October 2021 Surgeries
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Jen2957 - I go next week and the anxiety has hit full force. ☹️ I want it over with, but then again it’s been nice completely ignoring what’s happening to me for the past month.
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jspringer, I’m with you next week! Oct 25 for me. Exactly one week to go. I think I’m almost more nervous about the lymphoscentograghy (needles in my nipple???) and wire placement (they leave a metal wire sticking out of me???) than the surgery itself. Well, no, it’s the surgical outcome I have the most anxiety about - getting clear margins, how deformed will my little boob be after, will lymph nodes be positive and require ALND or extra rads…. Trying to not think about it since that stuff is all out of my control,but not always successful.
I’m cleaning the house like a maniac and making all sorts of lists of what to pack. Just a lumpectomy for me so it’s outpatient, but I live a long way from the surgery center so will be spending the night in a hotel before and after surgery day. Want to make sure I have all the necessary comforts of home with me…
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my doctor suggested adding implants to flaps. My thought is why go through abdominal surgery and still end up with implants. You can get implants done immediately if you use implants on top of pec muscle-no painful expander needed. The abdominal surgery is more invasive than C section or tummy tuck..
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I had the booster about a month ago and no side effects. If you felt ok after 2nd covid vax, then you will probably feel the same with booster. The hospitals are still being staffed by unvaccinated workers and the more protection you can get, the better. During my hospitalization, I wore a mask hanging from my neck so I could pull it up quickly when they came in the room.
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Florida65,
Thanks for the booster feedback. That makes total sense to me. I agree about wanting as much protection as possible.
Regarding doing a flap and an implant, I'm kind of stuck with that due to my prior radiation. The radiation causes implants to have a high failure rate even if done later with expanders to start, but I also don't have quite enough belly fat to cover a BMX. I do think you're right though. Most people wouldn't want both because it would be an unnecessary abdominal surgery, and no one wants that!
Nic
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NNS121317- Sorry about the calf and the pathology surprise. Question: You said you had “direct to implant reconstruction.” Is that with the spacer implanted at surgery and then that gets replaced later with a permanent implant at a second surgery? I have a similar diagnosis and it sounds like I may be facing a similar treatment plan. I’m anxious
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jspringer4- Yes, the difference in the estimated surgery date anxiety versus the actual surgical date anxiety is huge! I’m ready to get it over with, too, but I am so afraid of the pathology afterward. Since I will be going just a few days before you, I will try to post an update before yours. Feel free to PM me, too, if you want to check in!
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Jen and Kayce, good luck tomorrow!!!
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Galley - No, my implants were placed in the same surgery as my mastectomy. I went into the OR with my own breasts, and came out with silicone implants. By going this route, I could do skin-sparing (nipple sparing wasn't an option because of the location of my tumor) and didn't require any type of expander or spacer. I wasn't super excited about having implants, but there is so much COVID in my area right now I only had two options, flat or implants. My PS said even if I wanted DIEP or another flap procedure, we'd be best off doing implants now and preserving the skin, and switching the implants out for my own tissue later.
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Good luck to the ones having surgery today
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Jen & Kayce, thinking of you two with your surgeries tomorrow. Keep us posted & take it easy.
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All- Thank you for the well wishes with surgery. I am on eastern time (Kentucky), and my surgery is in the afternoon. So I’m just kind of nervously waiting around to leave for the hospital right now.
Kayce- I hope all goes extremely smoothly for you with your surgery as well
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Good luck!
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Kayce & Jen, hope you are recovering well.
lstagg & mle42: Good luck Monday!
Jellydog & jspringer: Will be thinking of you on Tuesday!
Visualize your happy place as you go to sleep before surgery. I thought of my favorite Hawaiian beach & said a little prayer. Thinking of everyone in this group! I am doing well had a great PT session of stretching and amazing lymphatic massage yesterday. I am enjoying non-treatment days while I can.
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I wanted to log in for a minute to send hugs and support to everyone preparing for surgery in the next several days. I also want to thank everyone who shared their own info or sent kind thoughts during my own surgery. It makes a big difference and helps to know there are people who have been there before who understand this whole darned thing.
For those who, like I was, are stressed about not knowing what to expect, I thought I’d share my experience so far. I had my SLNB and unilateral nipple and skin sparing mastectomy Thursday at around 2 pm and was home (after a 40 minute drive) by around 8 pm that night. When I first woke up from surgery, I will admit that the pain was higher than I expected; I have always been told my pain threshold is high (which can be a bad thing sometimes), but it was pretty intense for a few moments. They immediately gave me some IV meds and the pain was quickly under control and has been manageable since I’ve been home. My understanding is that because I have a smaller frame and smallish breasts, they had a lot of difficulty getting the tissue expander into the pocket. I am sure that is what added to the discomfort in my case.
I have been so excited to be able to sleep in my bed each night! I wasn’t sure how that would go. I have been using one of those bed/floor/TV pillow things with the arms coming out on each side, then a bed pillow on top of that turned long ways and slid down a bit farther, and then a pillow over my chest to protect it and give me something to use when I get up. It was hard at first to get comfortable, but once the pillows were all adjusted, I slept fairly well! Thank goodness! Getting up was a bit tricky, but since I have a non-surgical arm, I was able to manage fairly well. Last night, I actually was able to roll partially onto my non-surgical side for a while. My plastic surgeon told me it was fine to sleep however I was comfortable, because “you won’t hurt the TE, the TE will hurt you.” His point was that my movement would be limited by discomfort before I got to the point of causing any problems.
I ended up with only one drain, and it was nerve-racking that first night and next day to have my husband strip it- just didn’t want anybody near the incisions out of fear of pulling something. It was fine, though, and I have actually been emptying it by myself for the past two days with no problem.
I have made a point to get up and move around frequently, but it's been frustrating because the restrictions for lifting more than 5 lbs and not raising my heart rate for the first two weeks- among others- make it difficult to do many of my normal daily activities. I was able to do light loads of laundry Saturday and that made me feel pretty darned accomplished!
Today was a crummy day mentally and emotionally, as it was my first day at home alone; my husband had a work event he had to attend and couldn’t work from home, plus he would not be home until later in the evening. I was feeling pretty depressed and lonely. I finally ended up taking my mom and step-dad up on their offer to come hang out with me. Best decision ever- we ate lunch, then watched a fun series together…really helped pass the time and reduce the stress. I am not very good at accepting help, but I am learning to allow people to help when they offer. My advice is to remember that people sometimes just really want to do something to help, but don’t really know what to do; let them do something when they offer! There are no martyr medals for struggling through on your own.
If you are preparing for surgery and have any other questions, please feel free to reach out here or message me privately- I am happy to share any info I can about my ownexperience so far.
I wish you each a smooth surgery and a much easier recovery than you expected!
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Hi All Surgery went extremely well on Thursday, other than the pain from the bump I somehow got on my head during surgery I've had very little pain. I did so well they let me go on Saturday which was day 2 - normally earliest they let you go is day 3. I'm feeling well and trying to rest and not do too much. Pathology returned what we expected which was really good but looks like I will need chemo, we confirm on the 4th. I see surgeon today for follow up.
Thanks for all the good htoughts
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Jen and Kayce, great to hear from you. You were in my thoughts the last couple of days. I am very happy to hear you are doing well.
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Great job Jen & Kayce! Happy to hear your surgeries went well. Rest up, hope you feel better & better each day!
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hi all, my lumpectomy and SLND went well yesterday - I know we have to wait for the real histopathology to be sure, but frozen sections of the lymph nodes in the operating room looked good (no obvious cancer). Amazingly, there is a lot less pain than I experienced when they put the port in. That time, I woke up the next day in tears I hurt so badly, maxing out on Tylenol and still in agony. . Today, less than 24 hr after a more major surgery…. I’m definitely really sore, especially where they took the lymph nodes out, but while I could take a pain pill I don’t really NEED it. I know they probably used a long acting local anesthetic, hopefully I’m not just under that influence! I actually like having some discomfort, it’s a needed reminder to go easy and not use that arm too much.
So very happy to have crossed this hurdle! As long as I heal well, I can start radiation at the end of November.
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Jen and Kayce, so happy you are both doing well after surgery!!
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That’s great to hear mle42! Hope you heal well & fast! I’ll be starting radiation sometime in November too.
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mle42, it is great to hear you are doing well. I am waiting for my pathology results as well. Fingers crossed for good results.
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Hope you are all doing well from your surgery or that it does go well when you have it. So, my surgery was Wednesday (BMX w/DIEP flap reconstruction). All appears to have gone well (sentinel node clear). Anxious to see the details in my pathology.
I was in the ICU for 3 nights to more closely monitor the blood flow in the reconstructions. I was just moved to a regular room for my last night, and I'll be discharged in the morning.
Day 0: surgery was delayed due to an emergency. Started about 2.5 hours late.. All in, I think my surgery was ~6 hours. Moved straight to ICU for recovery, etc. I woke up hooked to every tube/cable they have at the hospital (or that's what it felt like). Didn't have too much nausea and slept off and on as they checked my vitals, etc. I took no narcotics because there was a mix up with my surgeon's orders.
Day 1: I woke up in some pain, so they got me on the narcotic that I controlled. This was perfect, and I was very comfortable that entire day. I have 6 drains that will all stay on until my follow up visit Nov 9 because my plastic surgeon is out of the office until then. That was disappointing because I was hoping to at least downsize to 4.
Day 2: Got out of bed for the first time. Complicated but fairly pain free. I was seated in a recliner, and it was so comfortable, I opted to sleep there for the night.
Day 3 (today): Got rid of a lot of the hookups I had in ICU to prep for a move to a regular room. That was freeing. I'm off the drip pain meds, but I still have access to other pain meds. I expect to need them tomorrow as I did a lot of moving around today.
All in all, I think it has gone fairly smoothly. I am thankful for these boards (and all of you ladies and some men), as I grabbed a lot of ideas for things I might need for this kind of surgery (pillow/wedge, mastectomy robe, mastectomy pillow). I'll add a few more details of items that were helpful or that I wished I had) as I get through the next few days at home.
Thanks!
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NicinTexas, 6 hours & ICU!! My dear you went through a lot! I hope you heal fast & feel better each day. This is your second surgery too. Sending you healing energy! Keep us posted on how you do at home. Take it easy.
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Overall, my surgery on the 27th went well. The initial pathology from my nipples and sentinel nodes looked good, so hopefully the final report is the same.
Pain hasn’t been too bad. I was on oxy in the hospital but I’ve been able to manage at home with Tylenol and Advil.
If any of you have experience with expanders, will they always feel like heavy, concrete balls in my chest? I’m not sure I can deal with this for 3-4 months. So uncomfortable!
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Glad to hear that your surgery went well jspringer4! It must have been a long surgery involving both sides plus reconstruction. Good job! I hope you heal well and you get some relief with the expanders. I opted for a flat closure so no experience there. Take it easy
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Hi folks, hope you are all recovering well?
3 weeks post surgery, I finally had the courage to take off the steristrips on my lumpectomy incision today - they were pretty grubby after being replaced two weeks ago at my surgeon's office. And..... it doesn't look nearly as bad as I was afraid it would! The incision is around the edge of my nipple, going halfway around the whole thing, but at least for now is just a thin flat line. Now if only the skin on my whole boob would stop feeling super aggravated/painful/tender..... I realize it's early days, I need to be patient. Though I read an article on what to expect after lumpectomies, from a major/reputable hospital (maybe john's hopkins?), and it said you should be ready to get back to the gym only 1 week post surgery. Hah! No.
I think most in our October group had mastectomies, so much more to recover from than I'm dealing with. You're in my thoughts!
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Hi mle42,
Glad your incisions look better than expected. I was scared to look too. Mine are healing well with the Manuka honey cream. I am now almost 5 weeks & incision looks nice & clean. Very thankful. Hope you continue to heal up! Work out just 1 week post? Nope maybe walking but not hitting the gym
I hope everyone is doing well & healing up.
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Hi all!
Sorry to have gone pretty silent after my surgery, but I wanted to come back and update in case it might help others.
As a reminder, I had a BMX w/DIEP due to prior radiation on my right side. I spent 4 days total in the hospital (3 in ICU to monitor the flaps). Today is 3 weeks and 1 day post-op.
My biggest hurdle through this whole process was dealing with the surgical drains. I went home with 6 drains and didn't have them removed until my 2 week appointment. They were driving me insane, and they limited by movement to the point where I thought it was impacting my recovery. Sad face. Anyhow, all 6 drains were removed at my 2 week visit, so I guess I was lucky. It was a painless process. I actually went back to work from home part time the next day, so to say removing the drains was freeing is an understatement.
The flaps appear to be doing well, and the incision on my abdomen is healing great. I'm stuck in Spanx for the next month or so, but that's working for me right now.
My right side is still a little tender - they took extra tissue there as they went back to ensure clear margins. They also took 2 lymph nodes, so that is adding to the tenderness.
I feel better every day. Still awaiting my Oncotype results to see what the next steps are, but I feel a bit uneasy because I had a hormone-receptor positive tumor pop up after I was on Tamoxifen for almost 8 years. That in and of itself will likely push me to get a second opinion.
Regarding the items that were critical during my recovery (for anyone in the future reading this):
- rinse free bath sponges (I almost didn't order these, but they were the most helpful thing while i had the drains in. I could 'bathe' without going through the painful process that was getting in the shower with 6 drains connected. I had never heard of them before, but they worked phenomenally. I ordered the medical grade ones from Amazon. LIFESAVER)
- wedge pillow for under my legs (still sleeping with this to keep me from rolling over)
- mastectomy robe with drain pockets (the regular 4 pocket versions can hold 6 drains even though it appears they can't)
- Spanx for my abdominal incision (I am short-waisted, so the abdominal binder they give you was super-painful bumping into my breasts)
- maxi-pads without wings to place between the abdominal incision and any clothing/binder/Spanx (what a Godsend - they don't stick!). I also cut one in half to place on top of my breast drain incisions as the day I came home from the hospital, the bra they put me in got stuck to the drain openings. Ouch. I just changed these daily.
- Miralax and stool softener to take while I was on narcotics - you don't want to have to strain with a big abdominal incision
- mastectomy pillow has been used every night - it's just comfortable (I also used this for the ride home)
- lap belt pillow to protect that incision when riding in a car (I'm still using this when I drive)
- alcohol wipes and latex gloves for the drain processing
- really big safety pins for those times when you need to pin your drains
- button up pajamas and shirts for that period when you can't pull things over your head. I just kept rotating them through the wash. I mean my husband did. lol.
I hope this helps someone in future. I might add this to one of the DIEP recovery threads as well.
Hope you are all doing well after your surgeries!
PS Very happy with the DIEP results so far. I didn't really have much choice, but my left side looks almost like it did before surgery. Right side will need a little work, but that will come later.
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Oh dear NicinTexas! 6 drains???? 3 days in ICU! Goodness you went thru a lot! I am happy to hear that you are better each day. Great job getting the needed items to get you through all that & posting it here for future readers. My husband did the drain each day until the very end when he had to go to a meeting. Of course I knock it over & spill the nasty liquid all over the counter….. keep us posted on your next steps & rest well! I hope everyone is doing better.
Every time that I see the pathology sedan out front, waiting to whisk away the next surgery samples to the lab, I say a little prayer.
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