February 2012 MX

KP - I'm glad you are done and starting to heal. Each day it will get better and better.



My mx was preventive for both breasts. Ha. I had every test known to man at least twice and nothing was ever seen. That is why they did not take any nodes. All they ever found was ALH and ADH. Tell everyone you know that nothing - not even MRI's can see things in very dense tissue.

Thanks Susanes. I do so appreciate your support. Jill

Sorry to hear your news farmerlucydaisy

But i am glad it worked out in this strange way for you to find it before it grew and spread. Good luck to you that your nodes are clear. My prayers are with you.

update-I sill have 3 drains and no shower - i am sure to win the grunge award at this rate. The drains are still at about 30-60 a day. I finally see my surgeon on wed feb.29th i am hoping to hear good surgery results i am keeping my fingers and toes crossed. She said the tumor looked to measure at 9cm or more and many,many enlarged nodes so hopefully getting the BMX and all nodes out on cancer side wiped everything out. It was hard to hear after surgery that she was not sure how things are going to go or that we need to hope the chemo gets rid of everything. It would suck to find out i did all this for nothing. Sorry i am feeling a bit uneasy,worried and depressed this week need to grumble abit. I have had a huge fear of dying all of a sudden. I guess the cancer diagnosis is finally sinking in over a month later.

Hi ladies!

Im BACK!  2 days post uni MX!!! 

Janice, are you back yet?  (she went on the same day as me)

Compared to the 2 1/2 mos hellish wait for operation, it was a breeze!!!!!  My PS was awesome!!!!  And, I opted for a saline implant and I actually still have cleavage!!!!!  I can't believe it!  She also was able to save some aerola tissue too!  I am THRILLED!!!  My drains aren't hardly leaking at all!!!!  And, no lymph node involvement at all!!!!  My PS also didnt use stiches...she used skin glue.  I'm soooooooo happy, I could sing at the top of my lungs! 

Now, that being said, I am on meds, which is probaably also why Im so happy, but who cares?  I REALLY, REALLY thought that this would be more difficult and harder emotionally than it was!  I think I was sooooo prepared for it to be much worse, I'm just happy....

 (now, of course, ask me how I feel later when I've come down off of this medicine high....and the pain sets in....geesh.....

Hugs to all,

Debbie

Vicky -  My dog Lucy is a lab-mix.....we got her five years ago at the local Animal Friends, best dog ever!!   I have three beautiful children who I love with all my heart, but I have my dog as my avatar!  Go figure!  She's been such a nice companion since my diagnosis six months ago! 

Beth65 - I am so sorry you are feeling bummed.  Too often I allow myself to go to that "dark place".....I hope when you see your doc this week some sort of treatment plan will be discussed and you will forge ahead......I will pray for you!

Daisy - What a shock that must have been for you....I am sorry that you now have to deal with this....it's not easy, but you are in good company here on these boards and we will help answer any concerns or questions you might have.....

I am now counting down to the big day.....4 more days.  It's unbelievable.  I've never had a stitch nor a broken bone.......time to put my big girl panties on!!   I hope I'm not a big baby!!!!  I have no ideal what real pain is! 

Hello Ladies! I am back from unimastectomy. I feel pretty good, stayed overnight got sprung at noon today. I am only on tylenol right now, I thought they were putting drugs in my iv, but they weren't, so it was like placebo effect at the hospital! Was so hard to sleep because I shared a room with a woman who had sleep apnea, so three times last night the alarms went off because she stopped breathing!  The nursing staff would rush in to get her settled back and breathing. then, this morning she kept saying the hospital staff tried to kill her! No, they were trying to save her.

I have a percoset prescription, think I might need it to sleep tonight.... tried to nap, my bed is so flat, I was worried about drains and drainage not being able to drain due to me being flat....

I tried to peak at the incision, a little bit scared so I only looked down to about where the gauze was stuck. I take packing out tomorrow, hopefully a visiting nurse will be coming. I have been able to empty 2 drains with my hubby's help. 

I had SNB done, the nuclear medicine injection was not too bad, like a bee sting, but the feeling goes away after no more than a minute. BS says the node looked okay, he will be letting me know results of all pathology in about a week... I am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get upgraded and it stays DCIS diagnosis.

So happy to hear from everyone else, sorry for the news you got farmerlucydaisy. Prayers for you and everyone else!

Steph

farmerlucydaisy, I also had IDC in left breast.  Originally said .7 but turned out to be 1.5 cm and at the time of MX (2/6/12) surgeon said my nodes looked good and only took four but one turned out to have cancer so I just had surgery on 2/21/12 to remove more nodes and got the report yesterday that they were all negative so I don't know my treatment plan yet either.  I'll let you know when I find out what is next.  Hang in there!  Hope everyone gets a good nights sleep!

Deborah2012,

This latest tumor was found just as the first one was.....by regular mammogram.  Weird how this one wasn't seen the year before and grew to the size it was (3.2cm).  Anyway, nothing was done after my first trip down cancer lane with the exception of yearly mammograms and cancer tumor markers done by oncologist.  I have absolutely no history of BC so if you do they may be more vigilant with you.  But as I have learned no one will take care of you - you MUST be your own advocate!  If you feel that you need more tests on a yearly basis then push for them.  Don't take no for an answer.

Maybe I could have changed my lifestyle after last time and the beast MAY not have come back.....but who really knows?

10 days post op and will see PS tomorrow.  Hopefully will get these drains out!  I have come to loathe them!  Wishing  you all the best!  Namaste'.

Janice - Ditto about the back scratcher! Glad you are healing well. Me too. Walked this a.m. and went to church and lunch with fam. Switched to tylenol now. Time for a nap!

Glad youre back, janice.  and its great having your daughter help you.

unfortunately, i have been unable to tolerate the pain meds without vomiting, so this is difficult for me.

and, galsal....i have the same spot...but instead of itching, its swollen to another boob size (im exaggerating here, but it looks like a mini boob!

gotta go and lay down....hopefully tomorrow i will feel better....and the same goes for everyone-

Deb

No TE's but still have the feeling that I am either in a corset, a bra that's two sizes too small or an ace bandage. My BMX was on 2/6. I am so ready to get over the tightness in the chest and arms!



I have had very dry skin right below the mammary folds, but no itching. I am wondering if it's a reaction to the Betadine or whatever anti-bacterial they used on the skin. I found that I was pretty much covered in Betadine. My sister took baby wipes and rubbed a lot of it off of me, and I spent the first couple of showers trying to get rid of it.

Mary625....ditto on the dry skin.  I've never had dry and skin and I am dried out all over it seems.

DebbieOs,

I was so surprised to see you post so soon after your surgery.  Congratulations on all the positive surgical outcomes.  You went directly to squishies!  Both you and Katie1388 are the areola flagship gals for us. 

I am sorry you are nauseous from meds.  I've only had mild nausea with the anti-biotic pill I take twice a day for naturally- the blasted drain infection prevention project (it is working).  My PS lets me take the anti-biotic with food now. Problem solved.  Perhaps that might be an option for you?

I like you am amazed at how some of our sisters undergo a BMX.     

 Deborah2012

How many of us are awake at 3 a.m. and reading these posts. Hmmm This has been one hell of a month. I'm not sure why life has to be so hard, but I hope to get out of the emotional valley soon. Thank you all for being there. Jill

Dixie, mine was 2/10.  Unfortunately, it got where I couldn't sleep more than an hour or two in the recliner.  Which is why I decided to try the bed.  You're trying to sleep on your side?  Haven't even tried that.  Sleeping flat on my back.

Bought one of the Amoena camisoles.  Wish I'd had it from day one of returning home though.  At least there would have been some where to attach and hide the drains when I did go out in public (ie, only to the post-op appts though).  I don't see that the accompanying fluffly light foobs can be worn right now though, seems like things would be far too tender to have anything much up against it.

Quite difficult at this time of clothing season to find camisoles with shelf bras, even for Fla.  Instead, I'm wearing a sports bra.  Have two different ones....Carol Wior with a zip up front and either FOTL or Hanes with snaps up the front.  That gives some support to the floppy bits left from the skin-sparing surgery.  

I'm not feeling very brave today though.  Returning to work this week on a part-time daily basis.  Don't know how I'll hold up to the looks from others and the people wanting to be kind but aren't as much as they think.   I bought several different colors of tank tops to wear under blouses for the white ones.  On the plus side, have many blouses that wouldn't button before the surgery.  DOH