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June 2019 Surgery Support Group

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Comments

  • 2019whatayear
    2019whatayear Member Posts: 468

    Hi All,

    I got my genetic results and I have BRCA-2 so I'm having a bilateral masectomy next Tuesday. I researched and spent a few weeks making my decision and I've decided not to do a reconstruction. I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to my surgery, but I am looking forward to having the surgery in my rear view mirror. Hugs to everyone. May we all get some very good post surgery reports and have great recoveries!

  • rrshannon
    rrshannon Member Posts: 59

    countdooku I am still undetermined for the ATM and the Chek2 and even though I was negative for Lynch Syndrome my doctors treat me as I have a form of it due to my personal and family history. I just had and Endoscopy with my Colonoscopy last Friday. Thankful no new polyps in the colon, last time I had one precancerous polyp. This was my second endoscopy and this time he took a few biopsies of the stomach as there was mild redness, thankfully the small intestines, and the area near liver and pancreas all looked good. My Gyno Onco also runs the pancreases blood marker.

    Yndorian glad you finally got your surgery. Even though I had drains I was going in every few days to have more drained as I had seromas. Hope your draining goes down soon so you don't have to make too many trips.

    jenni0102 Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I was suppose to be just over night for mine DMX, at first they said same day but I pushed for overnight as I had previous radiation to one breast and wanted to make sure I had no complications. Will low and behold I did have complications and had a 2nd emergency surgery 5 hours after the DMX. I had just packed a small bag of tooth brush, paste and face wipes and I assumed it would be one day. That worked well for me even though I stayed 5 days due to adrenal crisis. The hospital provided the cloths i.e. gown and socks and since I had chemo before surgery I had no hair so that wasn't a worry though due to my adrenals and no energy I wasn't up and walking much so a shower was out. I did sponge baths. After when I was home I wore over sized cami's under button up tops but when I started to get seromas I was using a zip up compression bra from Amazon and then tight sports bras.

    ucfknights I was just over 3 weeks out from Chemo before surgery, though my chemo regimen this time didn't make me as sick as my previous. My blood cells were pretty much back to normal by that time. My reds were just a hair under but they were able to proceed with surgery.

    Scottiemom11 glad every thing went well. My PS said he might go under my foob this time since for the exchange he will go there. I was worried about the scar tissue from removing the expander midline. I was more worried at the thought of not redoing the midline as it was done during emergency surgery and is more lumpy. We will see once I take off the bandages.

    For those getting expanders the discomfort was minimal for me, thought they look out the right side due to complications I was expecting a lot more pain from my expander. I have had my left side expanded twice with no pain. I had more discomfort when trying to move in bed and get up and down than just being still. Also the more I walked the more discomfort I had but I believe that was due to the seromas and the hematoma on the left.

    Yesterday I had my right expander put back in, today getting up and down is much better than yesterday. I took a few dosages of percocet yesterday. When I had my DMX I cam out of surgery with morphin yesterday with nothing so I asked for one then and took another before my drive home and again at bed time. Today so far I am just on tylenol. This time they have me wrapped in an ace bandage and compression garment which I will leave on until tomorrow then I get to see how the right side looks. I go for my follow up with PS on Friday.

    For those that have fullness in your lymph node arm have it checked sooner than later. I went in as my larger seroma was also on the side of my lymph node removal and I wanted to get sized for new sleeve. Turns out I was borderline lymphoma and they started the pump which help tremendously with the arm swelling and the seroma size.

    Wishing everyone luck on their upcoming surgery and hope everyone is recovering well.

  • lamb22
    lamb22 Member Posts: 3

    New here, just had a BMX on June 10th and doing pretty good. I had direct to implant reconstruction done at the same time and yesterday had my first set of drains removed and was placed in a bra. I feel fortunate that I live near boston and was able to have surgery by some of the best. My SO was able to do nipple sparing mastectomy and the PS was able to go straight to implants in the same surgery.

    I did get my initial path results. My sentinel node was negative (Yippee) so no lymph node involvement and no lymphatic invasion either. There was residual cancer left and we are waiting on the receptor typing to determine which type of cancer is remaining (which determines my next steps). But supposedly also clear margins (which I think means that it was localized to that one area and didn't spread elsewhere?)

    I had two types of cancer: ER+/HER2+ and Triple Negative (in the same breast) and I chose to do neo adjunctive therapy (so I had chemo first then surgery).

    I feel like I have pretty good movement in my arms and range of motion. I am stiff and sore, but definitely manageable with little to no pain meds during the day. A recliner has been my best friend for sleeping lately.

    Wishing everyone luck in their journey

  • Scottiemom11
    Scottiemom11 Member Posts: 1,072

    Whatayear

    Welcome! It sounds like you have done some great research. If my 4th surgery does not work, i.e., more capsular contracture, I will have to make a choice. If you have any great sites that you found I would appreciate the links. Sending Hugs for your surgery next week.

    Shannon - Thanks. You have been through a lot and your advice is well appreciated. I was just going over my post-surgery instructions and they require a compression bra starting tomorrow. I don't think that the Under Armour bras I have worn for the nerve pain will work because they will be too close to my incision lines. I am an Amazon junky so will look there.

    Scottie

  • Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Member Posts: 551

    I had to make a new user because I can't login with the other. Now I'm Yndorian1 (I don't cheat anybody LOL)

    Today I have had my first bath since my surgery! It was hard but I did it, I taked care about my incision. I'm happy because it is another step in my healing!

    HUGS TO ALL OF YOU, my surgery partners. We will be fine!

  • Scottiemom11
    Scottiemom11 Member Posts: 1,072

    Yndorian,

    Sorry about the profile issue. Glad you got back on the boards and great step in the healing process.

    I broke my own rule yesterday and over did things. Nerve blocks wore off and pain is on full steam. Today I am going to try to stay in bed as much as possible. I really should have in vested in a recliner before my first surgery.

    Healing hugs all and hugs to those who have surgery today.

    Scottie

  • Xtra
    Xtra Member Posts: 10

    Hi Everyone,

    Surgery went well yesterday. I had my BMX with nipple-sparing direct-to-implant surgery. Right breast had a 1.8 cm IDC.

    The margins were clear and the lymph node pathology during the surgery came back clear, but I won't know for sure until the full report comes back next week, but my SO removed only 3 nodes. The PS put in Mentor smooth round high profile 270 gummy implants. He said my removed tissue was 190. My tumor was close to the skin, so my SO had to remove a piece, so I have a small incision as well. I have 4 drains, but normal-sized drains, not the big ones that I feared. I have to put nitroglycerin cream on my nipples and bruises 3x/day to keep that skin active.

    I had asked for a nerve block before the surgery, but no go. The incision sites under my armsare painful, and I've been given Oxycodone, Motrin, Flexiril, and Tylenol. I'm sticking with the OTC stuff for now. The pain is manageable, especially lying down. My throat is still irritated from the breathing tube. Eating helps as it coats the throat, although I could not eat a thing after the surgery yesterday.

    I was up every hour on the hour to urinate last night. Those poor nurses. They had to unhook me from those leg compressors and they had to measure the amount of my output, which was a lot. They give you a lot of saline, so be prepared.

    I'm so glad I had the surgery. I still await the final report, but it is out of my body and I can go to the next step.

    Good luck to everyone getting ready or recovering. I'm with you


  • Scottiemom11
    Scottiemom11 Member Posts: 1,072

    Xtra,

    So glad your surgery went well and you're pain is controlled with just OTC. Also great that you were able to go direct to implants.

    Drinking lots of liquids including hot tea and soup helps the throat. Gentle healing hugs as you continue your recovery.

    Scottie

  • Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Member Posts: 551

    Hi

  • Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Member Posts: 551

    Hi! I still have troubles with my password, so I had to create a new one anytime I wanted to log in. I hope the mods can help me with this. Otherwise I just going to be able to read your posts but not to write.

    Xtra: congrats for your surgery, you sound very positive, that is good! I wish you good luck for your next steps!

    Scottie: I'm in pain too! I think I have moved my arm over the counter, or slept on it. The pain is increasing day by day. My SO drained my boob last wednesday and I have to see her next monday. I'm such a bad patient!

    Hughs for all of you!

  • Xtra
    Xtra Member Posts: 10

    ScottieMom: thank you! It’s getting better!

    Yndorian: thank you for the positive words.

    I hope you both feel better. When it hurts, it hurts. My thoughts are with you

  • rrshannon
    rrshannon Member Posts: 59

    Xtra glad everything went well and you had a good preliminary report. Hope you continue to get better.

    Scottiemom11 hope you are feeling better after your day of over doing it. Thursday I thought I could do a quick 1 hour meeting for work and it took a lot out of me.

    Yndorian1 hope your draining is going well.

    I went in for my follow up yesterday and was happy to get one of my two drains removed. My last surgery I had one drain in for 3 weeks hoping to get the remaining drain out next week as I have another surgery scheduled, this time for my thyriod, in just under 2 weeks.

    Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.


  • countdooku
    countdooku Member Posts: 26

    had my bilateral mastectomy on 6/19. Went home 6/21. stayed extra night because plastic surgeon wanted to keep an eye on bleeding and drain output, which has been going fine. Plastic surgeon described himself as type A anal retentive, which made me laugh because that's exactly what I want in a reconstructive surgeon. Had a private room in the hospital so that was kind of nice. Pain management has gone well. I'm taking 1 Percocet every 4 hr and a muscle relaxer during the day...that is helping me do the various exercises they prescribed in order to not develop a frozen shoulder and limited movement.

    Some neighbors and coworkers have brought over dinner for us a couple of times so that's been a nice relief for my kids & DH.

    So far, this surgical recovery is far easier than the 2 C-sections I've had. I've been resting a lot, not doing much, purposely not overdoing it.

    Breast surgeon said they tookout 3 lymph nodes and the 50% of them that they examined in the OR showed no signs of cancer. But wont know the final result for a few days. So far I am very relieved and very happy with my decision. The breast surgeon's nurse called me yesterday to check on me. At the request of the plastic surgeon, DH emailed him a photo of my chest and the doc said everything looks good so far.

  • DCmom22
    DCmom22 Member Posts: 12

    Has anyone had to postpone surgery for a skin infection? I'm scheduled for surgery Tuesday but two days ago, a rash showed up on my bra line. I think it's fungal, and I assume it'll force a postponement of my surgery. I'm so pissed! I want this cancer out, and I can't imagine how hard it'll be to find another day when both BS and PS are available. Anyone have something like this? Or had to postpone for another reason?

  • Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Member Posts: 551

    Countdoku: Glad to read that your recovering is going well and you don't have much pain. Your plastic surgeon is such a type! LOL

    DCmom22: did you have neoadjuvant therapy? I have had taxol rashes after a month pfc. Could it be? I hope this do not delay your surgery. You can try to paint your boob with iodum, if it is a fungus iodum should work. Good luck!

  • Scottiemom11
    Scottiemom11 Member Posts: 1,072

    Hi all,

    Rrshannon, glad to here all went well and hope you get the other drain out very soon. Sending you healing thoughts and strength for your next round.

    Countdooku, it sounds like you had great care in hospital and so glad to hear you are doing well at home. What shoulder exercises did they recommend?

    DCmom, heat rash maybe given the location? Hoping for the best for you with no postponment.

    I`m still trying to keep my pain under control and am still apparently over doing things. Yesterday and today I had trouble controlling the pain in the mornings. I'm confortable now after being up and moving around some and taking all my meds. I'm really not doing much but I have to go back to work a week from tomorrow. Right now that doesn't seem do-oable. I need fo psych myzelf up in the next few days.

    Healing Hugs to all

    Scottie

  • ipenelope
    ipenelope Member Posts: 233

    Hi ladies! Congratulations extra and count!! Happy to hear the surgeries went good! I hope you both have a great recovery and are able to keep a positive attitude!!

    Rrshannon- yay about the drains! Those were by far the worst part of my initial recovery!!

    DC- clean the area really well with soap and water, dry really really good and use some final powder, like good bond, to the area and try to keep it dry. If it's a yeast issue that should hopefully get it mostly resolved by Tuesdays surgery!! Good luck and thoughts and prayers will be sent your way for surgery Tuesday and a successful surgery and good recovery!!

    I hope everyone is doing good and continue your hard work at kicking cancer's ass!!!

    ~Katie💗

  • DCmom22
    DCmom22 Member Posts: 12

    Thanks, Yndorian, Scottie & Katie-- No other therapies, so this may be heat rash but probably fungal. I'm tackling with Nystatin. Just not sure it'll clear in time. But thanks for the ideas and good thoughts.

    Countdooku, Xtra: Glad things are going well. Thoughts are with you!

  • countdooku
    countdooku Member Posts: 26

    I was given a couple of hand outs that have simple stretching type exercises on them. Plus the plastic surgeon said to "walk your arm the wall" a couple of times a day. He prescribed muscle relaxers to make that easier. The other exercises involve stuff like this...

    1. While laying down on the bed, roll your shoulders frontwards 5 times. Then do the same backwards five times. Repeat 2 other times per day.
    2. Lay down on the bed on your back. Lay your arm flat and close to your body. Then Bend your elbow and raise your lower arm so it's perpendicular to the bed. Lower your lower arm so the whole arm is now flat against the bed. Repeat 4 more times. Do that 5 times two other times per day.
    3. Push your shoulder blades back 5 times in a row.
    I've purposely not been doin hardly anything. Kids & DH have been doing all of the cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. I have little bursts of energy, but i'm purposely been holding myself back from doing too much. I've not done that before when recuperating from other surgeries and it bit me in the behind and made recovery a lot harder. So far, so good though.
  • countdooku
    countdooku Member Posts: 26

    Had my 1st post-op appointment with breast surgeon's nurse practitioner today. She said that everything is healing really well. Insurance is supposed to cover one of those dang mastectomy camisoles, but the old battle ax lady at the cancer center gift shop refused to submit the prior authorization request so that insurance would actually pay for it. Thanks for nothing! If I ever need to get a mastectomy bra, I am NOT GETTING ONE FROM THERE! She was really horrible. I had a good cry about it on the way home. I only have so much energy for stuff right now and dealing with people who are incompetent and don't want to do their jobs does not fall into that category. So frustrating! So instead, I'm wearing this compression vest sort of thing that I was given while in the hospital and it's very comfortable.

    THEN the company that handles my employer's short term disability requests faxed the medical forms to the wrong doctor's office, so my breast surgeon never received any paperwork to fill out. So I got that squared away, too. Sheesh, people, get it together!

    On the bright side of things, nothing is infected, the color of fluid coming out of my drains is changing colors in the right direction, and I'm able to manage the pain & discomfort just fine with the stuff they prescribed me. My 13 yr old daughter helped me clean off the incisions today and she said, "You don't look weird, Mama. You just look different now. It's fine." :-) She's a good kid.

  • Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Member Posts: 551

    Countdooku: all that insurance stuff are sometimes a pain in the ass! But glad to read you are doing well with your surgery. Your daughter is such a sweet thing helping and giving that suport to you!

    Hugs

  • ipenelope
    ipenelope Member Posts: 233

    Countdooku- that is really sad about the lady at the gift shop!! But glad you have something that is comfortable for you for compression!! And yay things are moving in the right direction for you!!

    I hope everyone else is doing good!! Keep kicking cancer's ass!!

    ~Katie💗

  • Xtra
    Xtra Member Posts: 10

    Thanks for the good wishes! Two of my drains are out, putting the nitroglycerin paste on one nipple, and am off meds except for the antibiotics. The water weight is still on, though. I'm not happy about this fluid retention.

    Waiting on final pathology.

    DCMom, does the pink soap (CHG/Hibiclens) help your rash? It seems like that would kill anything?

  • Xtra
    Xtra Member Posts: 10

    Countdooku, as someone who has worked in HR for 25 years, misplaced STD forms are, unfortunately, a fact of life, but you WILL get what is coming to you. There's nothing like a call to the higher-ups at your company asking for help to get things moving. Keep that in your pocket if it becomes unbearable. If there is ever a time to be a "Special Handle," this is it! I hope you are healing well.

  • countdooku
    countdooku Member Posts: 26

    I got a call from the surgeon's office this afternoon. They now have the STD forms and will get them signed tomorrow by the doctor, so all is well on that front!

    Xtra - what was it like when they removed 2 of your drains? Did it hurt?


    I hope everyone does well through their surgery recovery!

  • Scottiemom11
    Scottiemom11 Member Posts: 1,072

    Count, so glad to hear that you got the forms straitened out!

    Xtra, yeah on the drains! I had 4 with my BMx.

    BTW I swell up badly after each surgery. Can't wear my rings for weeks and I had to have my wedding ring cut off after the 3rd surgery. Try lots of green tea with no artificial sweetneds,i.e., only sugar, stevia or other natural sweeteners. I mostly folllow the lymphadema diet, which is essentially anti-inflammatory. A few of the techniques or supplements for anti-inflammatory may help.

    For getting drains out sooner afted my BMx, I used an app on my phone to track my meds and drain output daily. On the morning of Day 9, something happened to one of them and PS had me come in. When I showed her on the app how the output had been stedilly decreasing each day, she took them all out. It felt a bit weird but did not really hurt.

    I had my post-op yesterday and am now hopeful that this surgery will work. PS said there was alot of scar tissue again which explains the unbearable nerve pain. He was much more optomistic yesterday then when I saw him in May to schedule this surgery. I am going to research everything I can about reducing the risk of the scar tissue recurring, such as massage, exercises etc. . .

    Healing hugs to all!

    Scottie

  • Xtra
    Xtra Member Posts: 10

    countdooku- drain removal did not hurt at all. The other two are coming out on Friday. I called when I had two days under 30 ml of output and made an appointment

    Scottie - thanks for the tips, I am trying everything...1 lb going down each day. I need to be patient. Good luck with your research on the scar tissue, it seems like you may have found the reason for your pain.

  • rrshannon
    rrshannon Member Posts: 59

    Scottie glad you post op check went good.

    I was suppose to have my last drain removed today but the PS surgeries were going way behind today and they had to postpone me to tomorrow. I was bummed as I had to other appointments in the area today now I have to go back again tomorrow but at least it will be coming out before my weekend get away with my girl friends. Time for a quick get away before my next surgery. Which was suppose to be the 5th but now rescheduled to the 12th.



  • countdooku
    countdooku Member Posts: 26

    I had 2 post-op appointments today. Breast surgeon gave me a copy of the final pathology report. Margins were really good & breast surgeon was very pleased about that. There was a total of 4 cm of disease in my right breast. I'm very satisfied with my decision to do a mastectomy. Left breast had no cancer, but the report noted "focal fibrosis and microcyst formation." The 3 lymph nodes removed had no cancer in them. Doc said no chemo or radiation required. No more mammograms required. Incisions are healing well.

    Have to keep the drains in 1 more week, but I'm fine with that. I see the breast surgeon in 6 months. So I'm now pretty much in the hands of the reconstructive surgeon. I see him next week for drain removal & my 1st fill. I have an appointment next week with medical oncology to find out if I'll be taking Tamoxifen or not. Despite the 4 cm of disease, they said it's still considered DCIS and did not invade any surrounding tissue in the breast.

    Reconstructive surgeon said it's ok to do light exercise like walking, but nothing like weight lifting, so I'm going to start up with that tomorrow. DH had lots of questions for the reconstructive surgeon & he answered all of them. I'm still waking up a couple of times a night like I was in the hospital...usually around the time when pain meds wear off. I'm tapering off of prescription pain meds & switching to regular Tylenol & ibuprofen.

    So far, so good! Thinking of all of you!

  • happyperidot
    happyperidot Member Posts: 19

    Hello, everyone. I'm just dropping by from the July 2019 thread to ask a couple questions:

    For those of you with tissue expanders, are they pre-pec or sub-pec? And, how much pain are/were you in at 12 days post op? How much mobility did you have at that point? Mine will be pre-pec and I hope I'll be able to do my own hair and make-up for my future daughter-in-law's bridal shower.

    Thanks for any info, and best wishes for quick and easy recoveries.

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