September 2014 Surgery Sisters

sandra4611

Sometimes the only way out of a situation is to laugh about it.

 

Lilith08

Sandra--step into sports bra?! Seriously?? I am skeptical, but I am going to HAVE to try that!

Mischief46

I laughed when I read on another thread that some women were calling their own mishaps of getting stuck the "Sandra".  Funny stuff... Sorry, Sandra but that made me laugh and let's be honest most of us have been stuck at some point after surgery and your story is one of the best.  Although, Flannery comes in a close second with the scissors.

silverbelle11

Hi ladies! 

I had my surgery on Sept 12.  Since you are all in the same recovery window,  i want to ask about stitches.   My ps cleaned both incisions and re-stitched them yesterday after my surgeon excised a different area to gain clear margins.  Do any of you still have outer  stitches?  Is this normal? !!   Everything I'm reading online mentions 7-10 days!   

My surgery was nipple and skin sparing  (not sure if that is relevant)

Thank you

Mischief46

I had to laugh when I saw on another thread that some of the women were calling their getting stuck mishaps the "Sandra". Funny stuff.   Sandra, your story is one of the best, I hope you found it funny too and not offensive.   

mand1373

Can you please add me?  I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy (5 removed) on 9-26-14.

Flannery

silverbelle11:

I had my surgery the same day as you. I did not have any external stitches that were visible or needed removing. Everything was internal/absorbable. I did have some kind of industrial-strength surgical tape over the incision - that stuff would NEVER have come off if I didn't chisel it off at around 16-17 days post-op.

noonrider

Sports bras…stop pulling them over your head and STEP into them! Much easier. If you're having trouble getting it over your hips, go to Target or Walmart and buy a cheap genie bra. They are designed to be stepped into and they're really not too bad!

noonrider

Oh…and..ummm…there are zipper front closure sports bras. ;-)

noonrider

Genie Bra at target.com

http://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=genie+bra&categ…

Search walmart and target for front closure sports bras. There are a lot!

Mulligan

Sandra's story reminded me of my mishap with a sports bra too it is the new Victoria secret sports bra one with a zipper front closure. It fit fine in the store but when I got home I could not get the zipper to close when I tried it on so me being the genius tried to put it on partially zipped well that didn't get far and so I tried again and the time got it partially zipped up but with all the tugging, sweating and stressing I think I made my Breast kinda swollen then I couldn't unzip nor zip up the bra I was stuck halfway. I felt like an octopus trying to squeeze in or out of a sausage tubing. At one point I tried to pull the top over me and I was stuck with my arms stuck straight out flailing. I eventually calmed down enough to get it off me. I took it right back to the store.

Lilith08

OMGoodness...it works! I just stepped into the Champion-brand bra (Target) that I bought for my lumpectomies in July. This is life-changing! Now, if only I weren't getting rid of my breasts...

EDIT: It's more or less like this one http://www.target.com/p/c9-by-champion-women-s-seamless-cami-sports-bra/-/A-14726680#prodSlot=_1_8

There are some racer-back styles that might not work quite as easily, but then again I've never tried stepping into those!

noonrider

Lilith08  My daughter who has Down syndrome, and a very wide rear end, is able to step into the ones you posted.

clmtootie

Silverbelle

I had my NSBMX on 9/9 and my PS pulled the few remaining stitches that had not been absorbed yet at day 8 from surgery. Your stitches just might be caused by delayed healing since your BS had to go in for clean margins.  

Smitty333

Hello ladies, I have a question. Has anyone else had one of their expanded breast shrink? I had mastectony with recon on the 24th they added 150 ccs and both breast were the same size. Now righty is smaller and burns more than lefty. I am supposed to have first fill Thursday but I am wondering  if I should call my surgeon about this. It is about half the size of lefty

sandra4611

Should I be flattered or embarrassed to have my stuck sports bra mishap permanently named after me?   Mulligan, your story is funny...now. It's not funny when your arms are up around your ears and all you can hear is your PS going, "tsk, tsk."

To make it worse, I never knew you were supposed to step into sports bras AND I was a long time fitness instructor. I also didn't know that most women lean over and reach around to hook their regular bras in the back. I hook them in the front, then slide the hook to the back, put my arms under the straps and pull up and over the boobs. When I went to Nordstroms for a fitting, I learned I'd been doing it wrong...for 50 YEARS!

Flannery

sandra4611:

You are not alone - I do up my back-hook bras as you describe. I am not super coordinated and if I try to do it blind I end up hooking the wrong eyelets. I have also seen lots of ladies in gym/pool locker rooms doing it this way, so I don't think we're too weird. I am coordinated enough to UN-DO the bra without spinning it around!

Prior to my UMX I never stepped into sports bras - all the ones I have are pretty industrial strength with little stretch so it would have been more difficult/uncomfortable to pull them up than to put them on over my head. After surgery I bought some with a lot more stretch and in larger sizes so they would be easier to pull up - only down side is these ones offer less support to the breast so I still get a bit of painful TE bounce. The really nice thing about the stretchy seamless ones is that they don't piss off my drain sites as much as the regular ones do; these happen to be in exactly the right position to get chafed by both the bra band and side seams. They never gave me a moment's trouble while the drains were actually in, but now that I am trying to wear bras suitable for actual work clothes they are driving me crazy! Just this week's petty annoyance - next week it will be something else. :~)

Overall no complaints from me - this is the first week that I have turned a corner and become much more comfortable and feeling more like myself. Now if I only could get rid of the horrible nipple/areola pain I would be golden. Really, really hoping that this improves dramatically with time the way the armpit nerve pain has. Current experiment is to try some topical steroid cream for a few days, next experiment will be to try topical anti-inflammatory gel, and after that I will admit defeat and try lidocaine patches.

Happy Sunday to you all.

Mischief46

Smitty, those TEs don't fill up exactly the same so it could just be the TE's but I am wondering if you have a leak since they were at one time the same size  but now one is half the original size. (Is that a run-on sentence?)  I would probably call my PS and talk to someone and see what they say...I wouldn't think the size would change that much.  It won't hurt to ask! 

Smitty333

Thanks mischief, the only other thing I could think of is that the left side just had a lot of swelling that maybe went down. It is definitly noticeable, I asked my husband about it and he said he noticed yesterday but didn't want to say anything. I will call the ps tomorrow.

silverbelle11

Thank you clmtootie and Flannery.  My surgeons have acted as if everything is normal. I will be asking a few more questions on Tuesday. 

Captswife

captswife (Rena): 9/3 left mastectomy axillary lymph node dissection

Flannery

Welcome to the club you never wanted to join, Rena. Nice to have another uni/UMX in the group! I hope you are doing well following surgery.

Mulligan

I never knew you were suppose to step into a sports bra either. I always thought my booty would over stretch it if I did it that way. Wow good to know.

Sandra I put my bra on both ways. Before Cancer I was a 34dd so a lot of my bras had 3 hooks on them so sometimes I didn't always line the hooks in the same row if I hooked it from the back. Those bras with 3 hooks, I would hook it from the front and drag it across to the back sometimes feeling like I ripped my nipples off by going too fast. Oh the joys we women have to go through.

EverForward

Has anyone figured out how to get a decent night's sleep with the TEs? I can fall asleep just fine, but I can't seem to stay asleep past 3:00 or 4:00 and when I wake up, I'm too sore and uncomfortable to fall back asleep. I've tried laying flat on my back, sitting upright on pillows, and every angle in between. I can only sleep on my side for a little while. I'm at a loss. Even when I take Valium before going to bed, I can't make it through the whole night. The funny thing is, I'm not that uncomfortable anymore during the day when I'm walking around. But sleeping is another matter entirely.

linda505

Hey Ever - i used one of these 

http://www.amazon.com/Allstar-Marketing-Group-SD01...

It kept the pressure off the TE's and allowed me to sleep on my side which is my normal position. 

Flannery

EverForward:

You and I had surgery around the same time, and I am also a side sleeper who would never be able to sleep a full night on my back. I don't take any meds during the day at this point, but I still take an oxycodone at bedtime. Since that drug makes me violently ill when taken alone, I also have to take a clonazepam, which somehow prevents all the narcotic side effects. The result is a very comfortable night's sleep on my back, and I wake up well-rested with a clear head. I had planned to discontinue this last week, but found that once I went back to work I was more sore at night. I plan to continue this at least a few more days while I see if the evening discomfort improves. Long story short - you are not that far out from surgery so perhaps some med support will help. I do think a good night's sleep is crucial for healing.

noonrider

I'm 4 1/2 weeks out from surgery. I take a muscle relaxer about 2 hours before I go to bed, then right before bed I take a child's dose  of children's delsym. This gets me sleeping a bit better. Otherwise I wake up every hour and a half or two hours. Drives me crazy. Last night I moved from the recliner to the bed. After much fussing around I found a semi-comfortable position on my rt side and fell sound asleep, only to be woken up 40 minutes later by my husband because I was snoring loudly. I never got back to sleep after that. UGH! 

clmtootie

EverForward, that sounds like me.  I can get to about 3 a.m. and then I am waking up uncomfortable and unable to go back to sleep. I am naturally a side sleeper and can't get comfortable on my side at all with the TE's.  I have tried everything and nothing seems to work!  Good luck in finding a way to get a good night sleep! 

Mischief46

I too am a side sleeper and found it very hard at first to get comfortable at night to sleep.  It wasn't until I was almost done with my fills that I was able to sleep comfortably on my side.  I had 3 weeks in between my second to last and last fill and in that time everything seemed to relax and some of the tightness went away and I could  pretty much sleep however I wanted.(except on my stomach..I never could do that but others have.)  BUT I never really slept well with those TE's.. I always woke up multiple times a night.  I would barely notice them during the day but at night..oh the nights...

Hang in there Ladies...it is still early and it does get a little better.  

enlm20Erica

that MUST be a side effect because I wake up through out the night too. . Trying my best to find a semi comfortable spot.. lastnite I took a Valium and it seemed like it took forever to work but it finally did until about 2 am I woke up.. fell back asleep around 3:45 and woke up again around 5. And in between each round of sleep I had to reposition myself about 50 times to get "comfortable" (whatever that is) lol.... I'm tired just thinking about it.