June 2016 Surgeries!

SPECTER55

Hi Maryann.

First of all... A big hug to you! You have come to the right place for love and support as you begin this journey. I am having my PBMX this Friday (5/27). I am a little scared, but I am mostly just anxious to get it over. I don't have cancer, but I am very high risk, BRCA neg, I have ADH in the left breast. After several years of MRIs and biopsies, I have had enough.

This site has been so helpful as I prepare for surgery. The opening post has some really good links to read also. I actually copied this one into my iPad so I can have it with me at the hospital:

http://www.brighamandwomens.org/Departments_and_Se...

The more I read on the surgery, recovery and my condition, the less frightened I am. Arm yourself with information. I am also prepared (as much as I can be) for the recovery too.

Best wishes with your surgery.

Specter55

Hopefloatsinyyc

HI all... I don't have my official surgery date yet (Should know in the next week) but was diagnosed in early May and was told they want to do so within 6 weeks.. So June date is looming. I meet with my PS tomorrow to discuss the reconstruction method that he feels is best, and then we will be going forward with a bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. Chemo will follow but one step at a time. Scared of the unknown but thankful to have found you all.

kellychameleon

Hi everyone - I'm having surgery next Wednesday - 6/1. I finished up AC & Taxol on 4/19 and am finally feeling like my normal self again. I wish I didn't have surgery looming over me, but I'm ready to get it behind me. I'm having a bilateral mastectomy with expanders. Will have a diep flap around December with radiation in between. I'm feeling really good about how the tumor reacted to chemo (shrunk down to nothing after the 3rd treatment), so I'm just really hoping that I get a great pathology report after surgery.

I've been trying not to think too hard about it. It really is terrifying. This past 6 months has all been so overwhelming and such a whirlwind.

ScotBird

Hello everyone, I'm having LX (r) with reduction and lift (both) on Thursday 9th June, having finished chemo on 13th May. I want it to be done and am also hopeful for good pathology. It's quite a long ride isn't it, I can't believe summer is nearly here, seem to have lost track ofthe last few months..... X

Kawigirl1260

Hello All! I'm coming up on my June 2 surgery date. Single mx, right side, no recon. Am very blessed to not need rads or chemo. Have been on AI (anastrozole) since mid February. Waited to do the surgery until after my son's wedding, which was this passed Saturday. This will be 3rd surgery. Other two were lumpectomy followed by a re-excision after original lumpectomy had positive margins with the DCIS but clean ones with the IDC. Positive margins with the DCIS after the re-excision led to the decision for the mx. I'm glad that I've had things to keep my mind occupied, but am about ready to be done with all of this.

Luck and peace to all of you with upcoming dates. Prayers that all goes well.

Keep breathing...................

sas-schatzi

Hanley. Please. review the previous post about ketorolac Please. it is in your best interest. A 2cc injection pre incision may make a difference about recurrence . Please study it

Opt4Life

Hi ladies, finally got scheduled for a lumpectomy on 6/13 with immediate reconstruction--oncoplasty is ho my plastic surgeon referred to it. But in simple terms its breast reduction in both breasts. I had a dramatic reduction in the size of the lump due to neoadjuvant chemo so radiation needs will be determined based on pathology report. I'm nervous but my breast surgeon assures me I should be relatively pain-free within a week and will likely clear me for return to work in 3 weeks.

groucho2

Add me to the June list. I am having a BMX on June 17th with no reconstruction. I'll begin chemo 4 to 6 weeks after my surgery. This is my second occurrence; my first was in December 1999.

The PET scan showed that the cancer has not spread outside of the breast. For that, I am truly grateful. I lost my partner of 21 years last August, so I am having some difficulty dealing with the fact that she will not be here with me, helping me to fight this beast. She was so much support for me last time.

To complicate things, I just bought a new house and am moving on June 10th. I guess this will give me plenty of time to be at home and get used to the new place.

Best wishes to everyone.

Hopefloatsinyyc

officially scheduled. BMX with immediate reconstruction (implant and alloderm) with nipple sparing. June 23rd!

xxyzed

Hello all. I'm new here and fast approaching my surgery date, 1st June for skin sparing BMX and removal of level 1&2 axillary lymph nodes. Fingers crossed for smooth sailing and minimal side effects.

Why2015

xxyzed,

Make sure you have a small pillow to rest arms on the sides of surgery. The area will feel strange, however, things will start to feel better. Keep your mind occupied so you aren't dwelling on this. Wishing you a speedy recovery. You are stronger than you think!

xxyzed

Thanks Why2015. I've got a friend who's about 6 weeks out from a breast reduction so while it's not the same thing she's already said about the pillows especially in the car to drive home. I'm going to be in hospital for quite a few days so I'm trying to focus on some well needed drug induced sleep so my body can have a chance to heal itself.

Houston2016

I'm glad to see this thread. I'm still doing AC and last one will be June 1 then followed by Taxol. So my surgery which is planned to be after 12 weeks of Taxol (may be in September). MY OC wants lumpectomy then radiation but I read all the ladies posted on here either do MX right away or lumpectomy and then mastectomy. Does that mean Neoadjuvant chemo is not working? I'm nervous that cancer cells maybe spreading as I'm doing chemo before surgery. Then end up doing a MX anyway. Any advice or inputs from everyone is appreciated.

sas-schatzi

Fly by post---Houston sorry, you are in this......

Houston and all. check back to the post on Toradol and NSAIDS. Please, view Dr. V's video. He explains about the use of Ketorolac/toradol pre-incision. That's just the intro. If you follow all the links you will find the definitive studies and the work we all did last summer......................On the lumpectomy & rads versus mx and adjuvant. Is the most controversial of any subject. I think it's the SEER study that says the lumpectomy & Rads group do well, BUT it's how the MBC group fits into the story gets murky. Please, view Dr. V's study and then read my Toradol thread from last summer.

They're many elements that are the bases for consideration at the time of surgery time. It is known that the act of surgery causes the body's response of inflammation. That cascade of chemicals that are produced in the inflammatory response can cause 1. circulating tumor cells that are released from the tumor site to lodge at a distant point an stimulated to grow, and 2. cells that were released earlier that were dormant at a distant site are stimulated to grow.

This is the idea behind the interruption of the inflammatory cascade by the use of ketorolac/ Toradol. Not sure when inflammation was seen to be such a problem i.e what year, but Dr. Patrice Forget's first retrospective study done in 2010, looked at the drugs that were used at the time of surgery to see if the any connection could be found.

This was a highly unique situation of 325 patients at one hospital that had the same group of anesthesia docs and same surgeon(s). The finding was that ketorolac was the common drug in the group that had the longest time to reoccurrence or no recurrence. Dr. Forget then did a second retrospective study on a cohort of 725. The same finding. This was remarkable. It's earthmoving. Then Dr. Retsky did a study that looked at what was being done worldwide. There was more data worldwide supporting Forget's study in recognizing interference with the inflammatory cascade was a key connection. Though the connection to ketorolac was made by Dr.Forget, Dr. Retsky saw the immense meaning. Dr. Retsky 's study is a wild ride in the science behind Forget's discovery.

Dr. V from the video, was a co-author with Dr. Retsky. All the data that Dr. V uses in his video is from their study and Dr. Forget's study.

Dr. Forget has a prospective(double blinded) study going on in Brussels now. Dr Retsky is trying to get one going in Africa now.

The reason Dr. Retsky is in Africa is that blacks have a higher incidence(nearly exclusive) rate of triple negative patients. If ketorolac does in fact reduce reoccurrence it will be known pretty quickly b/c TNBC has the highest early reoccurrence rate. For Africa this would be revolutionary( the world too) b/c they don't have the medical resources that the developed world has. Ketorolac cost less than 10$.

I could go on for a very long time. I'm hoping this is enough to convince you of the importance of studying yourself, and then talking with your docs about ketorolac pre-incision. In the link to the topic box i have described how to use the info there. There are two posts that pull all the need to consider info & links to take to your docs. Our team from last summer did some very very intense work to put it all together to make it simpler for anyone reading this.

It has become my mission to try and make people aware of this research. If you and your physician choose not to do it b/c this is retrospective research, I get that. But the research is so compelling, don't discard it without a serious look.

Plus, there is compelling research about blocks and opiods. All the links are there.

I'm going to send this off to Dr. Retsky and Dr. Forget and see if they agree as to how I've stated this. Always like to check the facts I'll post back if they have any comments.

Okay, off the soap box

Houston2016

Yes it sounded like a very important topic that certainly help to know and gives us peace of mind (about reoccurence). Please let us know about any progress/outcome of this study.

jebrunner

Hello June surgeries! I have finished up 12 rounds of Taxol and 4 rounds of dose dense AC neoadjuvant chemo and am having either double or single MX in mid-June (date still up in the air...somewhere between 6/10 and 6/17). I'm still having trouble deciding whether or not to do the preventative mastectomy (95% sure I will at some point), but also whether to do it now or later. Debating back and forth about removing the unaffected breast and getting an expander right away vs. waiting to remove it and getting both expanders later at the same time (affected breast will require a lat flap surgery). I know I'm not the only one grappling with this decision, but I feel so wishy washy since I've had several months to decide and still haven't. Anyone have any advice on how they made their decision?

Thanks!!

Hopefloatsinyyc

Hey jebrunner... For me, the decision was purely vanity based.... As much as vanity can come into play when dealing with aftermath/SE of cancer treatments and surgeries. I wanted symmetry. I know I could have opted for a prosthetic, but there was a part of me that simply wanted to look uniform... And not always see a healthy and not healthy breast.... So I'm opting for my right breast to be removed at initial surgery. Not an easy decision though!

Maya15

I've updated the list with everyone's surgery dates so far. Let me know if I've missed anyone.

I decided to go on holiday between chemo and surgery and it was great because I hardly thought about the surgery at all. Now I'm back with just 2 days left to prepare and it's getting scary. Today I did the two things I really can't postpone, taking pictures and taking arm measurements in case of lymphedema problems later.

Jebrunner -- I decided to do the other side mainly because I have a high risk of recurrence, I am young, the cancer is very aggressive and can't be felt, and I have to have surgery on the other side anyway to remove a benign growth. Ultimately I figure I can live with scars (which I will have anyway) and lack of sensation, but I really can't live with the fear and constant tests to check for cancer on the other side.

I also had to decide about the timing for the second breast. I am planning on a DIEP reconstruction but I was advised not to do it now because they think I will need rads first. My PS advised having an expander put in the cancer breast while I wait for recon because the long-term cosmetic result will be better. BS suggested I wait for the second mastectomy because that can be done at the same time as the DIEP and means that this time I only have to heal on one side. I can go straight to DIEP on the left without needing a tissue expander.

WenchLori

Hi jebrunner, my BS made the decision for removing my unaffected breast. We couldn't feel the lump in my left breast when it was first discovered and my right breast is very dense and could be hiding more cancer cells. To be safe it will go also. I'm hoping to go right to implants but only if PS can get me the size I am now, otherwise it's TEs and then implants. I tried talking PS into doing a flap but he said I'm not fat enough. The less surgeries the better for me. Good luck on making the right decision for yourself, it's a very difficult decision to make. 🙁

hanley50

Maya15, kellychameleon, xxyzed, CrawfordsMommy, Kawigirl1260, Lindzanne (and anyone else scheduled for this week that I may have missed)....

Good Luck! I will be thinking about you all. I can't believe tomorrow is June 1st already! (Takes a deep breath!)

Maryann

hanley50

SPECTER55 - Hope you are recovering nicely from your surgery on Friday.

Maryann

Hopefloatsinyyc

I thought I'd share... My sons' teacher battled breast cancer last year and gave me a book she read at the time that she said was the best and most comforting she found.... It's called "Silver Linings". The author wrote a blog called www.thesilverpen.com. Today when I was checking out the blog, I noticed free copies of the book are being given to those recently diagnosed in the US. I have started to read it and it is truly wonderful... And I though since it's free, I wanted everyone to know!

kellychameleon

I'm trying like crazy to wrap everything up at work, get my kids settled at my parents' house, and run last minute errands before tomorrow's surgery. I feel like I've been going a million miles per hour the past week or so, but I guess that's good because I haven't had a chance to freak out about the actual surgery too much. I did have a sentinel node biopsy last week and got the results today that everything came back negative. Whew, such a huge relief. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that PCR!

xxyzed

I hope it all goes well for you kellychameleon. My surgery is just hours away now. I have admission at the hospital in 90 minutes and am first surgery for the day. I feel like I'm walking into the point of no return and my life and body as I know it will no longer exist yet it is only the first step in fighting the cancer. Both my husband and father died last year after two year cancer battles so I know better than most what I am in for and I really don't want that fight to start just yet for me but also know that inaction is not an option. Best wishes to all for boring, complication free surgeries and recoveries

Maya15

Good luck xxyzed and kellychameleon. You're right xxyzed, it really feels like approaching the point of no return, my body will never be the same again. Very scary to know my breast only has hours to live and this time tomorrow it won't be there. I also have fingers crossed for a PCR.

kellychameleon

Good luck to you two as well!!

Why2015

Wishing you strength and calm. It is recommended to stay ahead of the pain. Healing takes time, just take things day by day or sometimes hour by hour. Prayers for you

Why2015

Be sure to try to relax now. Wishing you strength and know you will get through this

Why2015

So sorry for your losses. Remember, everyone is different! Imagine a good outcome! Blessings to you from U.S.A.

Why2015

Hopefully, you have faith in you Onc and tx. If not, perhaps get a second opinion. Protocols can differ and no two people are exactly alike when it comes to sides effects. Stay strong