February 2012 MX

Thanks for that Farmerlucydaisy...with 5 days still to go the thought of a happy place is a great place to be...

Hi ladies - Great to hear from so many of you!!!  Thanks again for your comments.  Those of you with surgery tomorrow, you truly will be in my thoughts and prayers tomorrow.  Anxious to hear your stories post-op.

I was planning on a uni-mx until I got the results of my post chemo MRI and they found two additional small foci suspcious for cancer. Although we are certain that these new foci are cancer (will know for sure after final pathology) it really scared me.  If it is cancer again, it means that chemo did nothing to stop it, and these new lesions will be the fourth lesions found in one breast.  If my one breast can make this much cancer, then so can the other.  Thus, I made my decision to have them both taken off.  Plus, I too have a strong family history with my mother, my aunt, two 2nd cousins, one of which was a male.  I am BRCA-neg though. 

Six more days...can't believe it!!   Again, thank you for all the tips.  Please keep them coming.

Hugs to you all! 

i keep telling my husband that the first thing i want to hear fro him post-op is whether or not the nodes are free of cancer. anyone else that way?

I have decided on a bmx with te expanders.  also, do you ladies think that  it helps to have visitors other than immediate family visiting in the hospital, or do you just need the rest?

wildrumara, your dog. what type is he?  50 years ago we haad a dog that looks just like yours [ginger] and i have never seen one since.

Glad you're all under control. Yep had the BS whole office laughing about If the Always maxi pad people only knew what we do with their products..LOL. Soaking up spills when you run outta paper towels and just on the way out to the grocers...LOL. Glad my son is away at Paris with his friends,nobody here to be embarrassed but me & the dogs and the fiance and the home health nurse and the weird guy who sits in the park everyday casing my house...hmmm..

Please please help me,  I just got my path report and my so called prophylatic mastectomy turned out to be IDC grade 2. I have no idea what this means.

I have no idea what to do. I have done high risk screening for 20 years. I had two MRI's in the last two years, about 6 mammos, ultrasounds. I had my breasts removed as a preventive measure. What the hell. What they found is 1.1 cm IDC grade 2. Does anyone know what this means?

I don't know about margins. The breast is gone. This sucks. They are going to do more work on the tumor and let me know next week. They are also referring me to an oncologist. This really sucks.

Thank you Carolyn. My husband called back and got more info. The tumor is 1.1 cm grade 2. They are testing the receptors and what not now. The BS said mammos and MRI typically pick up stuff around 1 cm. They did not test nodes before, but will decide about that with oncologist. Thanks again.

BTW - the really sucks!

Yep thats right farmerlucy, the IDC grade 2 is one grade higher than me. I had it and got 2 nodes sent to lab both were negative and  clean margins,they are sending me and my reports to the oncologist next wk and expect him to put me on Tamoxifen but if you only have one breast done they usually send you to radiation,as I had both done there is nothing left to radiate so they try to decide if chemo or Tamox usually. Hope yours turns out ok and you can get away with only Tamox,its not fun to take I guess...ask the others on here who take it??

Hi All,

Well, no surprise.  The darn drain is still in.  This is like day 21 of the hostage crisis!

wrsmith2x:  I see that you had BC in 2007 and then again in 2011.  In 2007 it was caught at a stage 1 and in 2011 it was caught at a Stage 2a?  I am asuming that I will be on a hypervigilant regimen of monitoring my remaining breast via mammos, ultrasounds etc. Is that what happened with you after the first episode in 2007?  It just seems that given my history, they better detect if anything starts acting up in myremaining "clear" breast before it gets to a 3 cm size.  Any klwords of experience for me? Thnx

farmerlucydaisy;  on breastcancer.org above the pink title band you might want a refresher and select the white tab about diagnosis and breast cancer types.  They have a really good print out for what questions to ask your oncologist regrading the final pathology report/s.  You needn't read every single item.  Just open it up and decide if it gets to the heart of your questions. Based on your pathology, it's a good thing you had both breasts removed.  Were you thinkiong you weren't going to need any future preventive treatment (chemo, rads, or hormone therapy)?  If you were expecting that you were going to have follow-up treatmentpost the BMX anyway, then BC showing up in the non-suspicious breast may or may not alter what you were going to do anyway.  It good for your BC team to have all the information that they got from your "sneaky" breast. It will likely help you get better treatment.  I don't recall what your node status was. Wishing you well.

Cajmi.  That sounds about right.  You had DCIS, zero nodes.  I had IDC & DCIS zero nodes.  Makes sense that youwon't require HT.

Diximine30.  Thank you for the fill information.  Super timely. My PS will fill me with 50cc on Tuesday. He showed me the magnet dealie and located my valve under my skin.  It turned out to be directly under my scar.  I asked him if he meant to do that? He said the TE valve can shift a bit but that it being directly under the scar is an area where I would have the least sensation. Aparently the valve can move a little bit.  Will see if stays put for Tuesday.

Onc DX: Dropped in without an appt. at my onc because her office is down street from PS office when I was done with that appt.  Good thing.  They had to remind the pathology lab that their office that they were rapidly approaching their time limit to do the onc DX.  They hadn't started it yet.  I will take up to 7 biz days before I get the results.  Just another wait. 

Nel & Galsal- congrats on the drain removals from your delighted( although envious) Feb. sister.

Mary625- That really stinks! What lousy developments. So sorry to hear.  As you likely well know there is a lymphedema information tab (in additon to a discussion board for the LE ladies) in case you need it at breastcancer.org. 

 Here are ladies who we  have not heard from after their surgeries: HardtimeNY, Likeachickadee, elliegk, dragonfly,Tangela, TJP071,Hopeful123, and I am unsure if Lynnbrooks1 (2-13-12) and jocelynlaly (BMX) 2-16-12 have posted?  The others would be too soon.  

Deborah2012

November,

Good to hear from you.  I think you had internal bleeding or something at some point?  How have you been?

Deborah2012

Hi Deborah2012-yes I did have bleeding on the R surgical site. I had to go back to the OR; the surgeon re-opened the site and cleaned it. I lost a lot of blood and I already had iron deficiency anemia. I got tired very easily the first 2 weeks after surgery but I am much better now. I had blood work done today, not sure of the results yet but I feel great.

How are things for you? 

LLinAz-glad you are home; speedy recovery; try to stay on top of the pain for the first few days because it is more difficult to control otherwise but you should start feeling better in a couple days; don't forget the stool softners either and drink plenty of water which would help with bowel movements as well

Deborah2012 -- My valve moved a little from the first fill to the second. Maybe next time it will be where I am numb....maybe :-)  Let me know how your fill goes.