January 2014 Surgery Sisters
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My dear January 29th sisters....
My BMX was this past Friday. I had all the crappy feelings you are now having. On Thursday night I just kept walking around saying "this sucks A**" must of said it 20 times...lol. Guess the 3 whiskeys on the rocks loosened my tongue.
After all the prep stuff on Friday morning the time finally came and my BS walked in and asked me if I was ready. I said NO!!! I am not sure anymore if I want to be this radical. I just wasn't sure anymore. She just walked me through all the different options, and possible outcomes and treatments. So at that point I just said "lets go for it". Talk about being scared to death. Yup! When I woke up 5 hours later, I was sick as a dog. I have never had that problem before. They gave me two different anti-nausea drugs. Within 5 minutes the second one worked like a charm and I was AOK. NO PAIN at all. I was perfectly comfortable and only took a percoset for the ride home the next day.
I was starving and ate everything they gave me and had the best cup of coffee ever.
I am 4 days post op. No pain medicine today. My little boobs look great( I already had small implants) and the nipples are pink and look good too. The 2 drains are a little bit in the way but not painful and just no big deal to take care of.
I know being on your side stinks but when you get to the other side I think you will be amazed at how good you feel.
love and hugs to all.
Eve
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So good news from my MO appt today, no chemo.
However, onco didn't like the discrepancy in pathology reports from initial biopsy report (DCIS and IDC) compared to lumpectomy report (PLCIS and ILC). So, she's requesting a third pathology report. In the meantime she has a conference 2/5 with other KU medical breast specialists and will present my case. One of my margins near the chest wall was less than 1mm which MO wasn't happy about but BS said he couldn't go any further as it was up to the chest wall. So now I wait again until 2/6 to discuss new results. My MO is pro breast conservation but told me if results come back PLCIS/ILC she won't be making an argument if I decide on dbl mastectomy since this type seems to like to lurk and hideout and easily missed. So now I'm changing gears researching dbl mastectomy with reconstruction. It is absolutely crazy how slow things can move yet change so quickly. I guess the good news, besides no chemo, I wouldn't need radiation with dbl mast. I feel like I've been taking baby steps and now about ready to take a huge leap. I'm glad to have found this group. Helps to hear stories of what to expect. I'm sorry any of us need to be hear but happy to be part of such an informative and supportive group.0 -
Eve, I am so happy your surgery went well. You are right about feeling better on the other side. I am still waiting to meet with my BS next week for the "results," but just trying to enjoy each day and so glad my surgery is over. It was not bad for me at all, but now that I have fallen twice, I am being sent next week for a nerve conduction test and we will see what that says. You take it easy and heal up.
iwanna, you have the right tude. Whatever decision you have to make, you are strong and you will come through this just fine. We are here for you every day. There is always a plus and a minus to everything it seems. Your 1/14 sisters are here for you!
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lighthouse lady....I am so with you that it always has to be "something". I am so sure this will turn out yo be some kind of fluid filled cyst or something. Prayers and hugs your way
. Thanks ladies for all you words. Good to know that I am going through the same emotions as others; glad I'm not crazy !0 -
I had my surgery a lumpectomy for Invasive Lobular cancer on Dec 3rd.
I had the Sentinel node biopsy, where my surgeon took 6 nodes all were healthy.
I have had an extremely painful recovery and I am now 7 weeks post surgery.
The zingers are unbearable at times and I take 300 mg of Gabapentin twice a day and Motrin and Tylenol in between.
I never expected this amount of pain. I am hoping like someone said earlier that this is the nerves re connecting.
I hope to find some surgery sisters here.
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Met with my BS and MO yesterday. Both told me that my final pathology report was the best that we could have hoped for. Originally I had 2.2cm of dcis with a 2.6mm tumor. After mastectomy there was a residual tumor of only 1mm. Very wide margins. Tumor is too small for onco testing but based on the pathology I do not need chemo. I will try tamoxifin for the 5 years but will be discussing ovary removal with my doctor on next visit. I am having very good range of motion...still have one drain in but heading back to work today. TO my January surgery sisters - thank you so much for your support. For those of us who have had our surgery - I wish you a very speedy recovery - for those of us who are still facing surgery - the worst is the fear of the unknown. I wish you all very successful surgeries with no surprises.
Hugs and Love, Kathy
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does anyone miss big squeezy hugs from their partner....or snuggling in bed?
I DO!
Laurie
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Laurie - YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm still sleeping in the recliner because of my drains... I'm a side sleeper and I know if I was in bed I'd roll over onto them. Ugh. Sometimes I try to sit on the couch & snuggle with Hubby, but there's just no comfortable way. <sigh>
Headed to Dallas tomorrow to see SO and PS. Hopefully I can get these drains out, although the one went from 15cc 3 days in a row to 20cc and then 30 yesterday. WTH???? Enough is enough! Hoping I can at least get my first fill, too. It'll be 3 weeks Friday since surgery.
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Summerwheat,
I meant to say this too you.
ONLY DCIS....it is not an only. Trust me. It is still scary.
I was first told highly suspicious for malignancy after ultra sound. Same with MRI but most likely DCIS. Core biopsy brought it back down to only ADH.
Path report after BMX.......BS called a few minutes ago. Get this...7 areas/lumps in right breast ...ALL are IDC. ALL 7. My BS said "Good call Eve". So ...I followed my intuition and I did the right thing in doing so. If I had been less "radical" for "just" DCIS I would have had to go back and have a BMX anyway.
So I have avoided radiation yippee!
I am stage 1 (only)
and estrogen positive. BS will do onconotype (sp) and then we will discuss any further treatment. I don't want to do anything else...but we'll see.You know, I thought "only DCIS" too. Peace my sister......you can breath on the other side.
love and hugs
Eve
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lol Laurie
Ditto to that.
My DH is twice my size...big warm bear hug guy. I am sleeping in bed but we just hold hands and touch feet. oh well. soon we will all get back to normal...new normal but hugs and comfort.
Hope everything goes well for you lighthouse.
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We bought a new king bed before my surgery....it is so comfy. I'm a side sleeper myself but I guess the pain of rolling over keeps me safely planted on my back! It will be sooooooo nice to roll over again on my side. My boyfriend is so afraid of hurting me during the night. So he stays clear!
Laurie
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Eve, thanks, and I am so sorry to hear that it is invasive. I hope you can avoid chemotherapy and find an appropriate way of therapy for you soon. That makes me start to rethink my decision on UMX ... I just did not feel comfortable getting rid of the healthy breast, as I had "only" one area of DCIS (even though it was stage 3 with necroses etc.). I had also felt for some time that there was something wrong with my right breast, but could not pinpoint it, so maybe there is more lurking there. F**** decision making process.
Best wishes for a continuous improvement - it is good to read that you are doing pretty well only a few days after BMX.
Gentle hugs, Alexandra
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I got good news! No BC on left side at all. Some residual LCIS removed from the cancer side. Sitting waiting to see MO now.
So I guess it's just recovery from the surgery and back to normal life.
Can anyone comment on this transition back to the normal me? My emotions are confused. Can we just forget and move on?
Laurie
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Congratulations Laurie. That is fantastic news!
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iwannaseeyoubebrave....good news for you too for no chemo. I didn't have to have chemo either. I had a lumpectomy first....and then given the choice of radiation vs BMX. Hard choice but I had my mastectomy on jan 2 and I have had no regrets. I opted for immediate reconstruction so I have little lumps so it's not so bad. The last couple of days I've really noticed the pain is much less.
Good luck to all January sisters who still have surgery scheduled....and thumbs up to us all for getting thru this crap!
Laurie
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Summerwheat,
Prior to the mastecomy your diagnosis was dcis and then they found invasive???
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So I got the a big packet in the mail from my PS explaining the reconstruction, my prescriptions that need to be filled, consents to sign etc. The only confusing thing is that for post op instructions it hardly said anything. No mention of drains, supplies needed at home, activity restrictions etc. in fact at the top of the page it said "outpatient post op instructions" Now I should mention that my PS is very well tenured. Written lots of articles, teaches, is on a lot of boards etc. The only problem is that his very well established practice has newer limitations on what insurances they accept and as a result he doesn't do many breast reconstructions anymore (he seems to be a PS who now is servicing those who want to be beautiful...sigh...) 10 years ago he was the "breast guy" in the area. When I first met him I really liked him. Also he rattled off lots of stats on breast reconstruction and said he continues to keep up with research and feels very confident In Doing breast reconstruction procedures but just doesn't do them that much anymore. I'm Ok with that (plus he has worked a lot with my breast surgeon) and I liked the results that he has gotten with other ladies. Ok I know I'm rambling on....so I called his office today to get specifics on the aftercare for the surgery and to ask about drains. Well the receptionist was clueless but knew me by name (I think because I am the only breast reconstruction patient right now ) ??? She went on to say that the doctor doesn't use drains for his reconstruction / tissue expander procedures????? What!!!!!! After pressing her with more questions, she finally said that the nurse would call me back to answer all questions. I think I irritated her.
Has anyone not had drains with a BMX????
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I am sorry for the misnomer there, no, it was DCIS Grade 3, not stage 3, I know that this would be something completely different. My diagnosis was DCIS, 2.7 cm, grade 3 with necroses, and the duct was completely filled with it (this is the path after stereotactic biopsy), MRI did not show more, and hopefully that's it. And it's at about 11 o'clock pretty deep in my small (A cup) breast. So even with lumpectomy and wide margins, I figured that I would need some reconstruction and adjustment of size (two PS confirmed that) to make both breasts look similar, and I did not want radiation if I can avoid that. So I decided to go for an UMX. I feel like I made the right decision for me. I feel like I am in good hands with both my PS and my BS, I know two people who had surgery with them, and they were both happy with the outcome and also with their bedside manner and the way they explain things. In my experience, doctors often treat non-medical professionals a little bit from the top down, but both of them did not seem that way.
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8 days post bmx so far so good ... dr's visit today. send good thoughts to get me through this session! Then, I'm off to rads in early february. Anyone else? I'll look for a thread and if I can't find one, I'll start one. V
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Best of luck today HVV.
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Hi HVV. Sending you gentle hugs. I had my surgery (right mastectomy) this morning. Doctor told me that rads are in future so if you start threadlet me know. I'm so happy that the surgery part is over! It just crazy me how tired i get after even the smallest task. My pathology should be back soon so i'm praying for good news.
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Thank you all. I don't even know what to say. I couldn't find a thread about rads. Appts today were hard.0
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hugs HVV hope all is well
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Thanks southern girl.0
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Saw my breast surgeon and plastic surgeon today. Tomorrow is 3 weeks post-surgery.
Breast surgeon was pleased. Said I'm healing well and we don't have to go back for three months! She said my mystery lump is most likely fat necrosis. She said we'll keep an eye on it, but she was not worried about it at all. Plastic surgeon said the exact same thing, so I guess I will try to ignore it. PS says the incision on my cancer side needs more time to heal before they can start filling my expanders. He also said no rads for 6-8 weeks... we'll see what my rad onc says at my consult next week. I did get my last two drains out - YAY!!!!!! We have to take pictures of the incision the next two weeks & email them to him (instead of driving 3 hours each way for him to look at it) and hopefully go back in 3 weeks to start fills.
Hope everything is ok HVV!0 -
lighthouse lady , so glad the lump is fat necrosis. Yeah!!! Oh the things we now celebrate. I talked to my PS today and he confirmed I will have drains (I think his receptionist shouldn't answer questions anymore) and was really nice and informative about anything.
Fir those of you that will be having rads....did your RO request tissue expanders with a plastic port? Mine did and my PS has said that he will need to discuss alternate options with her because those are not manufactured anymore?? What type if expanders do you all have??
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Girlstrong - I had my surgery and haven't even met my RO yet! LOL So I guess if he has a problem with my expanders, it's too late! I don't even know what kind I have. I never thought to ask anything specific.
I've never heard of no drains, so I'm glad he cleared that up for you!
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lighthouselady - THAT'S GREAT NEWS! My PS said the same thing. I have had no fills yet either. I go back in two weeks to see if I'm healed well enough to get a fill.
Soooo???? Did you finally sleep in your bed last night? You can try to surround yourself with pillows so you don't roll...worked for me!
Why do you need rads if you had a BMX? I get to skip on that.
Laurie
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Laurie - I had 9/24 nodes positive even after chemo, and with Stage III, grade 3 tumor, plus BRCA+, they don't want to leave anything in the tank, so to speak. So rads for me. I'm fine with it. They told me from the beginning that I'd most likely have to do it, so I would have been surprised if I didn't. And I DID sleep in bed. It was so wonderful. LOL I just put an extra pillow under mine so I was raised up a bit... then it's not so comfy if you try to sleep on your side. I'm not glad for you, but I'm glad someone else is having to wait for fills, too. It seems like so many people start getting fills so soon after surgery and I'm wondering what's wrong with me?
I drove my kids to school today for the first time in three weeks! Now I'm back home with a fire going in the fireplace. Even down here in TX it's chilly - only 11 degrees when I left.
Hope all of my surgery sisters are doing ok.
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Hello, Thanks for the support. Struggling to come to grips with post bmx path report. ACT helped but didn't eliminate ca; lots of nodes, etc. Docs said only 10% respond 100% to chemo and those are likely to be the ones who get a recurrence so good that you had a positive but not complete response. Ugh; I can't keep up with what I'm supposed to be hoping for.... Sorry for the rant. Hard to beleive that I used to be the person that cheered everyone else up.... V
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