January 2013 surgery

Thanks for all the good wishes on my surgery. All went well, even got a high five from my surgeon in recovery. Took three nodes, came back negative. Will have to wait for complete path report, but I took that as a positive (I hope). He took all the scar tissue from biopsy (just on case one of those little buggers got pushed out of tumor). Little pain, got prescription for Vicodin, but I haven't even had to take Tylenol, hope this continues. For others facing having a wire place and sentinel node dye I can say that it's all very doable. The shots to numb are worse than the injection and wire placement. Take it from me, I'm the biggest baby when it comes to all of this and if I can do it anyone can. Prior to this, the biggest medical experience I had was a colonoscopy. So this was really a stretch for me, and I made it, so far. thanks again for all the help and warm wishes.

Hi Tami, i knew my bc was back on the left because the nipple turned red about five years after my lx in 2005 and rad in 2006 however nothing showed up on mammo on the left at that time. Ok so that was 2010-2011. The left nipple then got flaky and then normal then retracted, tthen looked normal as months went by. The dec 2011 mammo showed a small change inside left breast in area of previous bc. So i git a new onco and bs, and the new bs thought nipple was perhaps excema and said i should get a bilateral mammo in june 2012. In the meantime i was convinced it was Paget disease of nipple based on internet research. Internet as i recall said you can have paget disease of nipple and underlying breast cancer, i forget if the underlying bc is only dcis or if it could also be invasive .... once the anssthesia and pain meds wear off and my brrain wakes up i will revisit what i had researched .... and by then i will have the path results back. I am not surprised by any combo of types of breast cancers, so the way my bc blossomed and the way yours blossomed might be both pagets, if i recall right, the nipple changes can indicate there is pagets inside the breast, which tells me someone might have or could have pagets in the breast without nipple changes. My bs said my left breast dcis is a recurrence, not a new cancer, however the pagets is a new cancer which i interpret to mean the two are separate types of bc?? I have to ask my bc to explain that to me on jan 23 when i get my drains removved. Hope this helps.

Greetings from the Land of Drain!!!  Surgery was delayed 2 hours (surgeon running behind) but it went and it is done.  DING DONG THE LUMPIE'S DEAD!!!  Last night at home was a wee bit dizzy and nauseous but sleep was found by 9:30 so it was pretty decent overall.  Don't feel too badly at all today...long live tylenol 3's.  Drain is draining, minimal pain and slept just fine last night.  Now we sit back, heal and wait for results.  Praying for clean margins (and desperately feeling for those of you without) and minimal node involvement (the fewer the better and i know i have at least 1-2 positive).  Let's hope those little warrior goddess nodes did their job and we got them all.  It feels awesome to have Lumpie the Loathed the f*** out!  Onward and upward, ladies.  To quote the immortal Dr. King, "We SHALL Overcome!"

Thanks Wirdgirl~  I called my BS and they will have her call me next week when she has a few minutes to talk.  I just need to understand my pathology report better...too many questions!  I have never had any issues with my nipples or sores on my breast, so it just didn't make sense.  Your explaination was helpful.

JRMH~  Sorry to hear of the rough go...just take your time getting back into things.  We will all be here when you're ready!

Well, my visit with the PS went well yesterday. I was hoping to get the last two drains out but he opted to leave the one on the node dissection side in until Tuesday. I was bummed but I guess I can wait a few more days. He also filled my expanders a bit. Last night was like I was fresh out of surgery. It felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest! Ouch! I was small busted to begin with so the 40cc's felt like a lot more. Now I have 190cc's in each total. The good news is I'm not going for any record so he thinks all I need is one more fill in a few weeks. Does anyone have any home remedies for the discomfort besides pain meds???



JRMH- Sorry you're having a rough time. I hope things quiet down quickly. My prayers are with you.



Jojo- I do know the one excercise that the surgeons keep reinforcing is walking my fingers up the wall. Stand infront a wall let your fingertips walk up as high as you can. The goal is to eventually bring your fingers up over your head. I think we all have a long way to go on that one. You can also roll a tennis ball up the wall with your hand. I have not been super successful with either but I'm trying. My PS doesn't want me to go up over my shoulders since he doesn't want the expanders to move out of place.



Love and prayers to all!

Jennifer... So sorry things went a bit rough hope your as comfortable as you can be now. Hugs! I finally got my surgery date but will fill you in later. You just rest up and get healed!

Hello lovely ladies. Thanks everyone for the kind words, I just had a case of the blahs! Sometimes I just feel so alone, I know I'm not. I got pretty overwhelmed the other day with the body changes, postponing the wedding, holding off on our get away, thinking of not going to shows, not wanting to miss out on anything especially with Hazel... all our little plans, all these 'things'. As I mourned all these 'things', I didn't realize that if I don't go through what I'm going through now those 'things' may never happen. I know I'll lose the baby weight, I know I'll get my hair back, my 'foobs' will heal and get covered in amazing tattoo work and I know when this is all over that life will be better because I fought for it. My wedding will happen and it will be awesome, we will go away next year on our birthdays, the bands will tour again and I will go, but most of all Hazel gets her mom! It's strange to think back just over a year to when I watched my father pass of cancer to be sitting here fresh from surgery from cancer of my own. All the words he said about life and living ringing through my ears. You get one life, make it count. The world doesn't stop because I have cancer. I know I'll have my "off" days, but I just got to push through and push past.



Now that's all said and done I feel better!!! To catch up on some posts, I too have 'The Phantom Nipple'. It's bizarre! Also it feels different now when I drink really cold liquid, like I can feel it in the 'foob'. Our bodies can do crazy, miraculous things. Daily exercises are going well, haven't started the wall climb one yet, but I have some pretty good flexibility. Still swollen in the side and armpit. A little achey, a little creaky. My chest feels hard, not really sure how implants should feel though. I am afraid to sleep in my bed yet, not even sure when I can. I see my plastic surgeon on Monday, so I'll ask her then, but until then I shall stay propped up on my couch flanked by cats and dogs Not on any pain meds or anything, and I've almost gotten rid of this nasty cold! Hopefully I'll get my pathology report on the 28th when I see my breast surgeon, I meet with the medical oncologist on the 30th, then onto chemo land.



It's nice to read that others are doing so well after surgery. Super healing thoughts to our sisters having a harder go, please stay positive and I hope you are all resting comfortably. To those awaiting their surgery date, it's over in what feels like a blink of an eye and once you awaken in recovery, you will feel relief. Be strong!



Hugs to all!!!

My surgery date is coming up and I'm soooo nervous!  I caught a cold last week and I had an unexplainable fever, so my doctor had me on levaquin - a very powerful antibiotic.  The antibiotic is hurting my shoulder and calves though, and there is a black box warning about tendon problems with shoulders and achilles heel, so I'm terrified and didn't take my fifth (out of seven) dose yesterday.  None of the tests he did on me showed a bacterial infection, but my fever did go down two days into taking the drug.  I hope it was coincidental, as stopping the drug if it was killing an infection is probably the worst thing I can do!

So now I'm afraid of interactions with anesthesia and wishing I hadn't had a cold so I could be 110% before surgery.  I need this surgery NOW though and don't want it delayed.  I'm sick with worry and just cant wait to wake up in the recovery room and be told that everything went fine.  Please ladies, I need you all this coming Monday.  So many of you before me have been so strong and done well.  This gives me hope.  But yet, still terrified!

Hello, ladies!

Thank you for all of the thoughts and well wishes as my surgery date approaches.  I am anxiously awaiting the date.  I have to get through one more week of teaching (of which I will miss greatly during recovery). I sent a note home to the parents this week and told the students as well.  I ensured them that I will be ok.  I am trying to think of all I'll need before and after the surgery...mainly clothing ,etc. Thank you for the advice on what I should wear, etc.  Thank you all, also, for sharing your experiences in recovery.  I haven't had much time to reply...but I have been reading .  Prayers to all with upcoming surgeries and prayers to all of you recovering.  Oh...we caved and bought an electric laz-y-boy recliner the other day

Laurie

fight4two, all the best to my surgery sister. Love and prayers to you. I wouldn't worry about the antibiotic. The doctor was just being cautious with all the flu going around. Sometimes they will give an antibiotic for a viral infection not because they think that it will cure it but because they are trying to prevent a bacterial infection from developing. I am sure that we will both do well tomorrow and wake up feeling great relief that it is all over.

Wirdgirl, sounds like you have your very own therapy dog. I think that it depends more on the personality of the individual dog than the breed. Yesterday my husband and I toured the new cancer center here in town and they had 3 therapy dogs there. One was a golden retriever which I would have expected and the other two were a pomeranian and a shitzu which surprised me. I probable spelled both of those wrong but there is no spell check on here and I really need one.

Jennifer, love and prayers to you and hope that you are feeling better soon. We miss our fearless leader.

Yes, so goog to hear how everyone is doing. Encouraging thankful for the sharing the truth of our fights.

Well surgery sisters our dates are here! Time to cross over get c out. Let's roll MMSS, fight4two, liffeybloom, mrenee68, Hopex3, jenimomof3, Brandi!

Prayers for calm minds&hearts, excellent care, speedy healing & gr8 path reports! ((hugs))

Thanks Jen, for your words of support. I'm glad to hear you are doing better. Does anyone have any advice about whether to drive 70 miles after a lumpectomy? Well, actually my husband will be driving, of course, but I have had advice to stay one more night in a hotel in Baltimore rather than have the surgery, recovery, and 70 mile drive all in one day. I know we can just play it by ear but my husband and I both like to know what our plans are. We're not very spontaneous people.

Joan