Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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ChiSandy,
Just saw your most recent post here-realized that you had your ortho surgery. Happy for you that it went well and that you are on the way to a good recovery.
Best wishes !!
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ChiSandy, Yea for nerve blocks, apple juice and animal crackers. Glad your hand/wrist/arm surgery is done-- now on to healing! Take care.
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Sandy, glad your surgery is over and you are doing well. Hopefully, your recovery will be uneventful and swift!
Schweety, you should get your path report any day now. Sometimes BS's will wait until you come in for your regular appointment - which always seems too long to wait.
HUGS!!
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Depends on where you are. Larger cancer centers in the US: 5-7 days (mine took 5). In Canada (or other NHS countries) it might take a bit longer (7-10). "In your pocket" (as we say here) for clean margins & clear nodes!
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My lumpectomy was 3 weeks ago. Today, my bruising is more discolored than it has been and it's itching. Is that normal 3 weeks out?
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Yes, RobinJ, that is normal. Bruises typically get darker and more colorful as they heal before they get lighter and eventually fade away. It takes several weeks for healing. My lumpectomy was done while I still had a good sized hematoma from the biopsy so I sort of had one overlapping another. I don't remember how long it all took to heal, but it seemed to be forever at the time. I think there was still some visible bruising when I started radiation 6 weeks post op. I have itching as part of the healing process too--rub gently, don't scratch!
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Beaverntx, I looked like someone had been at my breast with a baseball bat for a good 5-6 weeks post-lumpectomy. Patience. It was still bruised when I started SAVI Brachytherapy radiation. But now it looks great, albeit with dents and divots and scars and puncture marks here and there (I've had multiple biopsies over the years).
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ChiSandy- I'm traveling and didn't realize that your hand/wrist/arm surgery was yesterday. Hope your doing ok today and that your outcome looks good.
AliceBastable- get some rest, you've now got the surgery behind you.
Schweety- I think my path took 7-10 days. Weekends involved. Good luck!
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Post lumpectomy, did any of you begin AI therapy simultaneously with radiation treatments, or did you wait to begin the AI after radiation was completed? What did your MO recommend? Thanks.
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RandiPaulette, I start my AI the day after I finished my rads. That seemed to be the consensus of all my docs.
Schweety, I got my path report 2 days after my surgery. Had the surgery on a Wednesday and Friday evening at 6PM, my BS called with the results! I was soooo relieved.
HUGS!
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Hi CindyNY, I'm definitely taking it easy today. Not too painful although there are occasional twinges and aches. Ive just taken Motrin today because my arthritis needed some attention. And my pinky is numb. I mentioned that to the nurse who called from the hospital today, and she said if it gets more widespread or swells, to call the BS's office. It's hard to know if it's from a cut nerve or sleeping awkwardly or from the pressure of bandages & the industrial bra in my armpit. Weird things make my armpit say BOO!, like when I just flipped a lightswitch on. I slept without my rings last night in case of swelling, but put them on when I got up - if they start feeling snug, I'll know if swelling is starting up and can call if I need to.
Hope everyone here is doing well, no matter what phase of the journey you're on.
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RandiPaulette,
I had asked my MO while I was still receiving radiation and he told me to not start the AI until radiation was finished. Something about the two (radiation and AI) would “fight against each other” was what I remembered.
Best wishes in moving ahead
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I could have started letrozole right after rads were done (just before Thanksgiving) but my MO let me take the Mediterranean cruise we'd planned and get through the holidays—washed my first one down with my celebratory champagne New Year's Eve.
Thanks for asking, Cindy. Yesterday was the worst day, as I had both arm pain and numb fingers. Today I'm doing a bit better, though it's apparent the hardware in my ulna's gonna hurt for a long time if I rest my arm the wrong way. Hoping I can start weaning off the Norco this weekend. Getting my cast Tuesday (maybe even Monday) and hopefully flying to NYC next Wednesday for a few days, with a vocals-only gig back here on the 22d.
Nice day out on the deck, nibbling homegrown black raspberries and sipping my lime-mint seltzer (faux-jito). Heading back inside—sun is setting and the gnats are descending.
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RandiPaulette- my MO waited until I was totally healed up before she started me on anestrazole. Date wise I think it was 6 weeks from my last rads. She also had me take it every other day for 6 weeks; then daily...for the next 5 years.
ChiSandy- more power to you! It doesn't seem that anything will keep you down....cast on arm, then off to NYC, then back for a gig.
AliceBastable- it's been a while since my LX, but reading your post I remembered the back of my arm - from the top down the back of it to my elbow, felt like I had rug burn. It itched/ached/felt kind of numb. I'd catch myself rubbing it or just holding it. It did go away after a while. I'm hoping your numbness is from sentinel node removal and it to will get back to normal before you know it.
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ChiSandy, sounds like your surgery went well as you are back to jet setting already. Good to hear you are relaxing too.My BIL and SIL recently bought a place somewhere near you I think. It's a loft and if they look one way they can see the lake and if they look opposite they can see downtown. They are putting the house in Palatine up for sale because they have reached the age that the last child is gone and they are tired of lawn work and the upkeep of a home. SIL is also a bc survivor and knows the importance of doing what you love while you can.
Enjoy your trip and your next gig. Wishing you fast healing.
Jo
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Glad the surgery is behind you, Sandy. Hoorah for the nerve block, and for your bravery. Me? I'd be having the real mojito--most likely several.
Do enjoy your gig. I know you'll be awesome, guitar or no guitar.
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I didn’t get my results until my post op breast surgeon visit. That was about three weeks. They scheduled that appt. prior to surgery. I had to see my plastic surgeon several times after surgery due to having a breast reduction. Lots of retaping and dressing applied. Sensitive stitches, but tolerable. I was given an antibiotic gooey tape that I had to apply over the stitched up nipple that had been completely relocated. Wasn’t fun, but not really painful - just a bit intimidating to see how much I changed. Now that it’s been 9 mos. - quite satisfied considering how bruised and beat up I looked after surgery. I’m on blood thinners, so it looked pretty bad. All I have left now is a knot at base of my cancer breast that my OM said would eventually fade away.
Also, I never used ice packs except after my biopsy. The misery for me was having to sleep partially reclined with lots of pillows. It helped to keep the arms elevated as if in a chair position. I never liked sleeping on my back, but you have to do it for a while.
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Thank you, CindyNY, ChiSandy, PontiacPeggy, and JosieO re: AI scheduling.
Pontiac Peggy and JosieO, thanks for your comments about AI SEs. I've been dreading the AIs, while thankful--of course--that they exist. Your comments were reassuring. Please keep us posted.
AliceBastable and Jamikay: hang in there. We are approximately on the same schedule. Alice, I am a few weeks ahead of you.
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Woohoo! I got to remove the heavy-duty industrial-strength bra from hell today, and take the bandages off! The high cut of the bra was causing the finger numbness, because I got it in both hands when I woke up from a nap yesterday. I did a little tugging and shifting before going to sleep last night, but it was still mighty uncomfortable. Now I'm wearing a Danskin sports bra, zip front with removable cup liners, and it is my new best (or breast!) friend! So comfortable, and the cups give nice support plus protection from doggie paws. And the slot for cup removal is in the exact right spot for the small ice pack disc left from the biopsy. Perfect!
Bandages off - one curved incision on the outer auriola line and a small one higher and farther out for the nodes, but not quite to the armpit area. I can definitely tell there's a good-sized chunk missing from the outer curve, from pre-surgery
( • ) ( • ) to post-surgery ( • ) ( . ]
Wouldn't you know that's the boob that was already smaller! Of course, with the bandage pressure off, the incisions are talking to me a bit more. I assume that's normal; the pressure probably kept them a little numbed.
I went out to lunch today with some friends I used to work with, well worth the extra tiredness when I got home.
I've been sleeping on my right side with an extra pillow angled from Leftie Lumpie to my hip, to protect LL and give me a place for my arm. It seems to be working, and my dog, who is usually a pillow snatcher, is being very considerate so far. He's even leaving my knee pillow alone, which is ordinarily the nightly tug-of-war object.
I hope all of you are having a good day and have a stress-free weekend.
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Isn't it always the smaller boob that has to get cut?
I bought one of those Danskin zip-front bras but couldn't get the zipper together even two-handed! Fortunately, Wal-Mart took it back. I also got a couple of lacy Glamorise clip-front plunge underwires in 42G, but "Thelma" (L) is too big and "Louise" (R) too small, so with my blouse on over it, no one can tell. Tough to fasten, but easy for me to remove--just pinched the clip.
I hate back-sleeping, too. Dunno how long it'll be till I can sleep on my L side again, and discovered last night that elevating my L arm wasn't too comfy as I lay on my R side. When I sleep on my back, I snore, so poor Bob has to put up with that. (Maybe we'll drown each other out).
If Bob has to go to work early tomorrow, I'll just have to put on a caftan and let the girls swing free. Or maybe have my BFF come over and shove 'em into their containment device.
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I did per my MO recommendation from Dana Farber but she left the decision to me. I've been taking Femara for about 6 weeks and feel by body is adjusting better now. Still joint pain but exercise eliminates it. I am finishing up rads in 2 days.
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I did per my MO recommendation from Dana Farber but she left the decision to me. I've been taking Femara for about 6 weeks and feel by body is adjusting better now. Still joint pain but exercise eliminates it. I am finishing up rads in 2 days.
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alicebabstab and chisandy - when you say nuclear meds are you referring to pre-op radioactive seed to help surgeon locate tumor?
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Yes, the nuclear medicine was shots right around (and through? - didn't watch!) nipple for tracer dye. Not pellets that I know of, but like I said, I averted my eyes.
Ugh, I wound up on my back last night at some point, with my affected arm behind my head. Painful! And I never sleep that way! I took a closer look at incisions using a mirror. Technically it was upper outer quadrant, but decades of gravity means everything's on the lower side! Node incision is larger than I thought, more like 2 inches. Other one doesn't bother me much, just twinges, but that node cut is a stinker.
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My SNB incision was the pits, too. (Pun intended). It had a seroma closer to the surface, and the incision popped open, causing the seroma to burst. Had to get it sutured--with the weight of my breast, it'd never have closed on its own.
I had two encounters with the hospital's Nuclear Medicine dept. the day of surgery. First was in the Breast Center, when their team came into the procedure room to implant the marker-seed under the ultrasound guidance by the radiologist. (This was the alternative to inserting wire locators). Then, later that morning I was wheeled over to Nuclear Med. (was already johnny-gowned by then and didn't want my bare butt flapping in the breeze as I walked down the corridor in my slipper-socks). I was placed supine on a table, my areola & nipple injected with the radioactve isotope tracers that would follow the path of the lymph vessels to the sentinel nodes. (No blue dye for me). The pain was intense--as bad as anything I'd had before or since, though it was less than 10 seconds. What was nearly as trying was having to lie there supine on the cold hard table for 15 more minutes as I massaged my armpit to get the tracer flowing for the nuclear camera. Didn't work the first time so had to go back to my room and return an hour later. Fortunately, my surgeon was running late.
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My dye injection was not painful. I was extremely surprised. As I recall, the BS gave me a shot of lidocaine first. And she was very gentle. I *did* walk to the OR. That was empowering for me. My SNB was the most annoying thing too. It took about 13 months before I got pretty much total feeling back there.
Stay cool!
HUGS!
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ChiSandy, I had a numbing gel put on first in the hospital room, with something like Saran wrap over it. They took me down in my bed, in a sitting position, and I stayed like that while the boob was cleaned off, then a quick numbing shot and a few minutes later, the other shots. And I got to have hospital pants on the whole time besides the mooner gown! They just unsnapped the shoulder for the shots.
PontiacPeggy, I was wheeled in my bed to the operating room. It was quite a distance from my room, so my arthritic knees were grateful. I was already hooked to the IV, and as soon as we got in the room, someone added whatever was needed to knock me out. I just remember a quick glance around the OR, then waking up in recovery.
Was your SNB incision right in the armpit or more boobward? Mine's on the outer upper boob, although when it bugs me, I feel the pain into the pit.
This sure is hell of a way to learn mammary anatomy in my old age!
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SNB was upper outer boob. Much more painful than the lumpy incision. Surgery was in late Dec 2016 & still causes some pain. Docs have all stated this is "normal." I used a small pillow in my armpit area for a long time for relief. Was taken via wheelchair from Breast Center where die was injected & wire inserted to the pre-op area. Surgeries were running behind schedule - wire was inserted at noon & it was almost 4 pm by the time I was taken to op room - by that time, where wire was inserted was really painful. Almost 9 pm by the time I got home!
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My pre-op was like Alice's. Lidocaine cream under Seran wrap that I applied that morning. Those wire insert shots were very painful for me too! It was an intense burning sting-like sensation if I remember correctly. I just grit my teeth and said "ehow"! I think I had three of them put in and I had no warning or idea what they were doing. After that I went from the women's center to the hospital where I had to wait 6 hours for my breast surgeon and plastic surgeon to finish other surgeries. I ended up as a night surgery. Wasn't too impressed about that, but it wasn't like I could control their schedule. Man - it's hell being a woman sometimes!
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It's fascinating how similar and how different our experiences were. I was in out patient surgery holding area beginning at 6 a.m. for surgery anticipated to be noonish, depending on completion time of the surgery before mine. ALL prep work was done that morning, after I changed into one of those wonderful gowns. Blood work was done then and chest X-Ray on one of my trips around to various labs and before wire insertion. Wire insertion done in mammogram lab with local anesthetic and not at all painful. Blue dye injection in radiology lab (was told the greater the pain/burning the more likely the dye was where it needed to be; thank goodness the burning is short lived as 3 of my 4 injections apparently were really in the right place!). Back to the holding area between each of these. After massaging the dye target area as instructed back to radiology to check if the dye was going where it was supposed to go. Finally ready for surgery, with IV running slowly to keep open only to learn that the surgery prior to mine was not going to be completed until much later than anticipated😕 . The anesthesiologist did allow me to have a cup of ice chips so long as I finished them in 15 minutes (I had had nothing to eat or drink for more than 12 hours by then. I was so dry I'm not certain if any of the water even made it to my stomach!) Finally into surgery about 3 p.m. -- I remember seeing the doors open to be wheeled out of the holding area and the next thing I knew was waking up in recovery. From recovery back to the out patient area. My husband and I basically closed that area down for the day as I was the last patient left by the time I was discharged. Was very glad to go home and sleep in my own bed. And, yes my pee was bright blue through light green until it was back to usual.
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