February 2012 MX

Galsal,

I was fortunate.  I had an appt. with my BS and showed her my hard lump at the supposed DCIS site.  I told her that my underarm was even a little sore and I thought I must be nuts!  She said, no.  In my particular case (may not be for you- liked the idea of mention it to your doc. from Bogie) that the bores from the biopsy were what caused the hardening/lump and that my underarm was NOTpsychosomatic .  It too was a side effect of the 14 bores taken from the 11 o'clock position of my MRI vacuum assisted biopsy. 

Deborah 2012 

Deborah 2012

Beth, good luck with your meeting. You may want to look up everything you can on lymphnode removal and exercises etc to avoid lymphadema. Schedule a consult with a lymphadema specialist for physical therapy and education, it will help you understand and become educated. Surgeons don't touch on this much so I took the lead and scheduled mine. So glad I did since I knew nothing about it.



Blessing.. Good to see you and glad you stopped in as well to shed some light. (Blessings is on my Dec. surgery thread and a great help!!!) She is right, you recover at your own pace. I like that one! We had a gal running 5 mile marathons and I'm still taking naps at the same stage, we are all different is right!



Trying to gain more strength to go back to a demanding job by eating right, getting sleep when I can,stretching exercises, and walking.



You gals will do fine, hugs and best of luck. On to my next adventure to learn about hormone therapy.



God Bless,

Well Ladies, It's the final countdown!!  I'm really hoping that some of the ladies here are right and the anticipation of it all ends up being the worst of it.  Have lots to do before my BMX on Wed and after reading through the posts I've added a couple of things to the mix - so thanks for the heads up.  Good Luck to all of us and praying for speedy recoveries without complications;)

Weds. is my day also - BMX - it is so good to know I have you gals to communicate with....scared...thinking of pain meds that usually make me sick....hoping I can deal with all of it but I am sure I will....the waiting has been the absolute worse as you all know....Good Luck to us all and I too am praying for speedy recoveries....any advice on pain management...I do get sick to my stomach on pain meds...dr. is trying Dilaudid instead of the percaset class...I am hoping I just need arthritis strength tylenol but maybe I am just wishful thinking....trying to be strong for my family!!!!  Weds. can't come soon enough!!!!!  Hugs to everyone!!!!

Our week is finally here!!  I don't know whether to celebrate or cry....  I am so nervous!!  I am hoping the anticipation is worse than the actual recovery....from several posts that I've read, this seems to be the case for most.  Thank you, Lord!! 

Prayers to my beautiful Pink Sisters this week....we can do this!!!

~Karen

I am scheduled for a right prophylactic MX on February 10th.  I had a left MX last December.  Emotionally, this feels very different.  The first MX was nothing for me... it was a "have to"  I was just diagnosed and so much was happening SO fast.  This MX is a choice and happening to a healthy breast... much different feelings. 

 So glad I have you all!

L.

Deborah - I rented the hospital bed from a home-medical supply company. I also rented the over-the-bed table on wheels that goes with it. I got a fully electric bed, because we have a Tempurpedic mattress that I love, but trying to get in and out of it without the use of both arms is like swimming in Jello. I would say that most ladies did just fine in either their recliners or their beds, with a foam wedge (it's better to sleep propped up at first) and lots of pillows to find a comfortable arm position.

Ahhh..the lovely drains....I had two, some ladies have four. They're definitely a bother at first, but it is SO much better to have that fluid draining out of you, instead of staying in you.

My Breast Care Coordinator showed DH and me the way to care for them at one of our Pre-Op appointments. They are called Jackson Pratt drains, and there is lots of information about them if you Google it.

Imagine a long clear tube, about three feet long. At one end is a perforated, flattened part, maybe 8 inches long. This part is placed near where your surgery took place, inside you. The rest of the tube will exit your body through a very tiny incision, and will be stitched in place, so it's not like you're going to yank it out each time you move.

At the end of the clear tube that exits your body, you'll have a clear plastic bulb with a cap, that looks like a hand grenade. A combination of gravity and suction allows fluid inside your body to drain out into this bulb.

In the hospital, the nurses will take care of emptying the drains. They may fill up fast, and the fluid may be dark for a while. Some ladies have bandages over the incisions where the drain tubes exit; I was wrapped up in a giant Ace bandage for a week, so I never saw any of them.

There is a little flap near the top of the drain...all I did was use a diaper pin through the flap to pin it to my Ace bandage. However, there are all sorts of other ways to keep your drains close to you. There are camisoles, "Pink Pockets", and clothing with special pockets. I didn't use any of them, other ladies did and loved them.

When you get home, you'll need a place to empty your drains on a regular basis and log in the amount that collects in the bulb.

We cleared off a space in the bathroom, and had a caddy with alcohol wipes, surgical gloves, the measuring cups given to us in the hospital, and a waterproof pad I put on my lap in case something spilled. We also had a clipboard and pencil to keep the log we were also given.

DH - bless his heart! -did all my drain management.

You start by washing your hands, or in our case, putting on the gloves (DH used to be an EMT). Take the bulb out of the pocket or unpin it from your shirt/vest/whateer. Unplug the little cap at the top, turn the bulb over into the special measuring cup, pour the fluid out, and measure the amount. Be sure to write in the time, and the amount on the log.  Then you dump the fluid into the toilet.

Before you do anything else, you wipe the bulb plug area (hole and cap) completely with an alcohol wipe. This is SO important, as the drain tubes are direct access for germs to get back into the body. Once the bulb hole and cap are cleaned, squeeze the air out of the bulb, and put the cap back on tightly.

A hint to making sure the air is out...I would fold my empty bulb in half horizontally, then roll it towards the top. This got the maximum air out, and DH would put the cap back on. Good suction is how accumulated tissue fluid will get out of you.

Repeat on the other side...each drain needs to have its own log, as they are removed when the drainage gets below a certain amount. Then go ahead and pin the drains back on, or put them in the pockets, however you keep them.

Sometimes you will see yucky stringy stuff in the tubes. This is usually normal, and fluid will still drain. You may see the yucky stringy stuff in the bulb. Again, normal. The only time there would be a problem is if the drain tube itself is blocked, and at that point you'd want to strip the tubes.

To do this, get an alcohol wipe, or even a wet washcloth. Pinch the drain tube as close as you can to your incision, and hold it there. Then with the other hand, pinch the drain tube a little bit below there, and start squeezing the tube, and moving your pinched fingers down the tube.

If you're holding the tube tight to your body, you won't feel the "stripping" motion. Don't worry about breaking the tube, it is really very stretchy. We did this maybe twice, and truthfully, we never even had to. Fluid still drained no matter what we saw in the tubes.

As for drain removal, everyone is different. Some ladies experience brief discomfort, others....like me....don't feel a thing. I couldn't shower until both drains were out, and for me, that was two weeks, so I was thrilled. Other docs have different policies about showering with drains in.

Oh - one thing my PS told me.....as soon as my bulbs got half full of fluid, empty and measure them and start over. A bulb that is full does not have the suction it needs for continuous drainage.

AND - the fluid will change color as you heal...dark at first, more pink/straw-colored later on. I did notice that if I tried to do to much physically, the fluid would become darker, and that was my sign to lay low!

Hope that wasn't too much information!

Hugs....

Hi Mary and the ladies of this board

It's Alice the cat here. I have lurked on this site for a few weeks since I had an interim diagnosis on 4 January, HER2+ status on 11 January and a date for a mastectomy on 7 February 2012.

I can't tell you how good it has been to realise that I am not alone in this challenge - although I would prefer it if none of us faced this challenge.

The way I'm choosing to look at a mastectomy is this: I don't need the breast to feed children (never have) so it is purely there for decoration at this stage.

I love men, although they are infrequently infuriating, but hope one day, in the fullness of time, to meet a man who will see my mastectomy and eventual reconstruction as a badge of courage.

However, this is the first time I have posted on this forum. I still can't believe I am having a mastectomy on 7 February. 

My views re my right breast at this moment are not genial as I see this as the breast that is trying to kill me.

I am therefore very grateful for the skill of the surgeons and the nursing team in helping me to prolong my life.

At this moment in time, the possible rashes and/or sickness of chemotherapy seem like a minor irriation in my fight for life but I guess I may feel differently when I start it.

Thank you for listening.

Alicethecat

Barbiecorn, I get sick too from pain meds and anesticia so I ask for an anti-naseau during surgery and after. (they just put it in the IV). Works great!

I went into surgery saying, let's get er done..I want this SOB out of me and will keep fighting.



Stand tough, get into the zone and next thing you know relief it's over!

Sending Light, hugs, and best wishes to all of you with February surgeries.  Imagine warm arms holding you gently....

Wildrumara--I agree that I think the neoadjuvant was good for me especially with tumor size.  The follow up MRI showed quite a bit of decrease in the size of it and the lymph nodes looked better.  Probably not enough shrinkage or the right kind of shrinkage to consider a lumpectomy.  BS told me that ILC responds to chemo like swiss cheese and not a melting ice cube.  And as you said, with hormone positive tumors there's less response anyway.  I'm glad to have the chemo out of the way and to have had a pretty good response.  With ILC, I feel that I really need the BMX and since the status of my other breast was in question up until last week, it seems to be the right way to go.

Beth--I too am going directly to lymp node removal (axillary node dissection) and no SNB.  I had a fine needle aspiration of my lymph node right after initial diagnosis, and it was found to be cancerous.  I know that the lymph nodes can be visualized on the MRI.  I recently saw my first MRI and had the lymph nodes pointed out to me.  They looked like one gigantic mess of white where they had taken up the contrast fluid.  The one that was biopsied was 2 cm. There's been a pretty dramatic change since chemo on the MRI.  So I think it is possible that the MRI could show the need to remove the lymph nodes.  I had my fine needle biopsy before my MRI.  

Like all of you, I am waiting.  It's really hard! It's so helpful to know that others are feeling the same way.  Ever since I was diagnosed, I find myself asking "why" and wondering how I got into this situation with such a large tumor and lymph node involvement with seemingly no signs or symptoms and despite regular mammos and clinical exams.  But I've learned here that also I am not alone in that situation!

Dixiemine30- i will be on feb 2nd with you as well as a few other ladies we will do this together.

I have not had much time for crying since this started as things moved so fast with me but today for some reason i cannot stop crying. I guess the closer it gets the more real all this seems. I guess myself and i am sure some others out there i have read must feel denial and confusion in some way until the last minute. Confused as to why me and how did i end up like this as Mary said and people like myself are still waiting to wake up from this bad dream.

Mary- is the side they are taking lymph nodes your better side or both sides. I am right handed and am very relieved that it is my left side lymph nodes as i have heard it takes somewhat more healing for the nodes.

Beth--the lymph nodes are coming out of my left side and I am right-handed.  I am so thankful.  Up until just two weeks ago, I was afraid I would have to have SNB on the right side but I was cleared.  I am already having some tendonitis in my left arm, and it is weaker than my right or so said my Pilates trainer.  BTW, I am 49.  So many of us with ILC are not fitting the age profile. 

Dixiemine30,  my post after all the copying mess (see below) has the updated roster.  I apologize for the mess. Scroll to the bottom of the post. It has theupdated February list.  There are 22 of us.

I'm so embarrassed!  I thought it would be helpful.  I don't know how to delete it and start anew.

Yikes!

Deborah2012