February 2010 Mastectomy

ReginaR

Happy Memorial day Weekend Feb Sisters! Hope you all are enjoying some good times with Friends & Family.
I had some Friends who visited me this weekend & made me Smile!
I am still Recovering @ home with My Drain Friend! I will Call surgeon Tues with Drain color & output & we will see If it can come out this week! Still having pain ,but feeling stronger each day! Thanks for all your continue support & Prayers! {{{hugs}}}

hereandnow

Dear Regina, glad to hear you are feeling stronger. Hope those damn drains come out Tuesday. Take it easy, here's to smiling with good friends

Lisa

LauraM

Hi Ladies!  Haven't checked in for a long time, but I have been thinking of you all often!  

Regina -  I hope by now you are healed and getting back to your "new" self! 

All is good with me, I had follow-up surgery in March to open back up my stomach from the TRAM and clean out all the old sutures that I was allergic to and they put in new ones.  They found a mess of scar tissue and old sutures insides so it was a good thing that they took care of it.  My stomach is so much better now, before if I leaned against a table of counter it was very tender.    

I hope everyone else is doing great!

MNLinda

Hi all -

This topic has been kinda quiet lately, but I thought I'd weigh in with what's been happening in my world.

I have been training with a dragon boat team over the past few months (the Dragon Divas - a team made up of breast cancer survivors), and we just put the boat away for the season last week. I wasn't able to paddle as much as I would have liked.  I'm still getting physical therapy and dealing with cording and shoulder & back problems.  I hope next season will be better.

Lymphedema in the right arm has been better recently - I've been bandaging over the compression sleeve just below the elbow, which seems to be a trouble spot for me.  A little extra compression there seems to help.

I have a Zometa treatment schedule for next month, the third of six over a three-year period.

I'm signed up to go to the Breast Cancer Awareness Association conference in Minneapolis this weekend.

I'm talking with a PS about LAT flap reconstruction in a couple of months.  I'm a little concerned about making the movement problems worse than they already are.  However, I think it's possible that moving some healthier tissue into the radiated area could have a beneficial effect.  It seemed to me that the radiation sort of locked me into a limited range of movement following surgery, and I'd like to have another shot at getting everything stretched out a little better.

Another consideration about having the surgery is that I'd sort of like to have a surgeon take a look around, now that I've been through with "active treatment" for over a year.  I've a a PET scan and a CT of my head and neck because of some pain issues there, and both scans were okay, but I've had false negatives on imaging in the past and don't really trust it very much.  I hope to get a "looking good" from the PS and feel a little more confident at least temporarily.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

badger

hi ladies!  Hope this finds everyone doing well.  

Linda, I just sent you a PM.  Was in Mpls last weekend and love love loved it!

Sending {{hugs}} to you all.

MNLinda

Checking in again after a long silence...I started reconstructive with a surgery at the beginning of December.  I had tissue expanders placed and I'm now in the process of getting fills.  Originally the PS recommended a LAT flap, but my lymphedema specialist recommended against it - I have had a lot of issues with cording and rotator cuff impingement, and she told me I would be at high risk for further shoulder problems if I had that muscle moved.

I had radiation on the right side, so that side is tight and won't expand a whole lot, but I wasn't particularly large to begin with, so I'll wait and see how this works out.

I had a lot of trouble with the anesthesia after my December surgery.  For about four hours afterwards I kept throwing up even though I hadn't eaten anything, only had water.  (I was thinking at this point "...and I wanted to do this because...?" but that was just temporary.)  The painkiller I was prescribed also made me nauseous.  I still haven't found a painkiller that works well for me - the side effects kick in before the pain relief does, and they generally make me groggy, dizzy, or nauseous, so I stop taking them.

The good news about this surgery was that it seemed to help with the stiffness, and the strained feeling I've been having, extending all the way up my neck to my right ear.  My PS said he was able to release some scar tissue that was under the muscle, not from the mastectomy but from the radiation. The lymphedema is no worse, and may even be a little better now.  I'm seeing my PT a couple of times a week while I'm healing.

Hope everyone is doing well and moving on.

badger

hi ladies and happy anniversary.  I always remember my BMX date; it was Groundhog Day.

I am doing well, all healed up and fairly healthy.  Still a few pounds to lose but getting there.

Still walking every day and have added yoga for strength and stretching and stress reduction.

I see a few of you around on the boards but think of you all with gratitude & affection. ((hugs))

ReginaR

Happy 2 Years Pink sister! Hope all are well!

Think of you often! Sending Hugs {{{{{{{{{{Feb Mastectomy Sisters}}}}}}

Love ya, Gina

Faith316

Hard to believe it has been two years, isn't it?

I'm still around the forum and doing well.  I've been NED for 2-1/2 years but still on Tykerb.  I've been on it for 2-1/2 years and my local onc and my MDA onc haven't yet decided how long to leave me on it.  Tolerating it well for the most part other than lots of diarrhea and a constant struggle with nail problems with my toes, but other than that, doing great!

Hope all you gals are doing well, also!

ReginaR

Hello Feburary sisters! Hope all of you are doing Great!  2 years we been together!

{{{hugs}}} Gina

badger

hi ladies, remember this video? I watched it a lot when I was going through surgery etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdVfyt-mLw

It's the Pink Glove Dance and it now has 13.4 million hits.  Still has the power to make me cry, thinking of all the people who were helping me through.

Hope this finds everyone happy & healthy!  ((hugs)) to all

p.s. MNLinda, I may be in MSP this Aug, will e-mail you once I firm up the details.  Maybe we could meet for tea!

MNLinda

Absolutely!

MNLinda

Hard to believe February has come around again.  I am coming up on the third anniversary of my mastectomy on the 18th.  (Badger - I thought of you yesterday when I realized it was Groundhog Day!)

I had my tissue expanders replaced with the permanent implants in November.  I'm pretty happy with them.  The right breast isn't all that pretty, as I have a lot of telangiectasia (spider veins) in the boost area, and the breast is a little lower and flatter than the left (unradiated) side.  My PS doesn't think nipple reconstruction is going to be feasible on the right because of the radiation damage.  Still, having breasts - two of 'em! - such as they are, is a good feeling for me.  I know not everyone needs to have them replaced.  I felt, though, that cancer took a lot from me, and I wanted to reclaim anything I could.

I returned to my PT in December and early January to work on myofascial release - I still have some stubborn cording and ropy scar tissue in the right axilla, and some rotator cuff impingement.  Besides the PT, I've been going to some workouts with my dragon boat team.  (Tried Zumba, but I think I am too slow.) 

I hope that the fact that we don't post much here these days is evidence that we have moved past treatment and recovery and resumed our old lives, with whatever limitations we may have.  Please check in, ladies, and share your updates - I'd love to hear what you're all up to! {{{hugs}}}

badger

hi Linda, good to hear from you!  Hard to believe another year has come & gone. 

Still on tamox and tolerating it OK.  Hot flashes and leg/foot cramps are my complaints.  Wonder if onc will suggest a course of ten years not five, per the recent research.  Will cross that bridge when I come to it, they will know more 2 years from now.

Still flat and fabulous.  Mx scars are fading, pink in center of chest but still red at tail end. 

Kept up daily exercise.  Linda, I like to dance and tried Zumba too but am not very good!

In other news, this past year I had my appendix out, had my ovaries out, and walked 1,154 miles.    

Hope this finds everyone healthy & happy!  ((hugs)) to all

ReginaR

Happy  3 years My Pink Sisters!  Hoping all is well with you all!

thinking of you all this Month! Praying  for good Health !

{{{{{{{{Group Hugs}}}}}}}}

Faith316

I'm checking in, too.  My surgery date was Feb. 4 and it occurred to me that day while I was teaching school that it was my 3 year anniversary since my surgery. Seems like a long time ago.  I'm doing well although still on Tykerb indefinitely.  That's ok.  I'll take it forever if it will keep me well.  Never did have reconstruction.  Since my second diagnosis was IBC, they wanted me to wait awhile before doing reconstruction but the further out from my mx, the less I want to go through another surgery so I doubt I'll ever have it.  I am perfectly comfortable with my prosthesis.  Hope the rest of our Feb. 2010 girls are doing ok!  Glad to hear from those of you that have posted!

badger

hi all, checking in from four years out!  Still on tamox, having fewer and less intense hot flashes but nightime foot & leg cramps continue to annoy.  Onc will keep me on tamox another year for the full five but after that it's an AI for me. 

Just saw family doc for annual exam and all is well.  Weight's a bit high but same as last year.  BP good and so's cholesterol from lipid panel.  Asked about a baseline bone density test but he won't order one until I'm five years post-ooph. 

Still doing yoga and walking for exercise but can't tell how many miles since last year because sig line now changes retroactively when it's updated.  Used to be I could compare posts and see gains but alas, no mas. 

Hope this finds everyone healthy and happy!  ♥ to all

Faith316

Can you believe it has been 4 years!  I was on Feb. 4.  Still doing ok.  I continue on Tykerb.  Have been on it for 4-1/2 years now.  (Started it 6 months prior to mx.)  For the first 3 years, I made periodic trips to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston but haven't been for awhile.  My onc there and locally decided that as long as all seemed to be going well, I didn't need to be seen there.  Hopefully, I will remain well and will have no reason to need to go back!  So far, so good.  I am nearly 6 years out from my first BC dx!

I never did do reconstruction.  Since my second dx was IBC, they wanted me to wait awhile instead of immediate DIEP like I thought I would do.  But, the further I got out from surgery, the more I realized that I didn't want to go through another surgery.  I am quite comfortable with my prosthesis and now never intend to ever do the reconstruction.

I do have some of the common Tykerb side effects but nothing I can't deal with.  I also still have some neuropathy in my feet from the various chemos and am still numb on my chest, under my arm and down the back of my arm from the mx and two node dissections I had. 

Getting ready to retire after 30 years of teaching.  My last day is this week.  Not old enough to retire with full benefits (only 51), meaning I won't get full retirement pay, but I will be able to keep my insurance which I need.  It is bittersweet; ready to not teach but will miss my friends like crazy.  I have debated if I want to do this.  I am NED and have been for 4-1/2 years.  (My pathology actually showed NED at the time I had the mx.)  But, just in case my cancer rears its ugly head at some point down the road, I don't want to look back someday and say, "I wish I would have retired when I was eligible."

I'm glad Badger bumped up our thread.  I figured somebody would.   Hope many of our Feb. 2010 sisters will chime in and let us know how things are going.  Be well!

MNLinda

Checking in after a long absence.  I've thought about logging in and posting many times, but I am am in such a weird spot in this journey that I am never quite sure what to say about it.

In March 2013 I had a PET scan which showed a new spot of intense activity in my uterus.  I've had many ultrasounds of a large fibroid dating back to 1998, but it had been shrinking since I had chemotherapy in 2009.  After consulting with two gynecolological surgeons, I had a total hysterectomy and bilateral oopherectomy in May 2013.  My surgeon told me it looked for all the world like a fibroid in the operating room, but the path report indicated metastatic breast cancer, closely matching the path report from my original diagnosis in 2009.  So now my official diagnosis is stage IV.  My oncologist continues to be pretty upbeat about it, though.  He says it could have been a solitary metastasis that was completely resected, and could possibly be curable.

I've joined a stage IV support group, but I feel like my diagnosis is more like a 3.8 or 3.9 or something.

I've had scans every three months that have not shown any particular areas that can be clearly identified as malignant, so I am considered NED for the moment.  Still, I've had false negatives on every kind of imaging technology there is, so I don't put a lot of faith in scans.

Still getting physical therapy for lingering stiffness and scarring.  My neck, shoulders, and jaw tend to get strained and painful if I'm away from PT for very long.  Switched from tamoxifen to Femara.  I'm having another CT scan next week, and see my oncologist the week after.

Glad to see you still posting, badger & Faith - hope to hear from others as well, from time to time.   I hope silence means that our Feb 2010 sisters have moved on with their lives in good health!

ReginaR

Happy 5 years!

Happy Cancersary  my Pink Sisters!

Hope all of my Feb Buddies are doing well!  

Group {{HUGS}}}}

 

MNLinda

Tomorrow is my 5-year mark - five years out from the mastectomy, about 5 1/2 from original diagnosis.  Still struggling with right-arm lymphedema and the uncertainty that comes with a stage IV diagnosis.  I am still, however, above ground, and appreciating that fact.

Thinking about my February comrades-in-arms.  Hope you are all well.

MNLinda

Today is my 10-year mark - ten years out from the mastectomy. Not too many people follow this thread anymore, and I hope that means everyone has moved on with their lives and doesn't live in cancerland these days. Onward!