June 2012 Mastectomy

shabby6485

Girls. I just had a pbmx with te yesterday. I'm in alot of pain with the swelling,tightness and soreness. Pain meds r taking edge off but what can I expect in terms of getting some relief? I could barely move right now...uugghh

loriio

Shabby-so good to hear from you. It took me a couple of days to really get my pain under control. Just stay on a schedule with the medicine. Are you still in the hospital or are you already home?

Lori

shabby6485

Hi lorrio. Released today. Taking percocid Couldn't take the morphine, it made me nauseus. What did u take upon release?

loriio

Shabby,

I was on Diazapam and hydrocodone. The diazepam was good for the tightness and the hydrocodone helped with the pain. I was very sick from anesthesia so I had a hard time getting the pain under control as well. After staying on schedule with the pain meds (including my husband waking me up at night) I felt much better after a couple of days. I still need the pain meds occasionally, especially after fills. Did they prescribe a muscle relaxer for you?

shabby6485

Hi lorrio. Yes Valium. Not thrilled with it. Percocid for pain works better. Taking 1 perc every 4 hours.

May go up to 2 before bed. Wows... Didn't expect this much discomfort!!!!!

shabby6485

Hi lorrio. Yes Valium. Not thrilled with it. Percocid for pain works better. Taking 1 perc every 4 hours.

May go up to 2 before bed. Wows... Didn't expect this much discomfort!!!!!

loriio

I know. In the beginning it even hurt to breathe. Felt like weights pressing on my chest. I stayed in the hospital 2 nights because I couldn't hold down food. By the 3rd day I felt better. It will get better. I promise.

luckykitkat09

Shabby-

I had hydrocodone and cyclobenzaprine (muscle relaxant). For me the pain was minimum but the back pain and muscle tightness was hell. Stick to a schedule with the meds. Hope it goes well!!

Pointvalue

Shabby,

Take 2 percocets every 4 hours. I did this for the first 24 hours. Make sure your husband wakes you up to take your meds. Day three I was able to space the perks with Aleve. Taking percocets right before bed will make you more comfortable.



Take care,

Elise

shabby6485

Thanks guys for the advice. Just want to hear this is somewhat normal for the first day. I can't move or sit up! Ouch

loriio

And I know people say it's hard to get out of bed, but I had a more difficult time climbing back into bed. It was hard to shift back into a semi-comfortable position. I finally moved to the couch and that helped.

taismommy

Thanks ladies for the calming words.

Turns out my TE really was pushing on the port and flipped it! I talked to the surgeon who did the revision after and he says that they were butting up against eachother and thats the only explaination that he could come up with.

Im much more calm and less anxious, I cant keep postponing chemo, my doc promised to make me very comfortable for the first day and I believe him. Lord help him if this mess hurts tomorrow!

Just want to say good luck to all the ladies! We are warriors fighting the hardest fight of our lives and we shall WIN!

luckykitkat09

Taismommy-

Well that's good news!

loriio

Taismommy- I hope everything goes well today. Sending prayers and best wishes your way.

rosetx

Taismommy - Wishing you a painless experience!

I just saw the breast cancer specialist this afternoon and don't have to go back until 6 months.  Yeaaa!

juliaanna

Shabby,

Don't forget to take a stool softener with the pain pills.  Constipation can be just as painful.  Senna S works. 

curveball

@rosetx, I updated you on the list. Amazing, it's been more than a month and I can still edit that thing. Keep your updates coming, and everyone give a big woohoo!! for rosetx--no chemo, no rads, no hormone tx, no nothing!

Anonymous

shabby-----stool softeners are a must when you are  taking the pain meds---they are notorius for causing constipation.  After my TAH/BSO, I took colace am and pm and took senekot at bedtime and the combination worked wonders!

anne 

Cher56

Hi Gals! not sure if I've posted in this forum yet.. so HELLLo from British Columbia (BC not BC) lol

am trying to find a spot where there is someone else going through the 'OMG how tight can it get' from the MX? I had BMX, maybe some of you have read my posts in other forums, i'm no one more special than you, but I'm the one that's been going through H.E.L.L. from the 3 dr's that made mistakes, and 9wks later, still on IV antibiotics, they took my cancer & boobs, but gave me 3bugs.. sent me on my way, fought to get help, but too late for my chest.. miracles though, my wounds(which were enormous-big breasted) were eaten up from the Staph etc.. so anyways, now I"m months ahead of healing, 1 side is closed & the other is amost closed.. hooray~ 

but wowee.. the tightness is still so major! it's tight all the time (and underarm areas too, although no desection (or whatever it's called) of lymph nodes, I couldn't do proper excercises to stretch too far due to the wounds (I had already ripped them a bit trying to stretch).. but did keep trying & still do stretch.. but I get like these contractions... like when in labor. so the pain is finally reduced, after 2months of meds, each time they take me off, a few days later the infection turns up, then I'm back to pain etc.. is there something that can be done to help stop the tightness besides stretching?

I'm going to look into muscle relaxers & diazapam, like mentioned, I can only take xtra-strength Tylonol or morphine, allergic to all others. but, hmmm, reading here has giveing me a a few thoughts.

the struggle to get med prof's to give me straight answers, they seem to also disagree with each other on type of BC ... but, i'm at the stage now of getting referred for another opinion.. man they're all nuts here in my town.

hope your' all doing better than you were..

have a great Sunday 

my3sunz42

Cher - wow ... you've gone through craziness! You might try a cancer physical therapist. I went about 6 times & she did a fantastic job massaging and then gently stretching my chest and arms. It worked wonders & by the time I had my last visit I gained my full range of motion back. She also gave me a list of gentle stretching exercises I could do during the week. 

Best wishes to you! 

emilybrooke

I also started going to a physical therapist last week to regain some strength and have them work out the cording that I seem have from the lymph node removal. I've only gone for one session but it definitely helped. I will be going two days each week.

mariannm

Had my 4th "fill up" (as I call it) today ...I'm such a wimp...I took a muscle relaxer before I went in to chill me out.  Even though I can't feel the needle AT ALL, it still kind of freaks me out.   Now I feel like I'm going to burst.   My plastic surgeon assured me that they will look 'near ridiculous' before we are ready to swap them out.   I think that's an appropriate word!  I think I'm going to have to start trying to disguise myself to avoid 'stares' at work.   Only 3 more visits left! 

rosetx

Mariannm, do you mean he is doing 7 fills?  Is he just putting a few cc's at a time on each side?

luckykitkat09

Awb- I actually didn't need stool softener



Mariannm-

7 fills? How many cc's will you go for total?

mariannm

he's doing between 70 -90 cc's each time....depending on what I can take.   he's going for a replacement with a size of 500, which I think I'm almost at, so just need a bit more to work with.  and yes, the same amount on each side

luckykitkat09

Mariannm-

I think I am stopping around 500 too. Just had my 4th fill today and my back right under my right shoulder blades hurts as hell! I just got a new prescription for muscle relaxants (my back hurts since I can't sleep in my back) hopefully I can make these lasts till December.

me_4givn

Hello Ladies!

I have been out for a while. I read all the posts and wanted to say how proud I am of each of you. Your strength and encouragement is a blessing!!!

I had my exchange done. I am at home now in more pain than when I had the BMX. The PS said I had a lot of scar tissue from prior radiation and surgeries (from my Hodgkin's). Arrrrgh! My left side is super sore. The drains are back in and they come out in my arm pits (why didn't they use the old drain site??) I am super swollen so I can't really tell if they are going to look good or not. My left side looks strange and my right side still looks square. I feel like I am over it. I was so excited to have this behind me but I am not because I am so sore! Oh, I have a huge new incision on my left breast. I guess it was a really difficult revision. Oh well. The TE's looked better!

Really feeling blah!

Big hug to you all!!

Jami

loriio

Jami-sorry your exchange was difficult. I can't believe you already had your exchange. My PS is going SO slow. I am happy with everything so far but I know the feeling of wanting everything in the rear view mirror. I was hoping to have my exchange before I go on my daughter's DC/Virginia field trip, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I don't really want to fly with TEs but now I'm thinking that's better than risking having pain from the exchange surgery. I feel like everything is still on hold. I'm ready to get on with it! Best wishes to all my fellow June Bugs!

Lori

luckykitkat09

Jaml-

You already have hour exchange? Wow ghats quick. I'm waiting till winter break to do mines. One fill left. school starts Monday for me hope you feel better!!

mariannm

I will be so glad to get the exchange done!!!!!   These things are so dang hard!  I could hurt someone if I bump them...lol.   ABout to invest in 1 size up of tank tops for the short term.  

Jami - gosh that was quick..  I had hurt it wasn't as painful as the BMX, but it sounds like that 's not the case for you....Sounds like you're almost there though!!