Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

614

Dear VioletHope:

I did have 2 primary cancers as well as bifocal pleomorphic LCIS in one breast.  However, I was really lucky because I was diagnosed early.  Therefore, I had no lymph node involvement.  I did not need to have chemo because my oncotype score was low.  My doctors in Florida wanted me to have a mastectomy but my doctors in Texas said that would not be necessary.  I chose to listen to my doctors in Texas.  As I said, I was extremely fortunate.  I hope that you have good news too.  Good luck.

Dear Jclc:  the curling iron story made me laugh so much.  Sorry that you had to endure someone so insensitive.  Good luck with chemo.

Dear MustLovePoodles:

Your plan is inspiring.

Dear Musogirl:

I am glad that you were able to get the surgery immediately but I am sorry that you missed Star Wars and that you had to have another surgery.  I am wishing you well.

Dear ChiSandy:

I hope that your friend hears good news and that the area is benign. 

Dear Brithael:

Good for you and your husband

Dear Melclarity:

I am so sorry that your doctor blind-sided you with his recommendation that you consider a mastectomy.  Good luck getting through this hurdle.  The decision making is so tough.  I wish you the best.  Working with special needs children is so rewarding.  I worked with Autistic kids for a while.  I loved it.

Dear Sloan:

I hope that you are celebrating.  Celebrate extra for all of us!

Dear Peggy:

I can relate to wanting your garage to burn down!  lol

Dear BrightSocks and LovesToFly:

Good luck tomorrow.

Hello to everyone else.

Molly50

Musogirl, I am so sorry about the hematoma and extra sx. I hope you have an uneventful recovery.

April, it would be great to meet you!

Jclc83

I hope you heal fast Muso!

Peachy2

LovesToFly, PFC=post final chemo. Here's hoping that tomorrow is a better day for you, and as uneventful as possible.

LovesToFly

thanks Peachy! I've got a bit of a potty mouth, since my head obviously went elsewhere.

HappyHammer

MustLovePoodles....where do you live? We are in SC near Charlotte...maybe we could meet you and your DH sometime...we try to get to Savannah 2 or 3 times a year....are you anywhere near there? We also freguent the Atlanta area.

ChiSandy

Oh, my, Peggy--I love the Victorian homes in Jackson (and you KNOW I love wine!). When I can spare the time (at this point, my solo traveling priority is to get downstate to Sparta to remaster the Andina & Rich CD and finish tracking my second solo disc), I will let you know!

Bob & I used to be members of Madron Lake Hills Estate winery in Buchanan. We each “adopted” a vine (he a Cab. Sauv., me a Pinot Noir) and would help with the crush in Oct. Unfortunately, after three hard freezes, a phylloxera infestation and the death of its co-owner, it went out of business and is now a McMansions development. We also like Tabor Hill (they make a decent Methode Champenoise sparkler that’s been served at the White House), as well as St. Julian’s more serious offerings (they’re now doing vinifera, not just fruit & hybrids, and have even come up with a double-distilled alambic brandy). My favorite MI wines, though, are from up north--Ch. Grand Traverse and Left Foot Charley. They do great cool-climate whites like Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and one of the best dry Rieslings (CGT’s “Whole Cluster”) in America.

PontiacPeggy

ChiSandy, oh my, you know so much about wines and sound like you have a very sophisticated taste in them. I am the opposite: cheap wine (except what I buy at Sandhill Crane). That's interesting about adopting a vine. What a neat idea. I hope we can get together.

HUGS!

Gemma12

I'm home. All went well. Surgeon was able to get both areas with one incision near the bottom outside corner of my breast so scar shouldn't be too visible. They also took 5 lymph nodes. Pathology takes 5-7 days come back. Thanks for the good thoughts!

Amy

LovesToFly

That's great Amy. Take care, take meds as needed, start moving that arm a but tomorrow. Hope you heal easily!!!!

PontiacPeggy

Gemma, glad you're home and doing well. As LovesToFly said, keep the pain under control. Ice away. And do move that arm. Way to go!

HUGS!

Sloan15

Musogirl - your story about waking up i the blood must have been horrifying! I I'm watching Criminal Minds on Netflix, and I would have looked around at that blood and said, "Am I okay?" What a tough time. I'm glad they took you back into surgery today!

Gemma - Yay, you're home! I had no problems. Keep your wrap tight!

HappyHammer - Ha, so we might meet! My dad is from Bennettsville, SC, and I think we're going to take him back to see his family after I get back from my big trip (to France, yay).

April - My son is at UC Irvine, so I might see you in a month or so when it gets a little nicer at the beach. March is so beautiful in CA.

MJS1266

Lovestofly; I'm going to think of PFC now as post f'ing chemo, seems just as or more appropriate as post final chemo. I'm not sure why I didn't think of that myself. LOL, MJS

MLP3

melclarity-hang in there!

Brit-that sounds wonderful and I'll read your blog!

Sloan- LOVE that camper❤️

Lovestofly- what a long day. Rest up for tomorrow 💪🏻😴

Muso- heal fast😊

Gemma- positive thoughts for you path report.

Heading to MGH tomorrow for my initial team of Drs plan of action. Curious as what their plan will be vs Dana Farbers next week.

Night all

Melclarity

614 - I guess Im just unlucky, don't know if there are any other ladies here who have had a recurrence?? Its been incredibly harder mentally 2nd time around, I honestly did what I had to do 4yrs ago and moved on, never worried at all of it returning, but aaaahhh well!!! Its a massive decision, we don't do a test of oncotype??? here, not sure what that is? I have a brilliant BS and a very highly reputable one here in Melbourne, I trust him implicitly considering my biopsy showed nothing 4yrs ago....he insisted on the lumpectomy as the biopsy he said isnt always successful as in getting the exact spot. Thank God I did. I don't know its tough to do it once...but to face it again and Chemo this time now the thought of further surgery, I guess gets overwhelming. My Mum had a Mx at 40 and survived 26yrs cancer free with no treatment at all. Every single person is unique and diffrent, just have to do what fits right I guess.

Musosgirl

I was doing really well until I decided to make brownies. DH was going to do it, but my craving got the best of me. I meant to just throw the ingredients in the bowl and let him stir, pour into the pan, and put it in the oven. I stirred and poured. I shouldn't have. Thank goodness for prescription pain meds. But I have earned some brownies today, gosh darnit!

mustlovepoodles

OMG, Musogirl! What a terrible experience! I'm glad your surgeon jumped right on that, even if it did mean going back to surgery. Maybe now you can really start healing--correctly, this time!

Happy Hammer, we live to the left of Atlanta. I'm a community health nurse, so I actually travel all over the state, including Savannah--land of delicious and endless seafood. Yum! I always look forward to those road trips.

LOL, I guess I have to start telling people that I'm 1 week past f*ing chemo! Yeah! Take that, chemo! You get no more of me!

PontiacPeggy

Musosgirl, naughty girl. Bet the brownies tasted good though

HUGS!

Melclarity

I am laughing!!! reading about 'sex life' Loves to fly - honestly, I found Chemo didnt affect the sex, obviously if you werent feeling like it being unwell..but in terms of physically being affected it didnt impede me LOL. I did however struggle a little with the mental side of it..unfortunately I am divorced 5yrs and I was only 7 months into a relationship when I was diagnosed last June. OMG I thought!!!! how on earth would our relationship survive this, well it did and has, he's beautiful!!! but I have a massive scar from my lumpectomy and Im still a little self conscious. We had quite the year, I had lumpectomy June, Chemo started August and he donated a kidney to his daughter in September Whoa!!!! LOL have to find humor in all of this or we will go mad!!!

ChiSandy

Musos, not only have you earned the brownie (points), but you've earned the ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry on top!

Amy, glad everything went well and uneventfully and that you’re home (with a single incision, no less). Did you go to Good Samaritan or Central DuPage?

Sloan15

melclarity - my heart aches for you. I wish I had some great and inspirational thing to say, but all I can think of is damn the recurrence! Hang in there. We will get through this! They caught it, now let's do what needs to be since to get rid of the cancer. You and your bf have been through so much (dang!). You have a good attitude!

Molly50

Amy, glad it went so well! Rest up. Melclarity, we have Kbee that posts, I think on this thread, definitely on our fall rads thread. She's had at least one recurrence.

Gemma12

Sandy - was at to CDH. My dr. is with Dupage Medical Group so I could have gone to their surgical center had she been performing surgery there today. I was happy with the way it ended up. I was impressed with all aspects of my experience. One funny thing... my surgeon and anesthesiologist are both female. As I was speaking with my husband before surgery, I was praising the fact that today was all about girl power as I kicked cancer to the curb -- that is until I met my OR nurse.. a very nice and competent man.

Melclarity

Gemma - Good news!!! Hope your results are really good!

614- I'm a Teachers Assistant in an Austism Specific School! for the past 7yrs and I LOVE IT! am looking forward to just working to be honest and some normality.

Loves to Fly - PFC- OMG! YES! I couldnt have said that better really, there were times through Chemo I muttered that LOL

Sloan - Thank you, its great talking with all you gals, everyone understands the intricacies here more than anyone, its helpful but most of all comforting.

Im losing track of everyone sheesh...lol Good luck everyone going into Surgery this week!

ChiSandy

LOL! When my son was born by emergency C-section at Rush 31 years ago, he and my husband were the only males in the room. OB, resident, anesthesiologist, med student, nurse, and midwife were all women. And when Bob tried to second-guess stuff (he’s a cardiologist), the OB warned him that he could be ejected at any time. So he shut up and took pictures.

CDH is terrific, especially with its Northwestern and Cleveland Clinic affiliations. A friend’s mom is being treated there for pancreatic cancer and they’re doing a great job of getting her through chemo.

Melclarity

Molly50 - I'll keep an eye out for Kbee thanks!

MLP3 - Good luck for your appointment tomorrow!

marijen

This does not make me happy, is anyone aware of this?

July 2013 study

1. Breast tumors with stem cell mutations in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway had significantly higher rates of axillary lymph node metastases.

2. Among women with breast tumors with stem cell mutations, 30% experienced disease progression after treatment and 20% died from the disease, compared to 0% in women with non-mutation breast cancers.

http://www.2minutemedicine.com/breast-cancer-mutations-linked-with-nodal-metastases/

Melclarity

Marijen, I haven't heard of this??? How do you know if you have a mutation BC?

marijen

Melclarity that's a good question. They would test the tissue after the lumpectomy I assume. I've only been here three months, seems longer, and this is the first time I've heard of this as well. You would think they would be testing for the mutation unless it is really expensive to do so. It looks like they are still doing studies.

Melclarity

Marijen - Yes be interesting to see if anyone else has heard about it, and absolutely you'd imagine this would be tested after a lumpectomy. Definitely I havent heard of this and Ive been doing this for 5yrs now.