September 2012 Surgery

JuicyJackie

I'm one of the September 2012 Sisters.  On September 26th I had a mastectomy (left).  BS would only do one side at a time, looking back I should have gotten a second opinion. The first mastectomy went much better then I expected other then all of the pre stuff, I still a bit sore at times, especially my arm pit.  The real PITA is this damn drain...going on 9 weeks now and I'm still producing 50-60 cc per 24 hours.

On Tuesday I'm meeting with 2 doctors at Johns Hopkins to discuss prophylactic mastectomy and reconstruction of both.

Wishing all of you the very best!!

xo

Leah_S

My goodness, Jackie, I can see why you named yourself JuicyJackie! I hope the drain comes out soon.

Sunday I have my next appt with the PS and will (finally!) start fills. I agree with her caution about my radiation-damaged skin but it's been hard to wait.

Leah

Momluke

Juicyjackie....

My heart goes out to you Sis! Hope the worse days are behind you! Let us know about your reconstruction plan when you finalize them.



I go back to my PS on the 10th to consider some revisions on my foob and to plan for the nipple.

Leah_S

So yesterday was First Fill day. I went in extremely nervous, not knowing what it expect, worried that it would be painful - you know the whole thing.

It can best be classified as a non-event. The PS said we'd start with a little since it was tight, and told me if I felt pressure, pain, etc, to tell her and she'd stop. She started with 10 cc's. All good. Another 10. Still fine. Went to another 10 and she said because it was tight she wasn't going to do more. It actually was so tight there was some leakage from the hole where she injected it, so she put layers of gauze over it. I wasn't able to check it until 2 hours later, at which time I saw that, while it had leaked, the gauze had already dried. No pain, no pressure.

Next fill in 4 weeks. Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter....

Leah

JuicyJackie

Momluke - Good luck with your PS appoinment on the 10th, I hope all goes well.

Well this Wednesday makes 10 weeks with this horrible drain, it's been so long the bulb is self destructing.  My BS will be doing a Capsulectomy on Wednesday, then another drain.  She states she will be re-opening my whole incision, so back to "Go, do not collect DIEP flap".  I hope this goes well. 

Leah_S - good luck with your fillings!

Momluke

Jackie...I am so sorry to hear that you still have that drain and its causing you such heartache.   Gentle hugs and prayers for you!

Sandlake

Jackie,  Good luck tomorrow with your BS, 10 weeks is a long time to deal with that drain!!

Momluke,  What is happening with your flap?

Leah S,  Glad to hear you have started your fills, hope they all go as good!

I am scheduled for my exchange on Dec 26th, meet with my PS on Dec 11th for pre-op.  I am looking forward to the next step.

Hope all the Sept ladies are doing well! 

Momluke

Hey Sandlake...my flap is doing pretty good. I still have some discomfort from the tightness of the muscle from my back. Gotta be really careful how I move. The wrong move will have me sing Jingle Bells in a falsetto that could get me a job in any opera! LOL!!

Leah_S

Sandlake, best of luck with your exchange surgery. It'll be quite a while until I'm there! Let us know how it goes.

Jackie, I hope the procedure today went well and you're on your way to healing.

Leah

Dakota212

Sandlake-

Good luck !!! Yes keep us posted. I won't be there until feb.

JuicyJackie

Leah_S, Sandlake and Momluke - Thank you dear sisters for your well wishes.  And thank you to bdavis for steering me in the right direction!!  WOW, you really did.  I didn't have the scheduled surgery on Wednesday.  I went to Mercy Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday and saw the BS and PS.  They both agreed that the drain was causing irritation and keeping the juices flowing instead of healing and pulled it out right there!  No problem since!  They both told me to cancel the surgery and I did.  I have pretty much fired my local BS, she's put me through a lot of not nice stuff... 10 weeks with the damn drain, horrible scar on my chest from the staples (I look like one of Tim Burton's characters) and scheduling me for unnecessary surgery.    

I was wanting Dr. Chang to do my DIEP flap surgery but he was hesitant due to my being a heavy smoker, a vertical c-section scar and my age (70).  We talked, he suggested and I agreed to a mastectomy of my right breast and implants for both.  My surgery is scheduled for December 13!  This is the most calm I've been since that terrible mammogram that started everything rolling.  The people at Mercy Hospital are wonderful, I've never seen so many smiling faces.  I feel like I'm in good hands now!

Gummy Bear boobs, how cool is that!!

Momluke

Juicy!!! GOOD FOR YOU!!! First to finally get rid of that blasted drain! Secondly for being your best advocate and finding a good surgeon! So happy for you!

Jennt28

Well done on firing that stupid BS (butcher surgeon?)! So glad you seem to have found a sensible and good team :-)



Jenn

JuicyJackie

Thanks for the support Momluke and Jenn.  It's good to feel like my docs are on my side! 

Sneakychiquita

A smile always crosses my face when I read of you ladies turning a bad situation around and getting the support you need.  Good for you, Jackie.  Best of luck with your next steps.  

JuicyJackie

Sneakychiquita, I'm still disapointed that I'm not able to have the Diep flap, but things happen for a reason.  I'm excited to get "even" again, I'm counting the days till the 13th!!  Thanks for your well wishes as I progress.

Momluke

Well...my fipple reconstruction has been scheduled.  It will make its appearance on Feb 8th!  Here's to another procedure! 

Leah_S

Momluke, I hope it all goes smoothly.

Jackie, I also hoped for the DIEP at first. I was scheduled to have it when the bone mets were discovered, so I cancelled that until we knew all was under control. I was still planning it, but eventually realized that my lack of stamina (caused by my combo of Femara and Aredia) would make the surgery especially hard for me. Usually patients are told 6 weeks until you're back to yourself but I knew it would be months for me, so I did the TE route. So far I'm OK with it, and I hope the rest of the fills plus the exchange go as smoothly as things have until now. The only complication I had was infection at the incision line on the prophy side, which the PS said was a reaction to the stitch material.

But, dang, I would have liked that tummy tuck....

Leah

JuicyJackie

Momluke - I hope the fipple is all you want it to be.

Leah_S -  Bone mets, that's scary stuff, how is that going now?  I do hope all is going in a positive direction.

I'm glad to hear the TE route is going well, in a few days I'll be there too.  This seems like a long process from what I've been reading.  I haven't been able to get a good idea yet as to how long the process is.

Dang that we didn't get the diep and tummy tuck, I was really looking forward to that part.

Hugs...Jackie

Dakota212

Mom Luke -

Keeo us posted I am going around march

Dakota212

Juicy-

Good for you!!

I have TE's they are not horrible! The recovery was not too bad either! Keeo us posted!!

Sandlake

Happy 2013 to everyone!  Hope all of you doing chemo are hanging in there with minimal SE's! Each treatment is one closer to the finish.  

Exchange surgery went well, PS told my DH and daughter everything looks perfect.  I am listening to his strict instructions and doing nothing!!  It isn't easy but I don't want anything to go wrong because of what I did.  I am off work for three weeks (I do hair and use my arms a lot), I will start back part time and see how that goes.  I am still undecided about nipples or tattoos, but I have time to think about it.

Wishing everyone happy thoughts and bright smiles

Leah_S

Happy New Year!

Sandlake, I'm glad to hear your exchange went well. Heal well.

Leah

Dakota212

Sandlake -

So glad the exchange went well. If u don't mind me asking did the use the same incision and is there relief from this shelf thing???

Sandlake

Dakota~

yes PS went through the same incision but a much smaller section of it.  I also had some baggy skin removed from under my left arm pit and he did a revision on my port scar.  Are you referring to the shelf thing as the heaviness on your ribs?  I am wearing the "corset" bra 24/7, it has that same feeling.  I do like what I see when I take my bra off to shower.  They are becoming squishy!!  I am over protective of them right now...haha

How are your chemo treatments going?  Are you tolerating the SE's alright?  

Sandlake

Leah~

Do you have more fills?  How many cc's are you going for in your TE's?  I had 540cc's in left, 500cc's in right TE.  PS used those same amounts for my silicone implants too.

Hope you are feeling your energy level returning. 

marianelizabeth

Happy New Year to all my September surgery buddies. I am looking for some advice and/or a thread that works for me. After my pathology came back from lumpectomy and SNB, things changed due to the fast growing and agressive cancer. No time for UMX so chemo as quick as they could get it going. Now have faced big decision re surgery before or after rads. I know there is a slight risk of not going straight to rads but if I want to do reconstuction, then reality is surgery first with immeidate recon and then rads and way down the road, the exchange. I will be on Armidex right after chemo ends so some protection. So has anyone else gone down this path and if so any advice and/or a thread that applies? 

Nicole4

Hi Marianelizabeth, its tough to know what to do when given choices.  I wasn't given a choice due to the results of my path report, but I wanted to let you know that I first had a mastectomy taking the cancer breast (right), went through radiation on the chest wall and lymph node and after six months they removed the uneffected breast with Lat Dorsi flap immediate tissue expander on the right breast and tissue expander placed in both.  My PS says that lat flap on the right breast is the way to go if there is radiation involved, as the radiated tissue will not always hold an implant  My thoughts would be that you wouldn't want to go through the surgery without knowing how you are going to react to radiation.

I am 6 weeks out of my surgery and really happy with the results.

marianelizabeth

Thanks Nicole, but due to previous surgeries and no fat, T/E is the only choice. PS (and a second PS doing a fellowship from the UK for a year with mine) examined whole body and just not there. I had laparotomies in 98 an 2000 and way back in the 70's had 3 bone grafts from my hips (motorcycle accident back in my wilder past) so no go there either. He will use alloderm (from a cadaver) as a support under the T/E implant and feels confident that this will work. So umx and axillary dissection by my BS, then PS will do the recon and  plans to do a fair fill right at surgery to try to maintain some elasticity for rads. He says it will be minimum of 3-6 months after rads before the exchange. They were also clear that it would be almost hopeless to do rads first and try for the T/E. I have very small breasts too.

I find it hard to find threads that apply but I suspect there are one or two and that there are others in similar situation - I guess for support as I go through it.  

Dakota212

Sandlike-

Thanks. I am going to see my PS next week to schedule my exchange. I can't wait. I hate the feel of the port where they do the fills. Do they get more squishy over time?? Did u get silicone?