (If it comes back positive, they may go back in and remove the next set of nodes in the "chain" until one comes back negative). For example, the "0/4 nodes" in my profile means that 4 nodes were removed (the report said 2 sentinel and 2 adjoining non-sentinel) and all of them were negative for cancer cells.
If you're in pain and taking an opioid pain med, you might be constipated: water and prunes are your friends; if they don't work, try fiber gummies first and then ask your doctor if it's okay to take a stool softener. Be gently active--but don't overdo. Some women are very fatigued for the first few days.
Shocked, are you wearing underwire bras or too tight a band size? If the sore spot at the bottom of the bra band is also where there's a stiff flat wire side "stay," try removing the stay from that side. Try a wire-free style and/or a slightly larger band size till the rib pain abates. Yeah, you'll sag a bit because the back of the band will ride up, but it's only temporary. Post-op inflammation in that area can take a while to calm down. I doubt it's lymphedema.
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ChiSandy: I do wear underwire bras because I am large chested and it feels more comfortable. I had my surgery in June but only noticed the pain after radiation started in August. The radiation oncologist said it couldn't possibly be from radiation. That I must have pulled a muscle in surgery. I would have been comforted if he said it was a possible side effect. I'm pretty sure it's from the radiation but I get paranoid about possible mets. I don't even know the symptoms of bone mets. I probably shouldn't research because my imagination fueled by internet research can be bad.
About 4 weeks ago my friend thought she had a pinched nerve in her shoulder but was diagnosed with stage IV denova breast cancer. Shortly after her diagnosis she had emergency spine surgery to alleviate pressure on her spinal cord that was causing paralysis. She is back in the hospwith blood clots in her lung. She hasn't even started treatment yet, everything has come on so suddenly. This cancer business can be quite scary.
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Rjmjt120,
Best wishes on your surgery tomorrow, and prayers for a quick and complete recovery
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PontiacPegg,
Thank you for your great and very helpful post. I did buy Dr. Love’s Breast Book an agree that it is a valuable source of info. Found that my surgeon had explained so much with the exact same terminology, options, details. A good reference as we move through the process.
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ChiSandy, just want to say you are a wealth of knowledge and write in such a clear manner to convey such complicated topics! I had my surgery in Oct and couldn’t understand why I didn’t recall the blue dye everyone has mentioned , then in you most recent post here the mentioned the radioactive tracer and I remembered that’s actually what was done with my procedure.
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ChiSandy,
Very good response to Motherchicken, and as I share some of the same characteristics, I learned a great deal from your thorough explanation. My surgery is on 3/19, so will have more to compare afterwards. Thank you
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