June 2010 Mastectomy

Hi Ladies!

I wanted to stop by and say hi and with thanksgiving, I was thinking about how grateful I was for the members of BC.org, particularly the June Mx Ladies, and the DIEP 2010 ladies !   You will never know how important the messages where to me, and all the PM's when I needed to learn quickly what to do next after learning I was BRCA positive, following by my first MRI screen for stage 1 bc.  I have always been the type to "Take what I wanted and leave the rest" but I found very little to leave here....all was helpful and a journey that I am so humbled to know those of you who have had to endure so much more than I and yet do so with grace.  That's about it,,,,just grateful this week and approaching my hopefully last surgery Dec 22 !  Can't wait to ring in the new year !!!   Let's start the pary now!

I am getting excited to have the expander out and implant in! Friday is the day for me.

Laurie, my PS says that the surgery will take about an hour, and after I am in recovery for a few hours, I should be home by dinner. I don't want to spend the night at the hospital. No rest!!

I found an exchange surgery tape on You Tube last night and started to watch it, but stopped once I saw the knife going into the scar. I guess I just don't want to see what's going to happen.

Good luck to you as well. I am anxious for this to be over and not have to feel the lovely "iron breast plate" anymore.

Good luck, Renee! Let us know how you fare. I hope your surgery and recovery is quick and easy like mine was.

Laurie: I love your new picture!! Your kids are so cute!!! And you're getting nipples at exchange time! So cool! You'll be really happy with the result. I am sooooooo happy I did mine.

Today is exactly 6 months since my Mx. It's hard to believe that so much time has passed. I'm so glad to have all the surgery behind me. Next week I go to the oncologist for my 6 month check up. Do I really dare to hope that this whole thing is over? I'm kind of scared to think so. What if ... I don't even want to consider what if's.

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Facebook won't let me see the picture.

About the shelf, I don't think it's something that can happen while you have the tissue expanders in. I think it's more a result of the implant dropping and settling into place. The best person to ask, though, is Whippetmom. She posts on Exchange City, but answers questions like yours in the thread called Breast Implant Sizing 101 (or something close to that). My shelf was more like a gap (yes an empty hole) between where my natural tissue ends at the top end of my torso and where the implant ended up.

Yay Renee!  So glad you had a great experience today and are feeling well.  Thank you for taking a moment to update all of us, I know I was thinking of you today.  I hope you sleep well with this all behind you.  Sending you a gentle hug

Hi Ladies,

I'm due for my exchange on Tuesday, so please hold good thoughts for me. Can't wait, and also feel like it's another surgery in a series of surgeries, in a year that we all have had so many surgeries! Boobs from Santa, though, very wonderful. How long is the recovery for both, I wonder since I'd had a BMX...anyone have any tips? 

Melissa: You will be in my thoughts and prayers, too. I can't tell you about the recovery for a bilateral exchange, but I think you'll find that this is soooooooooo much easier than the recovery from the MX. Please come by when you're done with this surgery and let us know how you're doing.

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Lisa, I really needed to read your post today, thank you so much for the words of encouragement!  I went for my pre op appt today to see my PS and go over my surgery etc.  I hadn't seen him since the end of August.  I walked in thinking- yup no big deal a quick surgery I'll be back to normal in a few days.  Instead he said it will be about 2 1/2 hours and I am looking at 14 days of restrictions.  Meaning two weeks of  not being left alone with my boys.  He said he might normally say a week but where my TE's have shifted toward the outside a bit he wants to do some procedure (I don't remember the name) and basically do some sutures to my rib cage again to put the implants in a nice placement where they won't be able to shift on me again.  I totally agree with him, I think I was just surprised.  I kept thinking of this as not "real surgery" but he has me taking lots of vitamin C from here on out, I have to wash with the antibacterial soup twice a day for three days prior, everything I had to do the last time.  Made me realize it IS real surgery.  BLAH!!!!

On a good note, today is my youngest son's first birthday!!  Hard to believe a year has gone by.  Tonight we get to go to a kids Christmas party at my husbands work where they get to decorate sugar cookies and meet Santa and get a present, I am sooooo looking forward to it!  (So are the kids

I hope everyone had a great day.

Piece of cake! Their schedule was running late, and my surgery took over four hours. So happy!! Laurie, don't let all the preliminaries get you going. I feel a bit sore, and have an ace bandage wrapped around so all I can do is peek a bit, but feel so free around my sides already without those TEs nailed to them. I did come home with a drain on either die, but don't care, had them before nad they are not a big deal. Your doctor is taking exccellent care of you. I also packed my nostrils with Polysporin the night beore. No problemo, as they say here in LA. Not sure whht your doctor says, but mine had me take valium the night before, then again at the hospital while waiting to go to OR. It reallty helps be calm so you need less anesthesia. You will be so happy! Gotta get some sleep now, but thanks again everyone for your support.

Congratulations Melissa, Renee on your exchange. We've all come a long way in six months - is some ways it seems like much longer than that....

Congratulations, Jeanne, on completing school right in time for your milestone birthday. 50 and fabulous, right? Good luck on the job hunt - I seem to remember you were getting your degree in social work which is also my field.

Thank you all again for being there through this journey.

Aw, Renee! I'm sorry you're having to deal with an infection now. Don't worry too much about how your implant looks right now. It will change as the weeks go on. Give your skin and muscle time to relax after this latest surgery. Soon you'll have the miraculous drop and fluff.

Jeanne: Happy birthday and congratulations to you!!! Two great milestones for you! I'll confess that I do forget about stupid bc for days on end, remembering only when I shower or change clothes. If only we didn't have to shower ... lol!

Melissa: I'm so glad to read that you made it through the surgery easily. Isn't life without tissue expanders grand?

Laurie: Happy birthday to your little one!! Don't worry too much about your upcoming surgery. It is a real surgery, but nowhere near as "major" as what you've already been through. I'm glad your PS is doing whatever pocket work he needs to do to get your look just right. You certainly don't want to have to do this again in a few months!

Jane: It's amazing to think that we're all 6 months past our MX. I went to my oncologist today for my 6 month check-up. All is well and I'll see her again in June. It's all very routine.

I hope everyone's enjoying the preparations for the holidays! I think I may have actually finished all my Christmas shopping today. (I took the whole day off after my doctor's appointment so I could have a little retail therapy. Ha!)

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Hi everyone!  Just thought I would pop in and see how everyone is doing?  I also had a question for those of you who have gone through the exchange surgery.  Did you have to sleep upright again like after the mastectomy surgery, could you lay on your side?  This is what I was thinking about last night as I was trying to go to sleep.  Emphasis on the trying part

I also wanted to rant for a minute and see if anyone here relates to this-- with all the holiday shopping I have been out and about more than usual and bumping into people who have no idea that I had BC or a BMX and have another surgery ahead of me.  When I see these people almost every single one of them complains about something so trivial it irritates the hell out of me.  I saw a woman today I hadn't seen in probably two years.  I ask how are you?  And she goes into this 10 minute long story about how tired she is, she's been helping take care of her grandson a few days a week and her husband sprained his ankle and blah blah blah.  (this woman is in her late 40's) And in my mind I am thinking really?  Really?  I had a baby, I had cancer, I had both my breasts removed and I am not done, you want to talk about tired?  You want to talk about hardships?  Because mine is nothing compared to what a lot of woman on here are going through with chemo and radiation and surgery and this woman is complaining!!!!  Instead I agree, yes that sounds hard, yes yes....Oh me?  I am great thanks, busy with the boys, they grow so fast....etc.Does anyone else just want to blurt out how YOU really feel just so you can watch their jaw drop and maybe stop complaining for a moment?  To be honest there is two reasons why I don't.  1.  Then they will want to hear all about everything and that would mean standing there longer with my two boys staring at me saying come on let's go!  And if they were a part of my life they would already know.  2.  It would just make for good gossip for when they call their other friends.

See now I feel better!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day- hugs to you all.