February 2012 MX

Carolyn, yes it is incredible how different surgeons sem to have different opinions om compression wear, types of bras, etc. I have read on some of the reconstruction sites that some PSs didn't want their patients in anything but sport bras for months; others wanted underwire bras for support of the new breast; others say ABSolutely NO underwire. Some have their DIEP and TRAM patients in the compression girdles 24/7while others don't push it at all. So much of our treatment seems subjective it can maddening...how are we supposed to know what is best when the doctors can't agree?



For now, I am in the torture girdle my PS sent home with me. It is very thick and tight..the kind off fabric you think,of from girdles from the 1950-1960s. It's a longline garment too..covers my torso all the way up to just under my breast, with heavy tummy panel to push hard on the abdominal incision and it continues all the way down my thighs. My husband finds it hysterical.. He teases me and tells me its incredibly sexy bc it has an inch of lace on the legs! Like I said..it is extremely uncomfortable..but I do feel it pressing on that abdomen and that is what is supposed to do..help those tissues knit together.



This is what the fat necrosis along the abdominal incision felt like...hard lumps and I mean really hard just below the surface of the skin beneath the suture line. And like you, I am cut from past one hip bone to the other. The fat necrosos felt like hard ropes all across the abdomen. I can see that I will have the little dog ears people mention..little extra flaps of skin at ends of the abdominal suture..PS says he will remove the during Stage 2. I wear the Torture Girdle as much as I can..stand ..at least 15-18 hours a day. But when I absolutely can't stand it and need a break I switch to Spanx that I got at Lane Bryant. The Spanx are what used to be called a panty girdle" but the material is softer and doesn't dig into me so badly. It does not give as firm of tummy support as the compression girdle from hospital but I will wear the Spanx for an hour or two just to give myself a mental and physical break. For bras I found two good sports bras. They were expensive..$68 apiece but worth it. I got one at a specialty bra store and ordered the other one online. I can see being in those for a long time until the swelling in the new breasts goes down. The sports bras seem to provide good support without digging in or hurting the incisions o the new breast.



Someone else mentioned ongoing nausea. I still have mild nausea too.. I think it is from the pain meds. I was trying to wean off Percocet bc of the nausea and constipation, but since I had yet another surgery 2 days ago it's just not possible yet. I am lucky in that I can take the pills for nausea (promethezine?)but even with that I get "the queasiness" and have tried some other home remedies. Tru drinking ginger ale or ginger tea.. Stick to bland foods. Popsicles help me too for some reason.



Hope everyone is making good progress! Hang in there and lets keep sharing tips. I know I have gotten more helpful tips here than from my doctors, that is for sure!

PelicangirlSpeechpro

Am I the only February girl who has had axillary node dissection two weeks after MX to remove more lymph nodes?  If not, just wondering how you are feeling?  I was doing great after the MX but this has really set me back on my ROM.

Deborah,

I saw my PS today and they too noticed a GIANT hematoma on the incision site....they said that they were surprised as it should've swelled my chest, but didn't, and I should've had lots more pain than I had.  They are squeezed it for about a 1/2 hour (oh, the joy...) and they're having me put triple antibiotic over it and are seeing me this upcoming Monday.

Pelicangirl....yes, I was one of those with TONS of nausea...spent last night in the urgent care again...gads.  They gave me zophran, phenergen, raglan (sp?) and atavan!  What a cocktail!  However, this morning I feel great once again..Phew.  I'm back to eating applesauce and gingerale for a while however.  I think my problem was that I was trying to cure the constipation first with raisin bran, etc, without really realizing how that was going to upset my stomach..  So, I'm focusing on the stomach first...once that's under control again...then the constipation....

3rd fill yesterday!!.  For some reason it didn't bother me as much as the first two...yes, I felt tight and "full" but not as much discomfort.  We went shopping and even took the scenic route home.

Last night while trying to sleep and this morning....YIKES!!....pressure!!  A sports bra, a muscle relaxer and a 1/2 hour later...I was right as rain again.  I don't know why my brain didn't come up with that solution at 2:00 am....duh!

Hey ladies - Thanks for the words of encouragement.  I have to share with you.  Had a home health nurse come in today......when she looked at my new foobs she gasped and said "These are the nicest set of reconstructed breasts I've ever seen"......Her comment actually put me in a pretty good mood!!   I think I deserve some good news........anyway, had to share with you.  Glad I did the direct to implant....kuddos to my plastic surgeon!!! 

Pain seems to be under better control today.......took a shower which actually wiped me out, but now that is over, I'm glad I did.  My husband is such a trooper....he got soaking wet trying to help me and I'm yelling at him when all he was trying to do was help!  Trying to figure out what to do these three drains, besides hiding them in the inside pockets of a sweatshirt....any ideas???

I will definitely keep you posted on my final pathology report.  Should talk to surgeon's office on Monday. 

I had my post op visit with my BS yesterday.  I received an "amended" pathology report....WTH.

Intermediate grade ductal carcinoma in-situ, cribiform and solid patterns with necrosis, 2.5 cm in greatest extent; two foci of microinvasion present (each less than 1mm); deep margin negative for malignancy; fibrosystic changes; benign nipple.

Also, she thought she got a lymph node but it isn't showing up in the sample.  She said if it was her she wouldn't go back and get a node, there was such a teeny-tiny chance there would be anything there and the risk far outweighed the possibility.  She said I could make an appointment with a MO if I wanted to but they would tell me the same thing.  Ugh!

Hi Dixiemine30,

"That sucks!  I want to understand more about your crap"

I don't recall the details of your orignal final path. report.  If I umderstand your post, you have a microinvasion that no one knew about until the BMX. So, iIf one has a "microinvasion" does that put you (and Gina9195 also) into the IDC and DCIS category (Stage 1)?  Or do you stay DCIS? How are microinvasions treated is what I'm curious about. I'm getting that lymph information in some cases is sought post the BMX/MX and in other cases (oronc. preference) they are not.

Also, prior to your BMX, did you have DCIS is one or both breasts?  Were the microinvasions limited to the suspect breast or both (if you had a prophylactic BMX)?  

Wow. If I was a DCIS woman following this thread, I would ask BEFORE- if I have the option of a SNB while I'm undergoing a MX or BMX.

Thanks for the fill information and tips for soreness.  

Deborah2012 

Katie1388,that is really poopy that the hosp just found out it was multi focal. However,they might have been waiting on the final path report and just not yet have known. My surgeons had all warned me that things could change up to the final path report and then we would wait and send the finals to the oncol cuz he could not do anything for me without the final surg path. Been taking Arimidex for a few days now he gave me and its suppose to make you gain weight but I have dropped almost 10 lb since Wed whoohoo,get rid of all the pre surg flab I was so anxious I was eating day and night to sooth my nerves. The Ari does give me drenches at night,hot flash and anxiety out of nowhere but so far not noticed any joint pain yet.

Wildrumar-did you do bmx with immediate implants? I have heard of those but never saw too much about women who had it done that way. I imagine it would be better than the TE which are the 2 alien babies on my chest,I already gave birth to the one in my stomack aka the Q pain pump LOL

Carrots for constipation? have to try that,I love the organic baby carrots but I guess you mean the regular long carrots cuz I think the baby org are pre peeled. They look like they are. I ate some prunes but nothing happened and took Ex Lax and Colace,every time I take the Tramadol or tyco#3,the plumbing acts up. Never had that problem b4 bc. I guess my life is now divided into BBC(before breast cancer) and ABC (after breast cancer)

Fiance moving out today,it will be nice to no longer have mud tracked in and leaves. I am chafing at the bit cuz the PS says no sweeping and no vacumning til 6 wks is up and no lifting over 10 lb. (altho I am sure the door to my hosp room must have took a great force to get it open so I could do my little walks past the dr and nurses so they would think I was better and let me out of purgatory aka the hospital)

Layla- it didnt have anything to do with the pathology report. I had a lumpectomy clea margins, the multifocal was seen on my original mri and mammo images from the first hospitAl. The first hospital was lazy or fucked up. I was just answering as to why i had chemo before bmx, when i was only stage1. Thankfully none of this matters bcuz chemo did its job and my bmx path report completely clear no cancer anywhere

Layla - The procedure that was performed on me is called oncoplastic surgery.  There are only a few dozen doctors in the country who perform this.  Yes, I went straight from a double mastectomy to implants.  No tissue expanders.  There is quite a bit of information regarding this procedure on this forum.  Its called a skin-sparing direct to implant reconstruction using Alloderm.  I live in Pittsburgh and my doctor was actually trained in NYC when he lived there 10 years ago.  It really is wonderful.  Not everyone is a candidate though. 

Now that two positive nodes were found and radiation may be in my future, these implants might not do as well with radiation as say tissue expanders, but I will worry about that at the time.  May have to have some tweaking done.....So bummed because they really do look good, even all swollen and bruised (LOL

a bed pillow works well!!

Nel,

I am squeamish.  I can see blood, but I have never been able to look at gory stuff, surgical photos etc.  For example, when the news says "warning some scenes may be graphic or distrubing"- I don't look. 

Prior to my MX, I wanted to see what a post MX breast site would look like (the healed scars).  I had seen the MX diagrams (cartoon renderings) in the brochures from the BS handout pamphlets.  I was afraid that in my search for viewing an actual healed MX I would stumble on some live you tube in progress MX surgery or something like it. Here's my personal journey of being able to look at my own scar. However, for me my fear was avoiding something gory, repulsive in appearance, or graphic.

1. I was able to eventually find a photo on line (could have had someone else locate one for me, too) that showed a BMX (I'm a MX) that obviously had a TE.  I was at first a bit shocked. I quickly looked away.  Didn't want to look at it again-two giant white horizontal scars across the entire breast/s- no nipples.  

2. In the hospita,l I had DH look when PS came to seeme post op.  I didn't look at it.  I didn't even look down.  DH didn't flinch and his genuine reaction was that it looked good. It also had the steri-strip piece of tape over the incision.

4.  When I gopt home after I slept some, I could see that I had a good-sized bump for a breast (TE), knew the actual incision had some modesty with steri-strip covering it, recalled DH's reaction, and decided to look down first. Remember my fear was all about the "gory" not the I"m disfigured. Not bad at all.  Some discoloration but not a big deal.

5. Next day, stood in front of mirror and looked at my torso with the steri-strip taped foob.  It was not gory.  I did feel sorry for my poor body.  I thought, awwww you have really been through a battle-zone.  It was really weird.  It was like it was a separate animus from me. I also had the node removal scar with black threads too by my underarm.  My poor body.  It's ok.  I feel good and I'll take care of us.  I gave myself a few days to get accustomed to my foob with the modesty steri-strip.  I got used to seeing myself in the mirror and how it looked on my torso.  I would alcohol wipe it and care for it.  It made my existing breast look saggy.  Hmmm, this may turn out to actually wind up being an eventual improvement.

6.  Next step.  I closely examined the incision with the steri-strip on.  I could see a black line and a little bit more about the size and width of the scar.  It was big, reddish.

7.  At my PS first visit, he went to remove the steri-strip.  I nervously admitted I hadn't peeked. He said I could look away.  DH was there and again- no reaction of revulsion.  I looked down.  I had an earthworm and I could see black line stuff.  I was ok. So my first naked viewing was in the presence of PS and DH.  I don't think I walked over to the mirror in the room and looked at it on my torso.  I asked that the steri-stsrip be re-applied.

8. After a couple of days, I gently removed the steri-strip, wiped it with alochol. and it no longer was an issue.   

9.  It heals super fast!  I no longer have the earthworm.  It is almost flat, pink not red, no black line stuff etc. no discoloration.  Now, I am happy to see it.  It is the model of where my other saggy boob is headed- upwards! 

Nel, I guess what I'm sharing is that you might want to think about specifically what is the frightening part of looking?  That you have "hurt" or wounded your once intact body, that it is the simple gory aspects of it that are disgusting/scary, that you worry that you may damaged goods or unattractive, or some other reasons?  Once you get that sorted out, you may think about meaningful steps you could do that would address the fear before you decide how to gradually plan to "undress" your surgery site and accept your body in it's wannabe underconstruction stage.

Deborah2012

I had a weird experience today, sort of similar to what you are describing. I also had a skin sparing bmx and above the snb site, I had a big bulging lump, hard as a rock. I think it was a muscle spasm, but should I have a big muscle bulge here? It is the area of breast tissue (fat?) next to the armpit. It softened up after I laid down, but it is still swollen in this area.



I have been feeling pretty good these past two days so maybe this is from overdoing it a bit. That is, if you consider sitting up chatting with a friend for a few hours and then eating dinner, at the table, overdoing it.



Has anyone else had an experience like this?