October 2015 Surgeries

HappyHammer

Gotcha...that IS so hard! Ok, so doc/staff just HAS to get you help lined up tomorrow. Will be sending healing energy your way. I do think venting can help just to get it out of your head...this is a safe place to do just that.

HappyHammer

Acjeffrey, mvspaulding , Marijen and lynn85 - Thinking of each of you as you have your surgeries this coming week. Sending hugs and healing energy your way!

Mayk

Anyone else itchy? 10 days out and my back itches, my rib cages, my scalp. It's odd...

mvspaulding

So sorry about your Mom Gabby, I am preparing for my surgery on Tuesday and starting to feel like I am unprepared. Just read about the PinkPockets and ordered some. Hoping they will get here by the time I come home from hospital. What pillows are you all talking about? I was told it may be best to sleep in a recliner at first.

Myleftboob

butterflykdh

That's rough trying to manage on your own so soon after surgery. I really hope you get some help soon. Everyone's right though, just let stuff slide and turn a blind eye. When you do have to get your portacath, you'll see it's nowhere near as physically taxing healing from that as what you're experiencing now. Honestly the worst pain I had with that was when I laughed out loud at a TV show. Super quick procedure under twighlight sedation. While in chemo, what I found helpful was taking advantage of the steroid high from the anti nausea meds that you take before hand and getting the shopping, cleaning and cooking for freezing done. My routine was steroids on Thursday, do some chores, TX on Friday, shop for food and cook. Saturday Neulasta, Sunday was not to bad then totally crashed all of Monday. But the energy level got better and better until the next round 3 weeks later. I will stress though I was on TCH which while not fun or anything, quite doable.

biscuits

Mayk: Oh, how I itched after surgery! For some reason, it was mostly my scalp, but I itched on the upper part of my body Could have been the anesthesia, or the pain medications afterwards, which I got off of within two days. The itching persisted until I finally took a Benadryl, which really helped. I did that for two days...you might want to give it a try.

solfeo

Hi butterflykdh - So sorry to hear about your struggles. You mentioned going to the bathroom being painful to deal with and I wanted to share something that helped me. The worst part was getting up from the toilet without the help of my arms when I was lacking energy and strength (and still am to an extent). We picked up one of these from Walgreens to raise the toilet seat a bit, which made it easier to get up without putting too much strain on my legs. It's very sturdy and can't fall off. Maybe that's not what your issue is, but thought I'd share just in case it helps. Hope you feel better soon!

HappyHammer

Solfeo...what a great idea about the toilet attachment. The photo is very helpful, too. How are you feeling and doing? Looks like you're about 2 1/2 weeks out?

solfeo

Thanks marymallette - it has made my life easier the last few weeks, that's for sure. I also have a very low bed and my poor legs were worn out from taking all the load with no help from my arms.

I'm doing OK. The first two weeks post-surgery were completely uneventful, and besides having to take it easy I really didn't need much help. I felt so blessed to have no pain or complications.

Then late last week I started to develop fluid build-up, which I had to have drained. It was still pretty bloody, and I think it's because they pulled the drains too early on that side. She didn't think it was infected but she wasn't sure because the skin was red, but it looked more bruise-like than inflamed. So we watched it over the weekend and yesterday it started to ooze, and not being sure if it was infected or not I spent the afternoon in the ER getting it cultured. My husband happens to have MRSA (the flesh eating kind) at the moment and I have obviously been exposed living in the same house with him. They couldn't reach my surgeon. The lab culture takes three days to come back so went home to wait. The antibiotic the surgeon had given me is the one my husband's MRSA is most resistant to so I'm afraid to take it and make the situation worse, since he almost lost his thumb when he was given the wrong antibiotic.

Woke up around 4am covered with blood tinged fluid that had leaked out all over, which would have been a panic moment if I hadn't been fortunate enough to read about similar experiences from women here. Don't know what they are going to do about it, but I'm headed to the surgeon's office shortly to find out. The fluid didn't look infected, or smell bad, and I don't have a fever so I'm hopeful.

I always try to look for a positive so I guess I'm thankful that I was past the hard part of the recovery before this happened. It would be much more difficult to deal with this problem if I wasn't feeling well in other ways.

DizzParkMom

solfeo, how early were your drains removed?

solfeo

Hi Dizz - drains were removed at 10 days. Neither side was putting out much fluid, but the right side was still really red and bloody. The nurse practitioner said that is not how it usually looks but she pulled the bloody ones anyway. I hated them and wanted nothing more than to see them gone, but I volunteered to keep the questionable ones for another week to be sure they were healed enough. But the NP said no because waiting any longer would increase risk of infection. Nevermind that seromas do the same since you have them poked with a needle sometimes several times, and sometimes they take forever to go away, or require another surgery. This has me really irritated because I feel like it could have been avoided if the NP had listened to me (she never does). The surgeon wasn't even involved as I've mentioned before.

Today she said it doesn't look infected so we're just going to watch and wait until the lab culture comes back.

rainnyc

Solfeo, your story is nearly identical to mine. They pulled all three drains at 10 days. The two on the left were putting out 10-15 ml/day and closed up within a day or two. The one on the right had been putting out 45 ml, but he pulled it anyway. It kept leaking, and 4 days later was putting out what looked like blood and pus, so I came in. The BS said he thought it would clear up on its own, but he prescribed a week's worth of antibiotics. It finally stopped draining about 2 days after I finished the antibiotics. I also wonder if this might not have happened if the drain had stayed in, but the end result might have been the same no matter what.

DizzParkMom

Hmmm. Well I had my breast drains removed today....day 7. My output was about the same on each for the last couple days (4-5cc), but also red/bloody and not liquidy like ab drain. It has also really been slowing down on output and will likely be taken out by the end of the week. They said it is likely lower output because of my small size.

I was happy about the quick timing, but now I am feeling nervous.

solfeo

Hi rainnyc - yeah it could have happened anyway. Surgeon told me I was at higher risk for hematomas and seromas from the get go because I had very large breasts. I guess we will never know for sure why it happened. The fluid isn't real bloody anymore so at least that part healed up. Then the NP says, "Well at least it's reabsorbing." I go, yeah, it's absorbing into my bed. What a dumb thing to say when I just told her it leaked all over me. It's not still leaking, just spotting on the gauze at this point.

solfeo

Dizz - you can't compare your situation to anyone else's. I'm overweight and my breasts were very large, but even if our stats were exactly the same everyone is different. Try not to worry about it unless it happens.

I know one thing you can do to prevent it is to wear a binder so if you're still wearing one don't take it off too soon. I don't think everyone is given one at the hospital from what I have seen, but I am expected to wear mine for 4 weeks. Probably longer now that I have the seromas. Bummer because it's not exactly comfortable.

DizzParkMom

Yep, I have a binder. I have to wear it until my 4 week appt at least. I agree about it's lack of comfort. Favorite part of the day is when I take it off...and I've only worn it 3 days so far. Thanks for the encouragement. I hope your drainage clears back up soon.

rainnyc

I wasn't given a binder at all. The day before the one on the right finally stopped draining I decided to try wearing the tightest sports bra I owned, which might have helped.

CateM

I seem to be different from everyone here. I only had my drains for a total of 3 days and in that time I only had 50ml on left and 60ml on right, in total. I haven't been told to wear a binder of sorts but to wear a tight fitting sports/post op bra with a lycra cami or cropped top over the top. It really is surprising how different one surgeon can be to another. I only have 2 ongoing issues at present and they are pain in my right shoulder, it gets really stiff quite quickly and I also have a few blisters scattered about from the dressing glue, oh and one blacken nipple. Yay! I've been told my blacken nipple is down to bruising and I know its still 'alive' because I can get a reaction out of it.

DizzParkMom

Oh! The blisters. I have so many blisters from the dressings. I think I spend more time tending to those then I do the actual 'wounds'. My binder is just for the tummy. I am forbit to wear anything tight over/around the chest. It is wierd how all the surgeons vary with their instructions.

KickinBootay

Surgery # 2 is Tomorrow! removing more tissue to get this crap outta here~!

Mayk

Survived my first fill. All tight again. Had one small area on the left that had to be drained off where the drain was prior to removal. I hope that small area stays down and doesn't fill up! Fortunately still so numb I felt nothing. Just tight again. I'm sure tomorrow will be more uncomfortable.

Tulipa

Hi. There are a lot of different woundtreatments. In my hospital Dutch Cancer Center, they don't use any bandages nor steristrips or plasters. They say it is because you then have the most control and you can see the best how the healing goes. Which should give less infection. Drains should be removed after 2 days of less than 20 cc production and no longer than 14 days. Mine is still producing 55 cc a day unfortunately. The drain causes me a lot of discomfort with very sharp pain when I move. I am afraid there is some nerve stimulation. Goes a lot better with the pillow. Hope it soon diminish in production and can be removed. Further they do not advise to wear a bra when the drain is in. After that you should wear a sportsbra if you like. So differences all over!

coopjax

Hi! I just joined this site today. But have been on here all through my cancer journey. It has been a huge help. So thank you all who have shared your own experiences.I had surgery Oct 16 2014. I had a bilateral skin/nipple sparing mastectomy. Everything went extremely well. I have had no pain only a slight tightness. My incisions are under each nipple and go out to the sides. Under the right nipple on the incision is a pretty ugly black scab thingy.My plastic surgeon does not seem concerned at all. I'm very nervous about the nipple dying. The actual nipple and areola look good and normal in color. Am i just being paranoid? Is it just scabbing on the incision? And does anyone know how long following surgery that your in the clear as far as the nipples taking? Or could you end up with necrosis months later.

CateM

I have one blackened nipple but it is still responding to stimuli. My surgeon and my breast nurse don't seem to be worried at all. I have another nurse appointment this week and I'm seeing the surgeon next week so I'll see how they react to the nipple still being black. I hope that if there was anything to worry about my BN and Surgeon would have given me fair warning. I guess what I'm saying is, if the surgeon isn't worried then I will try not to worry.

Mayk

I had my first fil yesterday. Just on the side of my left boob (Cancer side) I have a small collection of fluid. She drained off a small amount but didn't want to get more due to the expanders. This is the PA for the PS. This morning the fluid spit is the same. Not getting bigger or smaller. Has anyone else had this? Trying to desire if I need to touch base with the surgeon or wait and see. It's not hot? I can see if just barely when I look atmy Breast head on. Anyone else have anything similar? How was it addressed

Lemint

Hi everyone, I'm having my surgery tomorrow. Mastectomy with tissue expanders. Been very nervous this week. Just found this thread, will be checking it out to know what to expect.

DizzParkMom

Lemint, best wishes for tomorrow and your recovery post surgery. Being nervous is natural. Tomorrow will soon be over and you will be able to focus your energy on healing.

Myleftboob

Hi Lemint

DizzparkMom is right, nervous is totally normal. You'll do better than you think. Are you having a Uni or bilateral?

Myleftboob

MayK

I'm putting off my first fill until after the first weekend in November. I'm flying to Montreal for a long weekend and don't want to take a chance at feeling uncomfortable. Has the tightness eased at all yet?

Welcome Coopjax!

Mayk

MLB

Yes it lasted about 24 hours. I think I will only do one more ending up around 400-450 maybe two demanding on how much each time.