January 2020 Surgery Group
Comments
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Fairydragon - that’s awesome about your drains. Did you have a nurse from LHIN (former CCAC) come to your house? If so, how often
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First time posting, but have been information gathering here since my LCIS diagnosis in August. Went on to be diagnosed with IDC in January. I had bilateral mastectomies on January 20 and am recovering well and feeling better and better daily. Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their stories and I am planning to continue to post to hopefully help others in the future the way that I have been helped here.
Best wishes to all.
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Yayyy! Good to hear Fairy.
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Fairydragonfly, YAY!! You must be so happy to get rid of the drains
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Fairy we had surgery same day. My drains aren't being evaluated until my surgeons appointment on Tuesdays. I won't miss them.
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Anyone have exchange surgery this month?
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Thats great Fairydragon. I remember the happy dance that accompanied listing that dtsin
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I use a warm face cloth, damp, with some liquid soap, rinse the same way. I use fresh facecloths every time I use on my body, just to be safe.
Great list on what to have at hospital. I kept a small makeup bag by bed w earplugs, nasal spray, lip balm and eye drops
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Sugar77 - yes they came twice to the house and I went to their clinic today.
Can't wait for the remaining three to come out.
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Tina best wishes to you as well. Hoping you get those dreaded drains out soon!
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Last Tues., Jan 21, I had a Double mastectomy, no reconstruction, and biopsy of 4 sentinel nodes right side. Surgery was 1 1/2 hours. Unfortunately I had some unanticipated extra bleeding. Over night my b.p. went down to 80 over 41 and I was passing out when I tried to sit or stand. Took a while to get this sorted out, but by ten in the morning they had started the first of two units of blood that got my b.p. elevated enough to go back to surgery for half an hour the evening of Jan 22 to reopen the right side, remove the haemotoma and tie off bleeding. I'm home now, and today the community Nurse changed the dressings. Bruising and swelling are both a lot better.
I have 4 drains, two on each side, and now have a routine to empty them and record the fluid levels. Staples are scheduled for removal on Fri Jan 31. Once again the community nurse will do this.
i have Jamp acet tramadol for pain, and it works well. I would hate to try and deal with the pain w Tylenol only.
My husband has been present for the changing of dressings today, and the nurse sent us home with supplies for replacing the dressings if needed. The nurse had us both take a good look at the site. I feel good about this, as better to look at things straight on. My husband said that it was a real help for him in processing and adjusting
Now the two week wait for node biopsy results and further treatment plan.
I am feeling so much better now that surgery is over and recovery is taking place! Good luck to all of you who are going through this as well
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Neamster so sorry you had to go through all of that. Wishing you good path results and a speedy recovery from here on out.
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Tina2770 - welcome to the January surgery group. So glad you found us.
Neamster - wow, what an ordeal. So sorry you had to go through this.
Cheers and happy dances to drain removals.
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Livelovelaugh, Yes, I am having exchange surgery this coming Friday.
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Sugar, so sorry to hear about everyone else falling ill in your house! Hope they get better before your surgery.
I had a left mastectomy, 4 lymph nodes removed & expander put in on Friday. The worst part by far is the two drains I have. Does anyone else have pain during the milking/stripping of the drains? It’s excruciating to the point that I nearly passed out last night when my husband did it. I’m terrified of having to do it again. I was prescribed Tylenol, ibuprofen & tramadol for pain.
I have a right mastectomy & diep flap reconstruction set for feb 6th if margins come back clear from the first surgery & I’m now really concerned about even more drains to deal with
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I had pain, dreaded it as well. The worst part was closest to the top where the drain was inserted, but it gets a little easier as time goes on. Just make sure he's not pulling too much and as long as they're draining your okay. Hope it gets better and you get them out soon!
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Naemster
I had a similar experience with my double mastectomies with no reconstruction and 3 sentinel nodes removed. Surgery lasted about 2 hours. I did develop hematoma in my right side and was draining a lot of blood. My drains were hooked to continuous suction over night without helping. So off to surgery to open my right side to drain blood and stop 3 spots of bleeding. That surgery only took 45 minutes. 2 surgeries in less than 24 hours wasn't what I wanted BUT I felt so much better after. I didn't realize that I didn't feel good after first one until I felt better after second surgery. I have never taken any pain medicine through any of this process so I feel very fortunate to feel so good.
Good vibes on fast healing to all.
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so good to follow everyone's story, successes and challenges. I had double masectomy on the 16th and was feeling better till yesterday. Started having sharp pains on left breast and under my arm and just feeling plain yucky today. Anyone having same type experience? Havent overdone it just sudden pain and feeling bad. Incisions look good not really fever. It is 99.1 which I dont consider issue at all. Any advise?
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Hello! I’m new to this group - will be reading tomorrow (Later today really, it’s 1:15 am where I am!) to catch up on all the posts! I am having bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction/tissue expanders placed on Tuesday 1/28. I’ve already done chemo from Sept 13 - Dec 27 so I’m 4 weeks from my last chemo. Starting to feel a little more normal but it took a toll on me for sure.
I’ve had surgery before but all laparoscopic procedures on an outpatient basis. This will be my first long surgery. My sister will be staying with me for the first week. I did some meal prep this weekend so I have a few things ready for dinner with minimal effort. My brother is loaning me some button down shirts since I only had one! And I have the comfy recliner in place to rest and sleep in.
Can’t wait to read the experiences of the rest of you who have already had your surgeries. Best wishes to those of you who still have chemo coming up. It will be tough but you can do it.
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BlueCoconut, glad you found our group. Welcome! We are on a similar surgery schedule.
I'm heading to the hospital shortly for my SNB, DMX and tissue expanders placement.
Be well everyone. I'll be back online soon.
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Sugar good luck with surgery today.
Blue welcome and good luck with your surgery tomorrow!
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Good luck Sugar!
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Hi everyone,
I just need to vent, I'm sorry!
I just had my bilateral mastectomy w/ reconstruction Jan 13, removed the tumor (neoadjuvant chemo, the thing was huge) and three positive nodes. I am so depressed. I am 35 and have a 5.5 year old son.
I did four rounds of AC and absolutely refused the last four rounds of Taxol. Chemo wrecked me and I wanted this thing out. I was hoping no positive nodes, but I'm furious that three were positive. The breast surgeon thinks radiation is next. I meet w/ her tomorrow and my oncologist Friday. I REFUSE chemo and am furious about radiation, but I'll take rads over chemo even though I just wanted my journey done with surgery.I'm so sad, angry, and annoyed. I still have two drains in (they should come out this week) and I just feel so useless. Something simple like leaving the house for two hours wrecks me the next day and I sleep the entire time. I feel pathetic. I just want this over!!!!!!
My wounds are debriding fine. I look like a zombie in that area, with all the dead skin evolving so it can be healthy again. No one tells you you'll be a living mummy until after!
I just want to be normal again but was so devastated when three nodes came back. Here comes more unknown. Sigh.
I'm healing fine and even stopped so much pain meds, but I just want to live life!!! This seems like it's going on forever.
I hope I'm not alone here. I just want to be happy again. I'm doing everything the doctors tell me. I just want it over. I have a great support system, but I just feel like crap about myself
Thanks for listening. I feel so alone.
-Sunny
edit to add: ugh, I suffered through chemo only for cancer in nodes anyway. Ugh.0 -
Ohthatcat sorry to hear about what you're going through. Just wanted to let you know you are not alone. You have a good support group here. Wish you the best.
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I had a bilateral on 1/23 and came home the next day. I’ve been doing pretty OK until this morning, when I almost passed out from the drain pain on my cancer side. Talk about a 10 out of 10!!!! I have been rationing my painkillers because I was afraid he wouldn’t give me more. I only got 12. I have been taking two a day. And this morning it caught up with me. He did refill today and the nurse told me to alternate with Tylenol and the Valium the PS gave me for muscle tightness. I’m also bumping the Perc up to three a day. This seems to be working better
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Ohthatcat, you are absolutely not alone. I am so sorry about the positive nodes. That must have felt like a kick in the gut to find that out after chemo and a rough surgery. I had my surgery the same day as yours. My post-op appointment is tomorrow and I am praying that the nodes are clear. If not, my surgeon says chemo and radiation. My sister keeps telling me: "Cancer is a prison on planet bullshit." (Quote from the movie "Step Brothers"). Makes me crack up every time.
It breaks my heart to hear you say that you feel like crap about yourself and feel useless. I get it. I really do. But just remember: You had a really big surgery and you are healing. You need to give yourself a break, ok?
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So sorry to hear your news. You are a strong woman and it's ok to have bad days. Tomorrow will look different take your madness and turn it into determination. I will pray for you.
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oh that cat, How devastating. So sorry for your suffering. You sound like a strong and determined force. You will be looking forward to getting those drains out and each day gets you closer. Hang in there
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Floral I was just like you. The pain was bad in the beginning and I almost passed out as well. Stay on top of the pain now that you have more meds. Hope you feel better soon!
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Lecoll, I had bilateral mastectomies w TEs on Jan 3 and still having issues with pain so you aren't alone! Temp of 99 isn't that bad-just keep monitoring your temp like you are doing and keep an eye on your incision.
Ohthatcat, totally know how you feel. I went to my first post op visit w surgeon a week after sx and it wiped me the rest of the day! I find that I really need to pace myself and can't do a lot. Definitely not doing much is not the norm for me (have 4 kids and work) and I'm sure most of us are usually running around like overcommitted women, so this is a rare time to rest! We shouldn't feel bad taking care of ourselves, we would tell our friends and family to do the same!
I definitely wish I could do more by now, am post op 3+ weeks. Hard to know whether to power through the pain (but not do anything drastic) or whether to take the pain as a sign to stop moving (the only time I'm comfortable, haha)
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