December 2011 Surgeries - want to wait together?

Options
1…4546485051…73

Comments

  • Moonflwr912
    Moonflwr912 Member Posts: 6,856
    edited April 2012

    Yay, Spunky

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Member Posts: 1,035
    edited April 2012

    Great news Spunky!!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Member Posts: 1,035
    edited April 2012

    And, in other news, because my life's not exciting or complicated enough, I got rear-ended on the way to work this morning. YAY!!

     [ETA] I'm OK, the car's mostly OK, probably needs a new bumper, the kid's OK, so overall it's OK, just more complications in my life. Woohoo.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited April 2012

    Yay, Spunky!!!!

    Boooo, Cookie, on the rear-ender....

    RE your clothes rubbing on your steri-strips....not sure where they are, but is there a way you could loosly wrap an Ace bandage around them so no rubbing takes place?

    That would eliminate the need for a bandage that would cause allergies....and keep your clothes from touching them.....

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Ginger48
    Ginger48 Member Posts: 1,978
    edited April 2012

    Yay spunky-what a relief!



    Cookie- I wore loose yoga pants to work. They kind of hung like dress pants.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • QuinnCat
    QuinnCat Member Posts: 3,456
    edited April 2012

    Hey Cookie - I hope no whiplash and atleast it wasnt' your fault!  I hit my first car in my whole life on my way back from seeing the doctors in pdx about 6 weeks ago...I backed into a cop car!  Kind of convenient; don't need to call a cop...automatic investigation.

    Spunky - glad to hear that nodule was nothing. Are you BRCA positive?  I don't think that registered with me, but I notice you had a BMX and ooph for Stage 1.  Just wondering.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Member Posts: 1,035
    edited April 2012

    So far no major back/neck pain. Hopefully that'll continue. There was about $1700 worth of damage to my car, I should have it back in about a week. Could have been SO MUCH worse. WE didn't need to call the cops, no injuries, not that much damage, although I think in CA you have to file with DMV if the property damage is above some limit, but I don't know what that limit is. I'm sure my ins. co. will handle that for me, they've been great so far. Kam  - good and bad backing into a cop car, I bet.

    I finally found a pair of pants that I can wear that don't pull at the steristrips, only took me 4 work days to find 'em. I fear pulling them off too soon as I don't want to do any damage to the healing underneath.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Ginger48
    Ginger48 Member Posts: 1,978
    edited April 2012

    Cookie- don't know how I missed the rear ender comment...Boo! Glad you are alright.

    Kam- My senior year in high school a police car plowed into the side of my car when I was going through a green light and it was headed to an accident with no sirens on. They tried to convince me that it was my fault but it got thrown out of court. Not a fun experience! And McDonald's french fries flew all over the dashboard. To top it off my family showed up to get me at the police station in a station wagon with a christmas tree on top of the car. It was like an episode of the Brady Bunch.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Bogie
    Bogie Member Posts: 286
    edited April 2012

    Cookie, why can't they find what we are allergic too. I know it's Surgery!! Haha

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Bogie
    Bogie Member Posts: 286
    edited April 2012

    Reminder for my Dec sisters, if your MX lymph node removal side starts to feel achy or heavy especially in the arm pit area dont forget your preventative manual lymph drainage massage on your arm to keep things flowing and not back up. I forget and it ached so bad from working all day, took a minute to just now and whoalaaa it's cured :)



    Thought for the day!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Ginger48
    Ginger48 Member Posts: 1,978
    edited April 2012

    Good reminder Bogie! I sometimes forget too and get great relief from the massage.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • spunkyboobster
    spunkyboobster Member Posts: 738
    edited April 2012

    Bogie-Thanks for the reminder!

    Kam-Insurance wouldn't pay for the BRCA test and since I don't know my paternal health history and because blood test said I was post meno but I was still getting my period the ooph was suggested. The BMX was because I had cancer in both breasts and one had to go and figured the other would have to go eventually, so I just chose to do it once...sounds brusque, but I thought it through.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Member Posts: 1,035
    edited April 2012

    Bogie - We KNOW I'm allergic to Chloraprep. 2 weeks after surgery #1, I had an allergic reaction and the BS wasn't convinced that it was related, then one week after the 2nd surgery I had another allergic reaction and the BS noticed that the allergic area was exactly the same as the area that they prepped in for surgery). For the 3rd surgery they used Betadine and no allergic reaction. Then for the UMX/DIEP I again had an allergic reaction. The PS and BS both swear up and down that they used Betadine. Maybe it was the 14 hour exposure that caused it, or maybe someone prior to them entering the room used Chloraprep, who knows. Surgery #5 was just a week ago, so I'm still waiting to see if I react to the betadine or not. I was abundantly clear to everyone that they should use betadine only, hopefully it actually stuck. The allergic reaction is MISERABLE! Just today I got a bit itchy on the ab scar, but it feels more like healing itches not allergy itches, hopefully it'll stay that way!!

    Of course sitting here writing and thinking about the allergic reaction has gotten me all itchy - STUPID BRAIN!

    $1675 damage to my car. It should be done in a week. Neither DS nor I seem to have been injured still, so that's good, at least. Neither of us saw or heard it coming.

    I'm very glad that tomorrow is Friday - although we have a busy weekend planned. I hope you all have a great weekend.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • spunkyboobster
    spunkyboobster Member Posts: 738
    edited April 2012

    Cookie- so glad no one was hurt and hope your car is as good as new when it's returned. Hope your itchies subside and you're done with surgeries for a long time.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Member Posts: 1,035
    edited April 2012
    Thanks Spunky - I've got one more surgery scheduled for July (when we teachers do everything - Summer!!), then I SHOULD be done for hopefully a very long time (well, except for nipple recon and areola tatoo but those are local anesthesia only). If I didn't have one real boob with nipple left, I'd probably skip the nipple recon, but if I have one with a nipple, I should probably have a matched set. :)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • QuinnCat
    QuinnCat Member Posts: 3,456
    edited April 2012

    Cookie - I think the nipple is a good idea...my friend had a UMX with implant and she didn't do the nipple.  Now that her real breast is larger (with age, it happens) and the implant one doesn't have a nipple, in my mind when I saw her remove her shirt one day, I had her with a UMX only, no reconstruction.  The nipple completes it!

    Allergies - as if we don't have enough going on!  So many surgeries. Question for you...how many DIEP surgeons are there in your area. I once read there are only a handful of DIEP surgeons on the whole left coast (mine is one in pdx)...a friend is embarking on this journey after she retires and am looking for possibilities for her.  I know of atleast one outside of UCSF and I'm sure UCSF has one or two. 

    Spunky - my insurance paid, but with pre-authorization, with cancer, and after a genetics counselor.  The insurance policy stated I definitely had to have cancer to have the BRCA test. Sucks, since I am the first in my generation to get BC (turned out there was one in Canada who is sort of anti-medicine and wouldn't even get one now that she has my info). I always felt there was a possibility of being BRCA, but my doctors always said to me "what would you do different?"  I reminded one of them, just this week, of this: "Remove my ovaries!"  It seems to me, so many doctors are not really up on even the simplest of nuances of what BRCA means.  To me, not knowing your father's history should be grounds enough.  I'm mad about this topic, as I might have been the one that got ovarian cancer and would have had the test if my insurance would have paid, earlier, though I still have my ovaries waiting for this chemo to be done with.

    Car accident - had to happen. Out of state plates (me) and pulling out of a Starbuck's parking lot. I'm sure that cop stealthly pulled in behind me, and quickly, with his double tall latte, and despite me looking in my rear view mirror (to correct the wrong order given to me at Starbucks), his car was so low compared to my SUV, I backed into him. I pushed up his cruiser bumper and caused $2500 damage on my own car (1 mph). Not sure what my insurance is paying to him.  Still dealing with my own repairs, but took another trip to pdx with dashboard lights coming on and locks not operating with my key.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Member Posts: 1,035
    edited April 2012

    Kam - Yeah, I'm pretty set on doing the nipple given the UMX. For surgeons, there are a fair number in the greater LA area. My PS is at UCLA - as are a few of the others in his group who do DIEP. I found this site, none of the UCLA docs are listed, but there are some familiar names:

    http://www.diepbreastreconstruction.org/diepdocs1.htm

    Then there's finding a GOOD DIEP doc vs. just a DIEP doc. I highly recommend mine and have heard great things about some of the other DIEP docs at UCLA. I feel lucky that I work about 5-10 minutes from UCLA. Would have made getting rads pretty simple if I needed to do it.

    Boo on the car damage. :( I hope things get straightened out for you)

    -Judy

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • QuinnCat
    QuinnCat Member Posts: 3,456
    edited April 2012
    Cookie - it is hard to live so far away from one's PS. Right now I have questions and decisions to make, but I have to drive so far to have them answered.  That's without complications.  My friend is checking out 2 doctors in the Bay Area.  I passed your information along - thank you.  Funny, rads are the one thing I could get easy - like 2 blocks from my work, but the one thing I don't need!  I'm absolutely fine with that.Smile
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Member Posts: 1,035
    edited April 2012
    Oh Kam - HUGS! It sucks, but the trade off is, hopefully, worth it. You live in such a beautiful area. Can your PS do any of the question answering over e-mail or the phone? I hope so. Take care.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • faithhopenluv
    faithhopenluv Member Posts: 323
    edited April 2012

    December BMX ladies - can I get a poll as to how long you had drains after surgery?  I have tickets for a concert 5 weeks after, that I would have to tote drains to - but I would hate missing it even more :(

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Member Posts: 1,035
    edited April 2012
    faithhopenluv - It is VERY unlikely that you'll have drains that long, but not impossible. I got my "boob tube" out at 1 week post op and then the abdominal drains out at 2 weeks post op.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • spunkyboobster
    spunkyboobster Member Posts: 738
    edited April 2012

    Faith-mine were out after 1 week. Enjoy the concert-you should be good to go.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • QuinnCat
    QuinnCat Member Posts: 3,456
    edited April 2012
    Faith - First off, I wouldn't let drains stop you from doing anything.  Just tuck 'em in and go!  As far as myself, I had 4 drains after my 1/20 BMX.  One on the right and one on the left came out on 1/26. Of the remaining 2, one could have come out on 1/31, but since I had to travel to remove, and the last one continued putting out, I didn't get those last 2 drains out until 2/9.  So that's about 3 weeks from start to finish.  (I kept my notes for some odd reason.)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Bogie
    Bogie Member Posts: 286
    edited April 2012

    3 weeks for my drains

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Moonflwr912
    Moonflwr912 Member Posts: 6,856
    edited April 2012

    Three came out at two weeks. The last one at three, but probably should have been longer as I got an infection. Most I heard were out by four weeks. You should be good to go. Bit if you still have it, as someone said, tuck em in and go! This thing we have takes a lot out of us, don't let it take out some fun!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • faithhopenluv
    faithhopenluv Member Posts: 323
    edited April 2012

    Yay! Thank you :)

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Ginger48
    Ginger48 Member Posts: 1,978
    edited April 2012

    My last one came out at 3 weeks. What concert will you see?

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Blessings2011
    Blessings2011 Member Posts: 4,276
    edited April 2012

    Kam - soooo sorry about the SBUX car accident!!! The other night on the news, they showed a state trooper who had pulled someone over to give them a ticket or a warning, and the dashboard camera in the cop's car showed him telling the driver "Drive safely, now!"

    The next thing you know, the driver has put his car in reverse instead of "drive" , and the entire rear end of his car comes crashing up OVER the cop's front bumper, onto the hood, and smashes in the front windshield!!!

    See? It could have been worse.....Wink

    faithhopenluv - my drains were in for two weeks. They could have come out sooner had I not been putting out so much fluid, but my PS never leaves them in for more than 2 weeks, as he believes this increases the risk of infection.

    I agree with the other ladies! If by chance you DO have drains in, just tuck 'em in and go do your thing! And have a wonderful time at the concert!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • LoriSJ
    LoriSJ Member Posts: 5
    edited April 2012

    Dec 12 - Bilateral mastectomy w/ immediate DIEP free flap reconstruction.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • faithhopenluv
    faithhopenluv Member Posts: 323
    edited April 2012

    I think I was just having an overwhelming day yesterday where my head was spinning ahead of me.  I'm not sure where I read about someone having them for 5 weeks, but I'm glad that's not the norm.  I had the one drain from my SNB for 10 days and although it wasn't that bad I wasn't looking forward to having them at the concert.  It's Dave Matthews :) - he didn't come to FL last year and I didn't want to miss this one.  Have a great day everyone!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories