Tweety....we are meeting next weekend!  So if you are already cleaning this week...you really should meet up with us next weekend! Sounds like you need to get your priorities straight!  Ha ha!

Heal well Janet!

God Bless!

Thanks Flash, but been there, done that.

Guth's people gave me a "prescription" for a cami, but the lack of compression didn't really make sense to me given my intended lift & reduction procedure.  I asked the store lady who suggested I call Karp's office.  Neither the scheduling person or practice manager were in, so I was transferred to someone I hadn't spoken to before. She didn't know either but said if Karp wanted me in a compression bra, he'd just give me one as a freebie.

So....I bought the cami, the store lady said if I didn't use it she'd give me a refund.

I'd also like to have a compression bra that I know is comfy, just in case.  Because I imagine I'll be living in it for quite a while.   The cami doesn't seem to serve any purpose other than drain storage, and I could always pin them or put them in a fanny pack or something....so I don't know that I'd need more than one.  Also, I probably won't have drains as long as I'll have breast pain every time they move.  Unless they'll suddenly be so small they won't move anymore.  Now I'm babbling......

Store lady was awfully cute though. 

The whole morning, with Guth's scheduler and NYU's nurse educator lady who tells you what to expect form surgery - neither of them could answer any of my questions either - b/c my case/treatment plan is so atypical.   *sigh*

If I'm such a rare (hence glamour) case, I wonder how packed the OR will be with fellows and residents, and whether they'll be the ones holding the X-acto knife when I'm unconscious....  Signing  the consent form could get interesting.

They had some cute caps in the store, if anyone needs one.  A woman was trying on some new arrivals.

One of my friends called and left a message about going out in celebration of one last night with my boobs, or something like that.  Aside from the fact that I don't have the time, I'm not really in the mood to celebrate this.  It isn't too weird to NOT want to go out with your healthy-breasted girlfriends and talk about your impending breast cancer surgery, is it?    

Tweety - I'm glad you mixed up the date in your head, b/c I look forward to seeing you.

Thanks, Wendy!

Edited to add:  Hey, how'd the type get so big?

Sounds like it was great get together, what time and where are you meeting up next week? I usually get out of work at 3 on Fridays, so anything is possible.

Sweaty -- That's delightful (the Italian accent).  I'm at Sloan, actually, and love my PS.   They have many.  Too bad you weren't able to find one you liked.  That said, it sounds like you've got good people at NYU.

I don't blame you for skipping the burlesque.  I have, on occasion, if not crying at least a wistfulness sometimes when I see healthy women (or what looks healthy).  The truth is, you never know.  But I do understand.

Cheers,

Lilah

Cookie,

I read Angel's response and thought we were going to be meeting up 2 weekends in a row. The cleaning fumes must have killed off a few brain cells. I sure can't blame it on cancer brain anymore.

You guys are right about the sports bra's. I bought mine at a Vanity Fair outlet store, and they were dirt cheap. I think they were in the 3 - 4 dollar price range, and they gave me alot more support than the 1 or 2 expensive ones I bought at a "real" store. I don't know why, but I'm still holding on to them, and it's been 3 1/2 years since surgery. I would have thought by now I would have wanted to have a bra burning party.

Hi Lilah
I'm sure you told me but I have post anesthesia brain, who was your ps at sloan?

Hi Wendy -- my PS at Sloan is Dr. Pusic.  I really like her and how careful she is.  How are you feeling? 

Sweaty you keep making me laugh -- no bras at target so you got a shower curtain!  Are you a writer?  You are very funny.  How are you feeling?  For me the few weeks before surgery were the most emotional (except, of course, for the diagnosis weeks and the freaking out).  I agree with Cookie: get button down tops (or zip front) or tanks with armholes that you can slip on without having to raise your arms above your shoulders (if you keep your elbows to your side and try to brush your hair, that is a good measure of how much reach you'll have at first... but it gets better quickly, at least it did for me).  Also: if you take medicine, put it in NON-childproof cap bottles... those are so hard to open after surgery.

Lilah

My current shower curtain is nasty filthy and either needs to be cleaned or replaced.   I may not have the time or patience to clean it before surgery, so I might just put up the new one.  I'd been thinking about getting a new design lately anyway, I've had the old one forever.  I think I'm on the third version of it.  Or I might just clean the old one.  Or do nothing and live with the nasty.

The pj's I got are HUGE.  I decided I wanted something loose & baggy, so got men's XL.  Too much.  I'll try men's L next. 

While diff surgeons have had different ideas about this, I don't think Guth wants to do SNB unless path returns bad news.  One of the things I have to confirm with her this week.

But I'm all about the big & baggy right now anyway.

The bras...OK, I don't get it.  At all.  They're comfy enough - but how the F do you get them on?  The way I normally put them on, well, I noticed it seems to involve a lot of arm-raising; and closing the hook & eye thingies required a lof of fumbling with/smushing of my breasts.  I can't imagine doing that to them post-surgery.  I'm panicked that I'd pop an incision, a nipple would go flying across the room, I'd scream my head off in pain - I'm imagining a real horror-show.  How the heck are you supposed to get dressed???????  Do I need the zipper ones??  Velcro??  Have I been getting dressed incorrectly my entire life?  A "regular" bra doesn't give the same support, but it's a hell of a lot easier to get into!     (I so wish I'd bought one of these for the biopsies!)

Due to a midlife crisis career change, I'm a lawyer.  Dumbass move.  *sigh*

I'm veering between total mess and slow acceptance.

Had a fight yesterday with an old friend in Ohio who was calling to check in.  I'll have to apologize.  I didn't want to talk to anyone so didn't call her back after she'd left several messages, then she got hardcore and called 3x yesterday.  I finally picked up and basically yelled at her.  She was all crying and "I'm so relieved to talk to you, I was so worried about you," and I'm all "stop friggin harassing me, I'll call you when I have some news." 

This is the same friend who, when I told her about my diagnosis, started crying on the phone - which put me in the position of having to talk her down.  Just what I needed right at the beginning when I wasn't eating, had nonstop diahrrea anyway, and maybe 2 hours of sleep per night - my freakin' friends crying so I could take care of THEM!! 

On another past check-in call, she asked "Who's there with you?"  I'm single, no family - it was such a dumbass question, it really pissed me off.  So I've been keeping some distance.  Somehow it all becomes about her and how she feels so bad and is so far away, etc etc etc.  I have zero patience for a lot of things these days, and that sort of conversation is on the "I don't have time or energy for this" list.

If she ever asks me who's with me again, I might invent a husband and some kids.  Parents.  Siblings.  And a dog.

Still, I know she meant well and didn't deserve my yelling at her - so, an apology is in my future.  BAH!  BC has made my fuse much shorter than it previously was.

Sweaty -- tell that friend to get a spine and woman up / stop making herself a problem... or just stop talking to her for awhile.  Who needs that?

Also re: the bras... while I don't know exactly what you bought I will say this: the first week you are in a surgical bra and bandages and once you get the drains out you should be able to move more than you think you will be able to.  I thought, prior to surgery, that I'd be laid up for months but I was driving after a week and moving my arms and after 10 days the nurse (doing a fill) asked me to show her my range of motion and I duly raised my arm to shoulder height only and she shook her head and I said: But I thought nothing higher?!  And she said: well NOW you can reach up.  So I started stretching up.  Maybe it will be two weeks for you... but the point is: you'll be able to move pretty soon after and to raise your hands up, etc... just carefully.  Don't buy a whole new wardrobe.  Just a few things to wear comfortably. 

I do love the zip front sports bras though... pretty easy to get on and off and soft. 

Cheers,

Lilah

I went from surgical bra to sports bra, Sweaty, for what it's worth.  Didn't bother getting a post-surgical bra (not even really sure what that is).

Or maybe the surgical bra WAS the post-surgical bra?  I don't know.  It's the bra I woke up wearing (over bandages) in the recovery room.  It had velcro to hook the drains to (under each cup) and a velcro close front.  My PS wrote "DO NOT REMOVE" across the bandages on my chest so I didn't even SEE my chest until I had my drains out about 6 days post-surgery.  At that time I went right to the sports bra, which was like wearing butter after the surgical bra (and no shower for 6 days). 

I drove myself to the doctor's office to get the drains out.  I think that since I only had a unilateral MX (one side) I had an easier time recovering, since I was able to lean on my left side.  But after two weeks (for sure) I was able to do a lot with both arms (except opening those child-proof caps is STILL a bit of a challenge and I had my surgery Dec 9).

Lilah