DIEP 2013
Comments
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PS: I agree about the Brava. First of all, the thing sucks your skin so hard it causes giant hickies all over your chest, not pretty, and the results I have seen is not impressive. I can see fat grafting, like I said to tweak your already good result, but until perfected, not for me. I thought I heard they put a stop to the guy in Miami doing the Brava thing.
But, you have to admit what they did for Suzuanne Somers breast was awesome.
My mother had IBC and ignored it out of fear because she saw my grandmother die from it. So, when I found my BC I went to the other extreme. I just said take them off. Now! The doctor's couldn't really talk to me about other options. I wasn't hearing them. So, my mother, an attorney, an intelligent woman, let breast cancer scare her to death, for real. And, I went to the other extreme. I am almost glad I don't have a daughter to see me go through this. I just hope that our fighting for the cure gives the next generation better options.
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SBE, I don't understand why they would let you burn like that? It seems barbaric. It also seems like there are women who breeze through rads, and other get burned. Some breeze through chemo, and some can't leave their beds. We all react differently.
I pray the fat cell injections help you. You deserve some relief. Fate has but you in the right place at the right time to get those treatments.
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Nite ladies....hope everyone has good sleeps..!!!
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Oh my gosh, the skin was falling off me after rads. I sailed through five weeks without any problems, used all the gels/creams recommended but it burns from the inside out so there's not much I could do. Two days after rads ended I blistered and then all hell broke loose. It was the worst pain. But I healed up well and had DIEP nine months later, four months after chemo. My rads boob looks good and had better vessels than the other! I am so thankful all of that is behind me now.
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Goldie, I was doing fine with rads until I got together with my "team" and presented some recent research from the San Antonio Breast Cancer Conference. It was a study that looked at recurrence and survival for women who were given more chemo than the standard six rounds, and my situation seemed to fit well into one of the study arm protocols. I pushed for more chemo, if you can believe it, and since my BC had behaved so weird, everyone agreed.
One of the new chemos was Xeloda, which is pretty good at hammering the skin. When you combine Xeloda and radiation, they potentiate each other, thus the big burn on the back. The burn was where they were delivering a big bolus of rads at the time, to wipe out any BC cells that might have "seeded" back there from my sloshing seroma. The scar is annoying because it affects my shoulder, but I consider it a small price to pay for my survival, and for all the expert and gifted professionals who helped me through this.
Nihahi, what a sweet thing to say...thanks...
Good night, everyone!
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Me too, Jeannie. I am so glad you are having a fairly easy recovery from your diep. You deserve after the chemo and rads. Sorry to hear about your burned skin from rads. My friends mother had rads after her lumpectomy, and she had absolutely no problem. I don't get it.
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LOL - fixed that....137 lbs! WOW 1,200 imagine.
My scars are my battle wounds, evidence of my success.
I plan to donate my body to the Loma Linda School of Medicine for medical research when I die. With all I have been through, it's a vitrual encyclopedia of medical phenomenon.
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That is a good idea, Shechirple. My friends mom did that. How does your family feel about that? I noticed from reading your specs that you too had expanders in before your diep. I am asking everybody that I come across that had the expanders in before the diep the same question, do you feel it was comparable to doing an immediate recon since you had the envelope of skin already there? I am suffering through the expansion because I feel in the end it will save me a few clean up surgeries. So, am I saving time by doing it this way, I don't know. But, from talking to more than five women now who had their recons after expanders, or implants felt they had an easier time of it.
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Good morning diep sisters, I just have to say that hot water from the tap is one of the greatest inventions on earth! lol I had a wonderful long hot shower before bed last night. :-)
Rads scared me because I was worried about the burns but I ended up not needing them since nodes were clearand I had MSX. I also wanted to wait in case my cancer came back, I know there is a lifetime cap on what you can have and I wanted an option open at a later time if needed. So sorry to tnose who had to deal with burns! You gals are some tough cookies for sure!
Waving to all our new sisters who have recently joined us and sending speedy recovery vibes your way! I am off to atend two open houses for the kiddos today as school starts Monday, yay! -
Hi, DebDylan! So good to hear from you! I didn't have the problem you are describing. Have you asked your doc about it?
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Deb - welcome to the other side. Sounds like a serious enough problem to call your doctor. It could be a meds problem, but you should be able to take short walks and type.
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I am five weeks out today. My nerves have awakened and I am not enjoying it. It feels like I've done a thousand sit-ups and by boobs feel so uncomfortably weird sometimes. A small price to pay, though.
All three of my girls are here from different parts of the country and we are going to all spend the day together doing touristy stuff. Tonight we will all celebrate my hubs and my 39th anniversary at a nice restaurant. Not romantic, but special! -
Deb, I didn't experienced that either. Agree with Marty, call your ps and let him know what's going on. On the fith day after surgery I almost fainted getting out if the shower and it was because I was anemic. So anemia would be my best bet!!
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Deb, I agree with kuka that there might be an issue with anaemia. Worthwhile to get it checked.
I am 1 week out and can hardly believe how much progress I have made. It has not been easy. I am very fatigued but did manage a 3,000 step walk this morning with my sister. I sure wouldn't try it on my own. I need a nap every afternoon. I have trouble getting comfortable and sleeping at night. I don't have a lot of pain, more discomfort and most of the time Tylenol does the trick. My left foob, however, is still a concern. It is swollen and parts of it are very raw. The home care nurse cleans it daily and changes bandages. I don't have a fever, and it doesn't feel extra hot. In any case, I have put a call through to the ps on call to get advise. I don't feel that I have an emergency situation but want to be cautious.
SheChirple, you are an inspiration. To have made such a change in your lifestyle is truly admirable. Yeah, the bc still sucks but it might have been worse if you hadn't lost that weight. Way to go, girl! -
Debdylan...So glad to see you here! Hugs to you! I would check out the anemia possibility...and hypoglycemia possibility as well. Both can make you feel very weak. Let us know!
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Jeannie, enjoy the time with your girls.
Glad you got hot water sweet pickle.
I had rads twice. The first on my right and I had lots of burning and the skin peeled off me. The second time on my left went much better. The reason......a different RO. I hated the first and demanded a new one for my second.
I'll be on my own starting tomorrow. If I need her, my sister can always pop by to help but I should be ok on my own now. And she has to get her classroom ready next week. I am a retired educator so I know it's a busy time of year. -
HRF - slow down. You don't need to do a 3000 step walk yet, not at 1 week. You need to rest and go on short walks. Healing takes a while and you must exercise patience more than walking. I am 2 weeks out from Stage 2b and take naps every afternoon still. It takes a while to get rid of that anesthesia and your body did have really major surgery. Glad you called your PS.
Jeannie - Happy Anniversary!!! Sounds like a great day with daughters.
Deb - prosac takes about 3 weeks to really work, but it could be interacting with your other meds. Best let the PS sort this one out not the GP or home nurse. Anemia does sound like a possibility. Blood loss during surgery. I had 2 units two days after my DIEP. Really perked me right up.
Kuka - redheaded kids are wonderful. I was one until my hair went white, so now I am a blond. Just remember you need to practice pushing two wheel chairs - one for Nihahi and one for me
. I wonder how I should feel at 61? Certainly not like my age, that's for sure. -
Marty, I'll push yours if you push mine, lol. I know red haired kids are great, but mine is something else. I didn't have this much trouble with my other two. When DH spanks her she just stares at him without a tear and tells him, that tickled! She's very hard headed and nobody is going to tell her what to do. Even my older kids are scare if her! I keep telling my parents I'm going to send her to Spain with them.
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Just a quick note, I have reached the limit on the Yoga Dvd. I ran out of discs. So, this shop is closed. I have just enough for the people who asked, thank goodness. I have had these discs for a while, and thought I would never use them up. I am glad I found a useful way to do it, but they are now finished.
I had a fill today, but this time I asked for half the amount, and I will try going every week, instead of every other week. Might make it more comfortable. They don't know.
They also suggested I see their therapist and maybe get some meds to help me through this. The PA said the PS doesn't know which meds might be helpful, that is why they refer you to the therapist for suggestions on if it's depression that keeps me awake, or anxiety, etc. I vote for all of the above. How about pain? They keep ignoring my pain. It's like I am making it up. I felt like saying, no it's not me, it's you. Fix the pain, but that can't be done till surgery. So, my question is for all you girls on the effexor, celexea, etc. Any preferences among you? I took prozac many many years ago because everybody else was taking it for PMS. It made me sleepy, and crazy. Then he tried something else, and same reaction. It was then decided I didn't do well on serotonin uptake drugs. I wonder if that has changed after all these years? Wouldn't it be nice if they just gave you all the ativan and xanax you wanted?
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Deb, did you have mx with recon at same time, because that is a giant assault on the body. I did bmx by itself, and that was rough. Rest, my friend, and of course, call you doc. You could be anemic, etc. Did they talk about if they gave you any blood during your surgery?
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Goldie- I know what you mean, my PS looked at me like I was a junkie when I complained about the pain I was in. They oretty much expect you to be over it four to five weeks post surgery. I wish someone had warned me about that because my pain was intense all the way up to 9-10 weeks out. Heck I still hurt, just now Im able to live with it.
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Goldie, I'm on Effexor XR. I have been for about 7 years. We had a bunch of stuff hit us all at once, and my anxiety peaked and brought depression along with it. It was a new experience for me. My PCP tried a few different anti-depression meds and they really made me feel like my skin was crawling, and very nauseous. I know it is different for everyone. I went to a psychiatrist and Effexor was the second drug she had me try. No nausea, no crawling skin, and within a month I was on the road to recovery. I was always a "worrier" and would wake up and not be able to go back to sleep. After starting on the Effexor, I found that things that would have caused me many sleepless nights didn't bother me at all.
They had to add in some Xanax with all of the decisions regarding BC that we all have to deal with. I can always tell when the anxiety has gone down, the Xanax puts me to sleep.
My heart aches for those that struggle with depression.
Happy anniversary, Jeannie!
Have a great weekend, everyone. ...Julie
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Goldie - Zoloft! Works for depression and anxiety.
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I was in Zoloft for three years, it stopped working for me and made me super angry.
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Ladies...did you find weight gain a problem with anti-depressants? Was on Prozac for post-partum 24 years ago.....gained some weight....wonder if I should give something a go......anxiety has been a real problem esp. Since DX.....but, I can usually numb it by exercising like crazy......not sure about adding more weight....might make me MORE anxious!
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ssla - My foob & original breast are both suffering from flakiness and dryness unfortunately. I am using 100% aloe vera twice a day and it is slowly but surely improving. Aloe worked well for me during and after radiation so I figured I'd use it again.
sweetpickles - hooray for hot water!
Deb, no I do not think that is normal. If the symptoms started before your recon surgery, you might want to discuss them with your oncologist and/or primary care physician. There are a lot of things that can cause generalized weakness.
hrf - congrats on being a week out!!! It's so hard, it was very hard for me emotionally (still is) to feel so physically down, but I can honestly say that at every weekly milestone, I felt significantly better than the week before. So hopefully in a week's time you will feel much better too!
goldie - unfortunately it's hard to tell what antidepressants will work best for a person; it's often trial by error, test one and see if it works, if not try another. Cymbalta is proven to help with chronic pain and the doctors I work with will often recommend it for patients who suffer from both depression and chronic pain. Of course, the kind of pain we are dealing with is a little different than your "typical" chronic pain patients... might be worth asking your doctor about though. I took Effexor after my UMX, as I felt very depressed afterwards, and Effexor also helps with hot flashes. Your PS is probably not the best doctor to be discussing this with unfortunately. Your onc is probably more familiar with antidepressants and helping patients coping with depression, as would be your primary care physician. Therapy may be helpful to you and your therapist can work with your physician in choosing an antidepressant, if you choose to try therapy. Also if you are taking tamoxifen, that means you should not take certain types of antidepressants, FYI.
movie I did gain a little weight while on Effexor but I don't think it was the Effexor. I have had terrible eating habits since diagnosis and gained weight from diagnosis until this spring; I was only on the Effexor for about half of that time.
Made myself dress nice today and I met up with my DH and some friends for lunch today. It was nice. Nervous/excited about going back to work on Monday. I know it's going to be a rough week next week!
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Christina, MAKE yourself take it easy when you get back to work. Don't try to make it all up in a day. A little at a time and you won't make yourself either crazy or exhausted.
When I was initially diagnosed I lost a bunch of weight in a very short period of time. I asked my MO if I was dying of cancer since that's what people do. She (gently) laughed and said, no, you're not dying of cancer, you're depressed. So first I tried Effexor and it just make me sleepy and nauseated, although lots of women swear by it. Then I tried Paxil and it did the trick. The feeling of frightened sadness lifted and I was myself again. Also, I had to start being careful what I ate, just like before my dx, because with the meds I was no longer too worried to eat! Food had become appealing again. I'm still taking it but it's no big deal; I'll probably wean off it this year and see how things are.
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Glad to hear from you Deb, but it doesn't sound normal to me either. Hope you get an answer soon.
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Wow, it's interesting how many of you take something, and how many different ones there are. When the PA came in and said they were worried about me, and wanted me to think about taking something I thought something was wrong with me, and there is! I haven't been taking anything!!!!! Geez. Okay, I will try. They won't give me anything till I see their therapist at the breast clinic. So, okay!!! Maybe I will sleep again. Yeah!!!! Even the nurse said she took something to get through menopause, or she would have killed somebody.
Thank you all for the honesty, and info.
I am burning CD's and will be mailing by Monday.
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I think alot of us have taken or are still taking anti-depressants once they are hit with this diagnosis. I was never one to take any medication and then bc hit...two months before I finished chemo in 2006 I knew I was in trouble...hadnt slept in a week and had sucidical thoughts. I was prescribed celexa (also known as citropam here). It was a godsend to me...within a month I felt on more even ground and got my life back. I didnt notice alot of side effects from it, weight gain wasnt one of them anyways. I took it for 2 years post diagnosis and then gradually weaned myself off it with no issues with depression or side effects from going off it.
Fast forward to 2008 when I was put into menopause when my ovaries were removed at age 44, I put up with the horrendous hotflashes for 1.5 years and then called "uncle" and was prescribed 75mg of Effexor, it worked great! I took Effexor until 2011 and then weaned myself off it as I had finished Armidex. I DID notice that Effexor caused me to "crave sweets" and my appetite increased.
For the past two years I havent been on anything, its a wonder I have survived with the death of my youngest sister and my Dad last year...but I have been good..went through a really rough patch for the first 6 months. My sleep is pretty disturbed these days, but I dont believe I am depressed, it is normal menopausal sleep and worrying about my older sister's recent bc diagnosis in July and my future surgery:( BTW the surgeon didnt call today to give me a surgery date or timeline..I a little disappointed but I guess he got busy or maybe didnt get a chance to consult with the BS...hopefully will receive a call next week..I hate being in limbo...
Christina - take it easy going back to work, you are still healing.
Michele
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