Nearly Two Months for Surgery?

Hi there,

    Yes I was diag on 09/16/08, that was my rusults from a biosphy.  Then I started chemo A/C.had all of the tests you had, then had my surgery on 12/29/08.   They say there is no rush, and you need to get your thoughts together before surgury.

                     I go to my chemo dr tomorrow lets pray I am done and can grow my hair back yah!!!!

         Take your time and make the decision that is right for you!! A lot of people on here who had a lump.......ended up going back and having a second surgery for a mast!!!

      Their is so much information out their it can at some times make you crazy!! I am 2 week out of surgery just one breast, and no recon going back to work on Monday!!   Wish you well talk soon Pamela 

Maria, I have wondered the same thing. the wait for surgery feels like forever. I was diagnosed in mid october and just got my surgery date confirmed last week for Jan. 28! I had to wait so that BS and PS could coordinate. BS did do the SNB in the interim. I don't like the waiting and xanax has been a good friend to me when I start to stress.

Your diagnosis is very similar to mine.  My surgery was also between a month and a half and two months after the initial diagnosis (dx 8/1/08 and surgery 9/15/08).   There's so many decisions to make in regards to surgery options and reconstruction with this stage cancer, that the extra time can be healthy.

An estrogen positive cancer, grade 2, is, from what I understand, not growing very fast.  You've got time.

 Now the big surprise for me?  Was that I had the dang drainage tube in for SIX WEEKS after the surgery (modified radical mx).    It was hard to sit still enough to give the skin time to heal over the muscle again.

 The good news?  I thought food tasted GREAT, especially whole, natural foods, while my body was working to hard to heal.  Boy, if there's a time to have friends bring  you their best dishes, it's after surgery! 

Suzy

They found my tumor on 6/12, biopsy on 6/25 and got results on 7/1.  I was operated on 08/08/08.  I hope it was a lucky day!  Due to confusion with my oncotype and oral surgery, I didn't begin CMF until 10/28.  I was freaking out that so much time lasped from June but they all assured me it was common???

Hi

I was diagnosed in Mar 2008....was scheduled for surgery in April.  Someone mistakenly scheduled my bs for 2 surgeries at the same time and since I was the 2nd one, I was rescheduled for July.  4 months....arggghhh   I started freaking out.....so my bs & onco decided to do chemo first.  I finished chemo the end of Sept and 2 weeks later had my bmx.   It worked out fine, but the waiting can be a nightmare, so I know how you feel.  I hope all goes well, keep us posted.

Hugs, Karen

Maria,

I am totally done with chemo, and did not need rads.  The bmx has been an adjustment.  I had expanders inserted during the bmx, but due to infection, they had to be removed.  My ps will put the expanders back in March.. I will be having DIEP recon at the end of the year.  I am on Arimidex, and cant complain much about the se.  I hope everything goes smoothly for you.  It does get easier....

Hugs, Karen

Hi, Maria ~ I had a lumpectomy less than 30 days after my initial dx.  But, that local surgeon went in with a very poor MRI (several "obscured" areas noted on it).  Thank God the path from that surgery showed something else might still be brewing, and I took my records to a major breast center for a 2nd opinion.  They wanted another MRI, which took a good month for my insurance to approve.  When I was finally able to have that 2nd MRI, they found 2 more lesions, which had to then be biopsied -- tried first by u/s, but couldn't find what they'd seen on MRI, so rescheduled to be biopsied by MRI.  Finally got a dx that both lesions were bc, and had to wait another 4 weeks for a date when BS & PS could coordinate their shedules.  So.... from my initial dx to my mx was almost 4 months, even though I'd had a lumpectomy that got the largest lesion.  My new BS didn't seem overly concerned; she just moved things along as quickly as she could.  So, it sounds to me like you're in good hands, and really couldn't do anything sooner at this point anyway. 

I'll be thinking of you on the 16th ...  Deanna

(((Hugs))) back to you, Maria. And, by the way, I laughed -- no, roared -- when I read your comment on the Worst Thing Someone Said thread this morning.

Speaking of MRI's and mammos, my MRI-guided biopsy was very much like yours -- especially the excessive bleeding.  I just didn't want to tell you that up front because I was hoping mine could be attributed to what I later decided was probably a newbie doc doing it for the first time, and hoped you would not have the same experience.  Anyway, I was soooo sick from the procedure.  I had a splitting migraine by the time they were done just from the stress of it, and then when I saw all that blood!   So, when they did the mammo-torture afterwards, I promptly threw up!   Obviously, not something to tell you beforehand, but I really empathized when I read your account of yours.  Glad to know we're both survivors of that lovely capability of high-tech medicine!!!     Deanna

Maria ~ They never mentioned hitting an artery.  They just had me sit in a chair while they applied pressure for maybe 20 minutes to stop the bleeding, all the while calmly telling me that bleeding sometimes happens -- although I could see on their faces that they were concerned.  My head hurt so bad and I was too nauseous and sick to care why it happened.  The procedure itself had seemed to take a really long time, and at one point I was aware that everyone had left the room and that I was alone.  So, while they were working on stopping the bleeding, they told me that the MRI machine had quit in the middle of the procedure, but that they had been able to get it working again!  Thank God!   Can you imagine being told you have to come back to try again tomorrow?!!! I don't remember if I had an ace bandage.  Probably. By that time I was so out of it!  Luckily, my DH had taken me because there's no way I could have driven the 150 miles home.    Deanna  

Britt, don't get me wrong I had a lot of procedures before diagnosis.

Bleeding nipple, waited from June to October for a mammogram, then ultrasound, then another mammo, then another u/s, then MRI, then biopsy, then lumpectomy, then diagnosis on December 10th! So it was quite a long haul. My SNB was done during my mx on December 16th..

You said your MRI was negative...but you have cancer? Or it just didn't show anything? Frustrating,eh?

My cancer is between .5-2% of all breast cancers! Go figure. My surgeon and I can only find reference to a man that is on record! I had node involvement within the tissue they took off and also ITCs which are isolate tumour cells. We're not quite sure what to do about that, but the ones in breast tissue are obviously out.

So, it is being treated as DCIS and the best treatment for DCIS is mx. So I went for both and am thrilled with the results. I am finished. No more treatment! No rads, chemo or reconstruction. I can get on with my life, my flat chest my only reminder.

No prophylactics either. As I said on another thread, I told a co-worker, "Why should I wear fake boobs to make YOU feel more comfortable?" I was a 42D.

I think that's why I'm so relieved and happy with my decision -- because it's over!

The waiting is the worst, I felt like a time bomb ready to go off. I felt like I was holding my breath, that I couldn't make future decisions, that I shouldn't buy new clothes or makeup. As I drove to work and back each day (2 hours total) I planned my funeral in my head, over and over. I picked music to play and pictures to show and everything! I cried driving to work and coming back home. Then when I got wherever I was going I was calm and in control. No one knew what I went through, except now you guys.

You are not alone. There are so many ahead of you leading the way, and so many behind, ready to give you a gentle push!