DIEP 2013

faith729

Goldie that was me with the idea to put the ribbon on the back where it would say "A journey only a survivor could understand" its just my nice way of saying to most others ..you have no idea !



Gini I'm most likely working on Thursday unless for some reason I get an appointment to meet with a surgeon that day.



Thanks so much SBE for the kind words and everyone else too it means a great deal.

goldie4040

Damiana, I am glad they are taking your seriously.  If you have an abdominal hernia you will never heal right.  It has to be fixed.

Kuka, I am sorry.  Is it in both boobs?  You have no drains, right?  I wonder if he should have put some in for a few days?  Don't worry yet, but don't over do.  I have heard people on here say that make more fluid.  No vacuuming!  No mopping!!! You are allowed to hold the remote control to the TV and that's it.  Lol.  

Gini23

Goldie - here is the link to CafePress t-shirts site:  http://www.cafepress.com/make/custom-t-shirts

I know my sister used them in the past to make shirts for her training studio, but I couldn't find any up there currently as examples for you.  I saw a woman at a local BC race with a "Yes these are fake - the real ones tried to kill me!" t-shirt on.  I thought I really wanted one at the time, but had not had my DIEP yet!  Now, I don't look at them as fake - all me, me, me!  (Along with some brownies, ice cream, etc etc....)  But if that is what everyone wants - OK by me.

Christina you sound wonderful!   Keep up the healing.  

Kuka - ugh - I'm sure a little fluid will not lead to deflation.  Remember - you have fat in there... good luck and keep us posted.

Damiana I hope they can give you some relief.

Jenny - you will get lots of TV zone time coming up!  Personally, I miss it!  And I'm on summer vacation.  

Gini23

Faith - I like that one!  PM me if it turns out you are near Dr. C. on the 22nd.  

ssla01

Feeling better and more positive (Goldie!) this afternoon. I agree that the drains working is better than leaking fluid or a seroma. It's been seven weeks today. I'm really thinking that one come out next week and the other the following week. I have on so much compression that I can barely sit...lol.

kuka21174923

Goldie, is in both boobs. He said he doesn't usually do drains on stage 2. But now I'm worried about how my boobs are going to look after he drains them. I'm not really worried about the pain or how much I'm going to feel the needle. I don't have any feeling there, so pain on my boobs is the least of my worries.

I don't understand why I don't have a nice round shape that projects outwards. I've seen pics of his patients that have gotten that look without having to have a stage 2. Sorry girls, not trying to bring anyone down, but it's irritating! And not having my parents here with me make it even more difficult. I wish they would've come, but it's too much for me to ask them. This is when I wish I had lots if money and I could buy tickets for them to come.

goldie4040

Faith, that was it!!!  I really like that.  Anybody who wants to have a slogan considered would you please PM it to me.  That way I have them all in one spot. Of course, put them out here too so everybody can help decide which ones we want. 

Jeannie57

I like the slogan but I agree with Faith. My new boobs are real to me.

damiana9

Kuka- ack!  Water in your boobs?  I am sorry that you still aren't happy with the shape.  Hopefully when you go in on monday he can tell you what to expect as for the final result.  Mine are super round and also sort of square (is it even possible to be both of those shapes at once? LOL) so I understand your weariness of odd boob shapes...

goldie4040

Kuka, I don't thnk it's going to change the shape of your boobs.  I has built up over several days.  it wasn't there immediately after surgery, so think back to Monday,, and how good they looked then.  Also, I have had seroma's drained from my boob, and felt nothing at all.  He came at me with that needle and I thought I was going to faint, and then I felt nothing, and they know you can't feel anothing, so don't worry.  I just had a fill today and that's how they do it, with a needle, and I barely feel anything. 

I know how much you miss your family. You are still young, and they are too far away.  I told you, if you need anything, I am close by. Remember that.  I am old enough to be your mother, but let's not tell everybody.  I would have been a young mom, but a mom non the less.  

Gini23

On friends and family who are and are not there for you.... I was VERY surprised at the people who didn't really offer anything (food, rides, whatever) and totally shocked at the people who came to my door with food or other offerings.  It is really all in what people can handle and their comfort level with illness, maybe not knowing what to say like Tammy said, maybe just being "too busy" with their own "stuff".  I have not held anything against anyone at all, and hope to find lots of opportunities to pay it forward in the future - well, not hoping anyone gets sick, but you know what I mean, right?  

Curlylocks

Julie, I did my 5 year stint of Letrazole (Armidex)...was put into temporary menopause via Zoladex injections for the first 1.5 years after diagnosis.  Oncologist supported removal of those estrogen demons in 2008 when I was 44.  So I have been menopausal since age 42...not fun to say the least.

My hotflashes were horrendenous while on Armidex but now 2 years of being off the drug they are not that noticeable...thankfully!  I guess I paid the price for being pushed into menopause.LOL

My sleep is still the pits but I am on the right side of the grass and that is all that counts.  For the really bad nights I take Unisom (over the counter), its like Benadryl.

Bailey - my orginal appt with BS was Aug 14, that has been changed now to Aug 20 but i now have an appt with the PS for the same day.  Eighteen months is the normal wait time for just a consultation with this PS and I was only referred to him 5 weeks ago. I guess my strong family history and the fact that I have had bc already has moved me ahead of the line.

BTW - my screen name is very reflective of my hair which is a mass of curls!

Is it normal to be obsessive about the "what if's" for reconstruction?  My god I am driving myself crazy researching all the different options, really want DIEP due to using own tissue, not too crazy about LAT flat as they would take the shoulder muscle.  Wondering if I wasnt a candidate for DIEP if my PS could use Alloderm to create a sling on my radiated breast and I could do implants?

So many unknowns right now, surgery date, whether or not I will have to just do mast first due to a longer than I would like wait time for reconstruction. 

Gotta stop obssessing!

Faith - its not fair that you have a double whammy, isnt one diagnosis enough already?  What type of treatment do you need to do for thyroid cancer?  

Gini - I think some people just dont know what to say and are afraid of saying the wrong thing.  Others think somehow we are contagious?  If they dont have to deal with it, it wont happen to them type thing...

To all you lovely ladies just recovering from surgery, hope today brings some sunshine into your life!

Michele

ssla01

Michele / Curlylocks. I was changed from a diep to a gap because the blood vessels there were better. I did not want any muscles messed with!

goldie4040

There are always glimmers of hope. Here is one.

http://prma-enhance.com/useful_resources/blog/08-01-2013/treatment-arm-lymphedema-vascularized-lymph-node-transfer

Curlylocks

what is GAP?

Tracy516

(((((Typewriterjenny)))) ill be thinking of you that day and any of my sisters going in surgery that day!!! WE GOT THIS!!!!!



Gini23 my husband keeps telling me not to rely or even think others beside my Dad and his mom will help out. ;( I guess they are busy but I know I would try to just pop in with a cheap meal! I did for my neighbors a few years ago who's wife was sick! But that's me I guess:)

hrf

Julie, I have been taking Arimidex and now the generic Anastrozole for 4 years now. MO said that there will soon be new research that will indicate if more than 5 years is recommended. I'm managing the se's but they are problematic to some degree. There seems to be a new med for every se. MO said for post menopausal women, an AI gives better results than Tamoxifen.



The PS told me that if there is a problem with the DIEP, she might have to do a muscle sparing tram. I hope that doesn't happen. Very worst situation would be having to switch to a regular tram but she said that is extremely rare and usually as a result of very unusual circumstances. I've had rads on both sides so I'm hoping the healing will go well. Counting today only 6 days to go. On Sunday I have to start washing with the special anti-bacterial soap.

FierceBluebird

Gini, I had the same experience. I was surprised at the kindness of "strangers", while my own family avoided me like the plague. Still no word from two sisters and two brothers. Not hearing from three of my siblings is not surprising, but one sister I was very close to and it really hurts that she hasn't called, emailed or texted.  But they probably just need time to process. Still it makes me sad.

Luckily I have my flapper sisters!  LOVE this forum and truly feel a sense of connection. Come on ride the train, WOO WOO! (Still stuck in my head!)

faith729

Curlylocks it all depends there are three types of thyroid cancer and it will depend on how much of it has spread and where it has spread to



Gini I will definitely let you know.

Jeannie57

Goldie, I recently found out that there is a ps at my clinic who does lymph node transfer, etc. I will meet with him at some point to discuss it, though my LE is manageable. It's the IV/blood test issues that are the problem for me!

hrf

Jeannie, that would be amazing if they can fix lymphedema with a lymph node transfer. I had heard of such a thing but didn't know it was actually being done.



I also have very mild lymphedema. A question for the experts here who might also have it. Did you wear your compression garment (sleeve in my case) during surgery? Or did you put in on following surgery? Or did you use it at all?

Curlylocks

Jeannie, wow lymph node transfer...where would they take them from?



Faith - I hope it is the most common type that is very treatable!

I know there is a link between breast and colon cancer...is thyroid in that mix?



I have a friend who had thyroid cancer in her 30's...she is now in her 60's. She was also diagnosed with bc ten years ago.



HRF - If my pea brain is right are you in Ontario, Canada? Where are you having surgery? Does the PS do tests to determine if you have healthy blood vessels prior to surgery or is it done while you are under?



Michele

Jeannie57

Hrf, I have LE in both arms and wear compression sleeves/gauntlets. I didn't wear them during surgery but my DH put them on for me soon after using a sleeve donner which made it easy. I was swollen at first from all the fluids I got over twelve hour surgery but that soon subsided. I was concerned about what surgery could do to LE beforehand. Would I get truncal LE, too??? So far, so good and I am three weeks out. Oh, I wore special LE bracelets and wrote "No BP/needles" on both arms in permanent marker!

sherry35

I was on arimadex for 2 years , at 35, then was switched to femara after local recurrance at 37. I had complete hysterectomy at 35 so I could take these meds as I felt they were more productive than tamoxifen in young women.

I had terrible side effects on arimadex which all disappeared when I switched to femara. I've now been on femara for four years. One more to go!

Hrt- I had delayed bilateral diep 12 days ago. I haven't had much pain per say but more discomfort. Like last night I felt like I did 500 sit ups. Lol

I lost both drains in 24 hrs because I pulled the stitch and the right one fell out today. My PS didn't seem too concerned. So I guess once again- no standard of practice.

Was anyone else, how do I put this, disgusted by their new foobs at first. I don't know if that's the right way to describe it. I love that I have them but I cry every time we change the bandages. They are pretty ugly and I'm so worried about getting infection with blisters and wounds opening. Nurse says everything looks good but I don't see PS until Wednesday. Any advice?

sherry35

Goldie- I like a journey only a survivor would understand! Wilbur as a pig with wings!

faith729

Curlylocks the endocrinologist said that it would be totally unrelated to breast cancer. Just spun the wheel and got a crappy prize I guess.

Jeannie57

Curlylock, in my case they would most likely takes lymph nodes from my groin, but there are other procedures, too.  I really don't know that much about it.  I am not up for any of that now!  I still have my stage II to look forward to.

sbelizabeth

Jlbloom, letrozole is on a clinical trial?  Really?  I’ve been taking it since I finished rads last summer.  It’s not so bad.  My joints ache a little, especially my hands, but I consider the trade-off and think of it as cancer repellent.

Sweetpickle, hair, yay!  Mine came in curly and WHITE, although it changed to dark gray as it grew.  Now, amazingly, it’s blonde again. 

During this hospital stay, I had to remind a lab tech and an RN that they couldn’t use my right arm for stuff.  Never mind the huge sign over my bed.  The lab guy even tried to talk me out of it.  “But your IV is in this arm, and I will have to use your hand!” he said.  Oh, well, in THAT CASE… 

I’m home!  I’m home! 

Jeannie57

I don't see Wilbur as a pig.  In my mind, he is a brown animal with little ears.  That's all I got. But then you know my mind is crazy at times which is how this all started!  

Colette64

Hello cancer sisters,

I had a double mastectomy, DIEP FLAP reconstruction, and nodes dissection of the left arm on July 17, (3 weeks ago). I was expecting to feel much better by now than I actually feel. So I wanted to ask, how long until it feels normal again? I have no major pain, but my skin feels extremely sensitive on the upper chest, and the breasts feel hard and numb all the time. It is still very hard to stand up straight, and the lymph nodes dissection area gives me all kinds of trouble.

Is this normal? Should I just be patient?

Also, a major dilemma: I was told to wear a sports bra at all times, when I do, my breast hurts less, but my left underarm gets very swollen. When I wear a looser bra, the under arm improves greatly, but then the breasts give painful burning sensations every time I make a major change in position. How long should we be wearing sport bras?

Thanks a lot, my doctor does not provide much info except saying that it is all normal.

Colette