Topic: December 2020 Surgery Group

Dec 26, 2020 11:15PM mtspacekace wrote:

Hopeful, I had that burning skin pain in my armpit that they removed the lymph node from...it lasted about 2 days, i thought it was maybe my brobe rubbing, and my husband checked it out and it wasn’t red or swollen...I made sure I did my excercises and it seemed to go away. I figured it was just a healing pain, or I overdid it a bit. Today I put on a zip up sweatshirt, and it had pockets made from the pockets on the inside...I put my drains in there, and coiled the hoses up in there, and it has been the most comfortable I have been all week. Someone suggested wearing the sweatshirt inside out if it doesn’t have the inside pockets, so you can put the drains in the pockets. This made it so the bulbs weren’t hanging off my clothing and the hoses weren’t hanging or rubbing...it seemed to make me more comfortable. Hopefully you can find something that works for you!!

Also, I have to wear the bra as well, but I feel it’s pretty comfortable. I have weird pains underneath my expander, where the bra band is, but I don’t think that has anything to do with the bra. Taking it off and getting a shower is quite nice. But overall it’s comfy....it’s a satin-like fabric kind of. I just ordered a black one from Amazon, I’ll link it.

Carole Martin Full-Freedom Front Closure Wireless Comfort Bra for Women https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGAODC0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_i_POa6FbCRJXYAG

Dec 27, 2020 07:02PM StaceyG6368 wrote:

any one experiencing swelling in your “mastectomy” shoulder? My shoulder blade area and under my arm is so swollen today. No node removal so I find it odd. Seeing the doctor tomorrow. So that will be my first question. Hoping she removes the drain! Fingers crossed on that! Hope everyone is doing w

Dec 27, 2020 11:08PM typhoon wrote:

KE1986, I also had my surgery on 12/9, but with direct-to-implant rather than TEs. Sounds like you and I are having similar symptoms along the same timeline. For about a week now, everything has been feeling raw and ultrasensitive - almost like a hairbrush with stiff bristles is being rubbed on my skin and chest wall under the implants. The tops of my breasts, and the area around and under my armpit have also been sore and achy. When I saw my plastic surgeon last week (two week post-surgery check-up), she said it was normal nerve pain and it would start to diminish gradually. Yesterday and today I was a bit less uncomfortable, clothes weren't bothering me as much, and I'm hoping this trend continues. Ibuprofen helps a bit, too.

Hope you are feeling better soon.

Dec 29, 2020 10:07AM hopeful23 wrote:

After a semi breakdown last evening, I switched from the bra the plastic surgeon put on me during surgery (I did have an extra so was washing them) to a much more comfortable post surgical bra that was given to me by my breast surgeon at an appt prior to surgery. I hope it’s okay to switch. I just couldn’t tolerate the tightness and coarseness of the other one any longer. It also zipped up in the front, so you couldn’t loosen the band around the bottom without totally unzipping it. The sensitive skin from collarbone to armpit is still there, but may be a bit better. Certainly a softer bra strap is an improvement. It sounds like this sensitivity is a common occurrence so hopefully we all get relief from it very soon!

For those with tissue expanders, what do yours feel like? Are they lumpy and bumpy? Can you feel the port where you will get fills - and if so what does it feel like? My tissue expander is lumpy and there is one area that is hard (almost center of breast between sternum and armpit and even with armpit) that is maybe 2 inches x 2 inches. I’m wondering if that is the port? Is the port that big?

Stacey, how was you doctor appt? Were they able to help you with the swelling? Hope you got your drain removal!

Ke1986, I don’t know about the contracted muscle, but the skin sensitivity seems to be a common issue. Hope it is improving for you!

Typhoon, thank you for sharing what your doctor said about theskin burning/sensitivity. Nerves sure do strange things as they heal.

Melbo, happy for you and your drain removal and that your first look was a positive one!

Dec 29, 2020 05:59PM Blue1002 wrote:

KMouse, sorry about the lymph nodes! I had 15 removed, 3 with cancer -- the armpit scar is the most annoying/painful, hopefully it will get better. Best of luck on your upcoming dissection!

I have a CAT scan and bone scan tomorrow to check for any other cancer in my body. Fingers crossed!

Hopeful, sometimes a breakdown can be a breakTHROUGH... hope that your bra is more comfortable now!

Typhoon & KE1986 I am right there with you with the burning skin sensation. Gabapentin + ibuprofen helps me with it, but only for a couple hours. Honestly with my skin sensitivity I would just walk around naked from the waist up if I could, but I don't want to scare the kids. (They'd be traumatized enough to see me walking around naked, much more with my current Frankenboob situation.)

My tissue expanders are so bulky and uncomfortable. I remember reading about that on these boards before I got them but there's really no substitute for having them in your chest. Just... weird. I was talking to a nurse at my doctor's office about my various pain and after talking for a bit she said, "look as someone who has walked in your shoes... I had a bilateral mastectomy four months ago... the tissue expanders hurt until they take them out, and then I felt fine." I appreciated her sharing her personal experience. It's a bit frustrating because I'll probably have TEs until I'm done with chemo and possibly radiation so who knows how long that will be. But hopefully there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Is anyone else feeling a little... abandoned... by your medical team? With the holidays and everything. My BS, who I thought was wonderful, is on vacation, and of course she's entitled to vacation, but there's like two nurses working in her office and they seem totally overwhelmed. I called about some paperwork for my short-term disability that I gave to the doctor two weeks ago (rookie mistake handing it to the surgeon, I know that now) and no one knows anything about the paperwork and it's just this one poor nurse trying to deal with everything. My pain prescriptions ran out and my plastic surgeon's PA called me about refills? Which, I'm very grateful she called and she was great but just feels a bit random that she's the one handling this.

Very grateful for the support of everyone on these boards.

Dec 29, 2020 11:46PM mtspacekace wrote:

11 days out and I’m feeling so good! Down to taking ibuprofen and tramadol twice in 24 hours, due to a little soreness...which I wonder if it’s mostly my drains. It seems everyone is ahead of me on the drain front. I can’t have mine removed until I’m under 30CC on each side in 2 days. Today was the first day I was under 30CC, so hoping tomorrow is the same and I can have them removed Thursday. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait until Monday, and that is my follow-up appointment with surgeon, plastic surgeon, and pt. I have to travel 2 hours to meet with everyone...I think if my drains are at a low level tomorrow morning, I’ll put in a call to plastics to see how I go about getting someone local to remove the drains the next day if they are still at that level. Hopefully my surgeon has my pathology back when I meet with him...he said due to Covid, they are behind and it may take longer. I feel in limbo, and am ready to start making plans and getting on with life! I’ve done the chemo, I’ve had the surgery, now what?! Anyone else feel this way?

I’m quite pleased with how my expanders look, they were a little lumpy-bumpy over the scar, but seem to be smoothing nicely as they heal. I may not even have them filled. I like the size so far, a little smaller than I was. They filled with 450cc at surgery. My skin is still pretty numb. I don’t touch or feel much, I don’t really like looking at the frankenboobs...it’s just a reminder of the damn cancer. They truly are prettier than I expected. I do get strange nerve tingles.

What are others doing during the healing process? I’m blessed and not working right now, or probably the rest of the winter. Being self employed with my family ranch, I’m not really needed and it’s a slow time anyways. I felt so bad during chemo, I didn’t feel like doing anything! But now I’m feeling much better, food tastes great again...but with covid, and recovery from surgery, I shouldn’t go out and about. It’s cold where I live, so going for walks is out most days. I wonder around the house, but most cleaning and the usual things I would do, is out at least for now. My husband will carry the laundry to the couch and I can fold it... I did have a friend drop off a jigsaw puzzle to keep me busy, I have a few books I want to read...the Matthew McConaughey memoir is next, and I have a knitting block of the month club I started during chemo I need to catch up on.

Here’s hoping that everyone else’s healing process is going well! Any plans to ring in the new year?

Dec 30, 2020 08:00AM StaceyG6368 wrote:

thanks Hopeful23, swelling has gone done some. Still has the numb feeling but they say that’s normal but 10 days post op drains are out! Ready for my first shower!! It’s the little things at this point!! Hope everyone is doing well. Question- for those out there with implants.. have you heard them “swoosh” weird to hear your boobs make a noise when you get up!

Dec 30, 2020 09:29AM Melbo wrote:

I ordered the Carole Martin full freedom bra from Amazon. Someone else on the thread recommended it. I got it yesterday and it’s definitely an improvement over the binder, but I ordered a second one in the next bigger band size because this one is just a wee bit snug against the incisions on my sides.

Dec 31, 2020 01:54PM - edited Dec 31, 2020 01:55PM by mtspacekace

• Kimberly1981: My plastic surgeon sent me home in a bra, and gave me an extra. I found some similar on amazon and ordered a few more after surgery. It's is the Carole Martin full freedom bra. It's stretchy so will accommodate different cup sizes, you just order your band size. It's actually exactly the same as the post surgery bras I got from the hospital, with a different brand label on it. They are comfortable. I should add I’m somewhere between a B and C and the cups fit well.
  

I got my drains out today!!!!! Cheers to a happy new year to all of you!!!

Dec 31, 2020 06:28PM kimberly1981 wrote:

Thank you, both - these are super helpful!!

Dec 31, 2020 09:23PM AB45 wrote:

I am having the same procedure this coming week, how sore are you from lumpectomy? Did they say how long you would need to recover? Thanks, nervous especially with COVID

Thanks

Jan 1, 2021 07:18AM Melbo wrote:

AB45 — It’s been almost two weeks since my lumpectomy, sentinel node biopsy, and bilateral reconstruction. The pain hasn’t been that bad at all. I took some oxy the first three days and then managed it with OTC Tylenol. Mostly I have been stiff and uncomfortable from drains and the binders they gave me, but once the drains came out and I switched to a better bra it has been much better.

At this point I get occasional weird throbbing pain that comes and goes — I’ve been told it’s nerves reconnecting — and I have some pain/discomfort if I try to stretch too far or do too much, but it usually fades quickly. I am still careful about the incisions on my sides and I take it pretty easy to make sure I don’t jostle anything too much or risk bumping/hurting my chest and sides, but it’s getting better every day and I expect by the end of next week I will mostly be back to normal.

Jan 1, 2021 04:17PM Melbo wrote:

with my breast center they automatically said my choices were lumpectomy with reconstruction or mastectomy — the oncology surgeons and plastic surgeons work closely together and it seems to be their default. The plastic surgeon also explained that it was more advantageous to do the surgery that way since the oncology surgeon would be able to see more of the breast tissue, thus giving a much better chance of getting clean margins, and they would be able to send any tissue from my non cancerous breast to pathology to make sure there was no cancer in that breast.

I am not sure when I will start radiation exactly, but I know it will be a few weeks after surgery to give my incisions a chance to heal. I also don’t know the exact radiation plan, but standard treatment is 5x a week for 6 weeks, although some radiation oncologists seem to be experimenting with fewer sessions.

I will also be on Herceptin and Perjeta until around August (which is year after I started chemo + Herceptin and Perjeta.) everything I’ve seen says that standard treatment for HER2+ cancer is a year of Herceptin with some doctorsincluding Perjeta and some not.

Jan 1, 2021 06:50PM Melbo wrote:

hopefully you can do radiation closer because everything I’ve read about it implies it’s a really fast treatment once you get started. Most women in the radiation groups say it takes longer to get dressed and undressed than it does to get the actual radiation treatment.

Jan 1, 2021 10:27PM - edited Jan 2, 2021 12:05AM by c00l

I didn't get a good result with my lat flap. Not sure how much of that was the surgeon. It's hard to form a round shape from a back muscle. Also I have back and shoulder problems now that started about 10 years later. Wish I had my back muscle back again.

2005 Invasive DCIS, Right Stage 0, Grade 3, +++ Mast with lat flap, AC/TH

2020 1.8cm tumor, Left Grade 2, ER+PR+Her2- Dec28 Mast with implant only