Questions on "wire insertion" prior to Lumpectomy

Mouche

@Mojim, I pray things are better for you. (hugs)

turtlelady

Hi MoJim, I'm the one with the PTSD. :-) I do still struggle with it and now have been hit with truncal lymphedema from rads. But most people do not experience these things. With the wires, it's very important for people to communicate with the doctor if you're in pain. I was quiet, and she never inquired. When the doc was out of the room, the techs did ask about pain, and they seemed quite concerned. But I remained silent with the doctor until about an hour and a half into it, when the doc tugged on one of the wires, snagged up some flesh and tore through it, causing me to scream. I'm sure that was the first time she became aware that I was in pain. So people shouldn't tough it out, but let the doc know about any severe pain.

In my case, I would have been much better off if I'd chosen MX, either one or two. No wires, so no PTSD. No rads, so no lymphedema. Too late for me now. And these complications are fairly rare. Most women with lumpectomies and radiation do great. So I'm not suggesting that anyone should follow this, but, personally, I would have been far better off with double mastectomy. At this point, I don't feel I'll ever recover from this simple little DCIS which was treated very conservatively.

Evey

Hi,

I just saw your post and had my lumpectomy on 11/17. I am curious how your wire insertion went after what you had read? I can say that I was most worried about that over anything else, but while it was uncomfortable, it wasn't unbearable for me and really looking back was not much of an ordeal. How did yours go?

Evey

MoJim

Evey: My wire insertions were quite uncomfortable, but I bit my lip & got thru it. What I have now 2 mos. post-op is a nipple that is EXTREMELY sensitive to the slightest brush of clothes or while showering.  The Oncologists tell me it's nerve endings. I just finished my 2nd week of RAD's & am having a lot of complications for this early on in treatment. I can't wear a bra anymore & have resorted to a "Breast Sling" that I ordered online.

Maureen

proudtospin

I confess to finding the whole discussion of painful wire insertions confusing.  Dang but wondering is proceedures have changed since mine?  I had 3 lumpies in summer of 08, do not remember any discussion of wire insertions and found them to be no big deal.  I remember being sent home with pain meds which I never took.  I think I filled the first one, never filled the second script and only filled the third as they had found something new in a dif area to deal with and I thought it would be more painful

think I still have that script~~did I miss something?  whatever, it is going on 7 years and all is fine and clear.  I did have a really good BS 

MelissaDallas

Mine was no big deal. Long & annoying, but not painful. Left that clinic with a dixie cup taped over the wires to go to the outpatient surgical center & probably waited an hour in waiting room & preop. At most a lttle stinging sensation. The worst part was having to keep my head turned up & hair out of the way

shuf

hi guys, got through surgery and working on rads. Very uncomfortable and getting tired, but keeping a positive attitude. I signed up for a study so I didn't have to have wires instead they put some kind of markers in place when I had biopsy. I did have an injection into my nipple area which was a type of dye but had plenty of pain medication before and after I went straight to surgery and I was out. It was scary but thank goodness I was not in pain. I stayed overnight in the hospital because I am a chicken when it comes to severe pain. They have been very compassionate everywhere I have been. Soon to start on Femara for 5 years has anyone been on that drug?

Hopeful82014

Hi, Shuf. I've been on Femara just a few months. I take it at night to avoid any possible wooziness but have had no problems or side effects.

There are various threads in the Hormonal Therapy section that discuss Femara but mostly those seem to discuss side effects. With any luck you'll be among the many who do not have SE.

I'm curious about the study you were in, as I also have a nice little collection of platinum markers but I don't think it gets me out of the wire localization prior to surgery.

Hope your skin's doing o.k. with radiation!

shuf

Hopeful8201, I don't know the name of the study but the markers were put into my breast when I did my biopsy and somehow lit up with dye injection along with lymph node locators. Will try to find out more when is your surgery? Shufp

ballet12

Hi shuf, just to clear things up, the wire insertion is needed, usually, for microcalcifications that need to be excised during surgery.  The microcalcifications (associated with DCIS) are not able to be seen by the naked eye, so the surgeons use the wires to localize where they need to operate.  If someone has a solid mass, particularly a larger one (as in invasive ductal carcinoma), the needles wouldn't always be necessary. The injection of the dye into the nipple is to look at the flow of the dye into the lymph nodes to see if any light up as probably being malignant.  This is the procedure called the sentinel node biopsy. They don't usually do sentinel node biopsies when doing lumpectomies for DCIS, because the nodes are very rarely positive, but they do them for mastectomy for DCIS.  You had the sentinel node biopsy done, because you had known invasive breast cancer.

Hopeful82014

That sounds quite interesting, Shuf. I'll look forward to any other details as you have time.

My surgery's not until April. I'm doing 6 mo. neoadjuvant endocrine treatment to (hopefully) clear my evil node before surgery. Sort of like doing neoadjuvant chemo except different purpose and no side effects.

Curlykat

I know that this is an old post, but just wanted to share that my wire insertion was painless. I don't have sensitive breasts, to begin with, but the radiologist did a fantastic job. I asked after why he didn't use the lidocaine and the tech said that it makes the picture fuzzy, so he doesn't like to use it. I was all about him getting as clear of a picture as possible, so I had no argument with that!

Lumpectomy tomorrow. I anticipate we'll do the needle localization again.

Hopeful82014

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow, Curlykat!

Anonymous

I was numbed up beforehand really well, so no pain, just some pressure, pulling and tugging sensation, wasn't too bad. (the hardest part for me, was keeping my head turned out of the way for so long!)

Anne

Curlykat

Thanks, Hopeful82014!

AnnieBear

I had markers inserted too when I had the biopsy but also needed wire insertion.  Thank heavens I didn't know about it until the morning of surgery or I would have freaked out totally.  But, it did not hurt at all.  They numbed me up and I was so surprised.  It is really nothing to worry about.

Ddw79

I hate to say it but I just had wire localization and the wire insertion was pretty uncomfortable

pollysgirl49

In April 2013 I was diagnosed with DCIS after a routine mammogram. I had to have a biopsy. No pain meds but radiologist wanted to insert titanium chip. I refused, in denial that I was going to need further surgery. The chip was for the surgeon to find where the carcinoma was because there were no lumps-the cells were just showing changes on the mammogram and not visible to the naked eye-and if I had to have a lumpectomy I would have to come back and have the wire inserted. Long story short I had to have a lumpectomy so on the day of my surgery I made a trip to the diagnostic center to have the wire inserted and turned around and drove back to the hospital doing the surgery. Had the lumpectomy, waited for results, they wanted more margin, refused to have another lumpectomy and made the difficult decision to have the breast removed. Recovery went well. Suggestions for pre surgery health are to go to physiotherapist and get exercises to strengthen your chest muscles. Really makes a difference for post op recovery time. Results of tissue testing were very good. The day after the oncologist gave me the all clear we were on our way to Mexico for the winter. This was four weeks after the mastectomy. I needed no radiation. This was in 2013 and last year's mammogram was good. Next one coming up in May. I have my fingers crossed for a negative result!

I did take a tranquilizer that morning for the wire implant, with my surgeon's ok , because I was pretty stressed about having the lumpectomy.

I hope you were OK with the wire insertion and that you are doing well! My techie packed me up with pillows to make me comfortable.

Tiny

Moderators

Thanks Pollysgirl49 for sharing your story! Sounds like you've been through a lot, but with good results. Our fingers are crossed to for your testing in May! Let us know.

knittingPT

Hi All! I had my wire localization for my breast tumor and my positive lymph node last friday. The procedure was, overall, way less painful than my initial biopsy. I did receive lidocaine injection first and then they put in the feeder needle, fed in the wire, and injected a blue dye. It was mildly uncomfortable (pinching) with the nodes but I didn't really feel anything on the breast. The weirdest part was before they taped down the flexible wires it looked like I had actual antennae coming out of my breast/arm pit. I wanted them to take a picture because it was amusing but they wouldn't (geez, let us have some fun!!).