January 2013 surgery
Comments
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Kick some ass today BrandieMcAdams!!!
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Positive thoughts your way Brandie!
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Hi all. Checking in. Surgery went well. Doctors had a great sense of humor @the Siteman Cancer Center in St Louis. I highly recommend them. They keep the smiles coming. The removed my lump and my BS seemed very positive that it probably wasn't cancer but cautioned that we won't know for sure til the pathology reports come in. She did confirm that it was not a complex cyst as original radiologist thougt but in fact a tumor (perhaps and hopefully a fibroadenoma).
I'm feeling much better pain wise this time...I just feel like my nipple is ON FIRE and occasionally it shoots down my arm. I guess that's what happens when your incision is along the areola and your lump is directly beneath the nipple. I'm going to go back to sleep and try to sleep away the burn.
Hope and Jen hope you guys are recovering well
Prayers to all who've been before and those who are soon to follow -
Tami! Great point on keeping all your records.......i had a pituitary adenoma in the 90's and haven't a stitch of paperwork from it! i should look in to that.
bummer about the drains huh.....i sure was pullin for you! like i said earlier....i've had my compression band on all day and it has seemed to help some.....i remembered doing that after the mast and it got my drains out quicker. i'm crossing my fingers! now they're just starting to hurt a bit and my skin is in awful shape from the tape trying to hold the tubes still so they don't pull as much. ugh! we both go in on the same day next week only i will just be getting my first fill.......do you go in for another fill or just a check up?
i'm excited to get my first fill.......maybe look a little more like a girl in my tank top......believe it or not here in arizona it's still warm-ish!
don't hesitate to ask questions girls if you need anything.....i'll help where i can. i have been thru the chemo, bilateral mast and radiation.......so i'm here for yuh!
God bless!
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Hopex3: Hope your surgery went well - thanks for the well wishes for mine! My GS and PS couldn't work out their schedules, so my mastectomy and reconstruction had to be split into two surgeries. Mastectomy was yesterday, and went well. Came home today - I am SO thankful to be home. I got absolutely no sleep on the cancer ward - the poor gentleman across the hall from me had dementia too, and he pulled the emergency cord and yelled about babies in his bed and killing flies all night long. I am looking forward to some real rest in my own bed tonight.
The pain is minor - the most troublesome thing for me is those darn drains, but there's not a ton of drainage either, so I'm dealing with it. Trying to figure out how to put those drains in the pockets on my cami without looking like i have a growth underneath my top is a bit of a challenge too! LOL
Reconstruction (free tram) is scheduled for February 18. I was not thrilled about going under anesthesia twice, having two hospital bills, two recoveries, etc., but there was no getting around it, so it is what it is.
Prayers and healing thoughts have been coming from me on a daily basis to everyone who is going through this.
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I second that jojo and dnadebbs.... I had 16 rounds of chemo 4A/C and 12 weekly taxol... Id be happy to answer questions cause the lord knows I have some for as well lol
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Kkuziel.... At my benefit in November we used the same concept but did a shopping spree instead and got verious gift cards to stores actually we did 3 walmart, target, and toys r us 100 dollars each... This one went over really well since christmas was right around the corner!
Where are you in MI? Im in montcalm county... I have to drive to grand rapids to hit a mall. We literally have one stop light in our town... -
dnadebbs~ I'm getting the drains out on Tuesday as long as they are less that 30cc's, and another fill on Friday.
jenimomof3~ What a bummer about the scheduling! You seem like you are handeling it way better than most of us would have...and you are right, it's just the way it had it be! You could even go a little farther and think that it worked out that way for a reason! I do feel that the hardest part (physically) of my BMX is the reconstruction, so maybe it's better to split then up.
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jenimomof3 - I feel you on the 2 surgeries. You are lucky though. My PS is making me wait 3 months in between surgeries. The good thing is my insurance has a max out of pocket and I met that with the BMX. So now the DIEP is technically free.
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Tami.....i sure hope you get yours out next tuesday and then another fill on friday huh? wowzers! looking forward to see what my schedule will be. my drains are doing really good with my compression band today so i'm hoping that will be my plan too....drains out tuesday! praying for us both.
jenimomof3.....i had 2 surgeries as well...but only because i had to do radiation after my mast. and then i had to wait at least 6 months after radiation to even start the recon process. i wasn't looking forward to it but like you said....it is what it is and i was looking forward to the next step. its just another step.....you got this..... it's all good.......
ally
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DNAdebbs if had just dcis and Lcis why did you have radiation after mastectomy and chemotherapy..we're ur nodes positive.. It's just such aggressive treatment for stage 0.. I may b wrong and hoping not to offend...just confused I am having chemo first before surgery and if there is nothing in my nodes by then... I won't get radiation for the most part, with mastectomy they don't do radiation ... Unless needed,
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Amy4078: I'm from Port Ausitn, the very tip of the thumb. Not only are we a one light town (blinking) we also have to go 40 miles south around the Saginaw Bay to actually go anywhere. Very isolated. That's why I've journeyed 90 miles one way to a larger hospital for my surgery. Your fund raiser sounds like a great idea. Even if we don't use it for this I'm going to look into it for future things. Thanks.
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hi im just new here. i underwent modified radical mastectomy last jan 14,2013 and still feeling something ouchie in my armpits area. anyone here feels the same after 2 weeks of surgery? how long is the recovery after surgery? currently im doing the post op exercises. thanks to all of you just reading all the posts made me feel better by being aware of any experiences that i also went thru.
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Pattszy, I was just telling my husband today that the hardest part of my getting ready was shaving my arm pits and dealing with the tenderness while putting deodorant on and I didn't have any nodes taken. My PS explained it this way, those nerves in there are just plain ticked off! Sometimes they settle down and sometimes they don't, only time will tell. I sure hope mine fall into the settling down category!!!!
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Tamiami, 210cc's each side??????? You go, WONDERWOMAN! And here I was so impressed with my 100cc self. It does feel nice to have a little bump back. I was eating rice cakes yesterday and dropped a piece of one down my shirt. Felt good to have something to redirect the flow instead of it going straight down to the belly! Haha
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Hi Pam, Thank you! I do hope mine would settle also. I'm having a hard time to play with my child. my chest area feels so uncomfortable also. Touching the area feels so numb and somewhat painful, do you experience needle like tingling effect on the surgery area? i hope this is normal..
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Kkuziel... I am all the way on the west side directly above grand rapids in Howard City. I travel about 85 miles round trip to the lacks cancer center its an amazing place. I like the upnorth life but do venture to the city every once in a while lol....
Okay ladies today is treadmill day and I've been doing a mile for long enough gonna bumb it up to 1.5 miles today! Hoping everyone is in good spirits and healing beautifully..... Hugs -
My heels have been bothering me. Not something I expected. I thought I'd have trouble falling asleep on my back, but I'm sleeping like a baby (a baby on pain meds). The last two nights, I've been sleeping in the recliner with a pillow under my legs so my heels are suspended.
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Amy, how long have you been doing a mile on the treadmill? Good for you!
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Hi Pattszy, I am feeling the same, my BMX was January 15. Just started doing the exercises yesterday.
Peanuts gal, my armpits are pissed off. Great description!! -
Peanutsgal~ I know!!! I was shocked that she was filling so much. I had a skin sparing BMX and my incisions have been no problem, my skin looks great...and there's a lot of skin! I was a 34DD before surgery and hope to be around a C when this is done.
The other thing that was different than anything I've read here is that my PS inserts the TE's filled with the air they come with, then at the first fill she removes the air and then fills. So maybe having that air in them for 3 weeks was like having a fill at surgery, and then this fill was only a little more??? Although they are noticeably bigger. Hmmmm. Has anyone else heard of this?
Amy4978~ Good for you with the treadmill! I can't wait to get back to walking...just waiting for the drains to come out! I'm in Michigan so it will have to be a treadmill for me until spring...I'd much rather be walking outside! Keep up the good work and you will have great stamina going into surgery!
Have a good weekend everyone and happy healing to us all! Tami
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Wirdgirl... Jan 16 was my last chemo, I started the day after I do every other day. Today I bumped it up to a faster pace and 1.5 miles. B4 chemo I was riding my bike 5 miles about 4 to 5 times a week.....I feel so fat and out of shape!
Tamiami...I am michigander too! So yeah Im looking at the snow outside while I walk but thats okay cause it gives me a few months before I have to get my butt in a swim suit! -
Duh...I knew that Amy4978! It's hard not to be able to see the post you are responding to here without having to scroll up every few seconds! And I really want a "like" button! I can't tell you how many times I want to "like" something someone says! LOL!!! You guys really got dumped on over there didn't you? We got about 4" total througout the day yesterday.
Tami
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shari0707: no offense taken hun.....
i was originally diagnosed with a 4cm LCIS tumor and because of the size of it they wanted to do the chemo immediately to reduce the size of it and then determine where they wanted to go from there. i had positive nodes but nothing had spread thru my body. once the chemo was done.....it had reduced the tumor so signficantly that i had the choice of either doing a lump or mast. during the chemo however they found DCIS in the other breast.....it was very minimal and in fact it had not spread to the nodes at all. there was no additional treatment for that one because i had already chosen to have a full bilateral mastectomy when the chemo was done. i did not want to have to go thru this again and i had read on here from so many women that if they had known it might come back and they would have to go thru chemo and everything again, they would've done the mast as opposed to the lump up front. so that's what i did. after the mastectomy.....my path report came back and everything was clean but because of the size of the tumor......they felt that it would be best to do the radiation just to make sure. cancer cells can hide in scars and anyplace they can find and radiation was another preventative move. it sucked bad but i would do it again if it keeps it from coming back. they removed no nodes from the DCIS side as the cancer was so minor it had not moved anywhere and i would be removing it anyway. they removed ALL the nodes on my tumor side tho. so for me i had a VERY aggressive cancer in one breast and a slow moving cancer in the other. my treatments were mainly because of the agressive cancer......
i pray you don't have to do chemo either.......but whatever your treatment......remember that WE are stronger than it is!
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pattzy and peanuts gal.........that sensation you are feeling....the tingling and numbing.......it is normal but does get better.....obviously its different for everyone but i had my surgery last march and thought it would never go away but it did for the most part. i have read on here too that you will still feel it a bit after it is all said and done.....once you've done it all and the healing is pretty much done.....it's still numb and sensitive in spots.....so definitely normal but does get better. i actually couldn't even wear a necklace for the first few months because it was sooo irritating against my skin......
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Tamiami... Yeah we did! But its suppose to be 43 degrees in a few days? Wth is wrong with michigan weather -15 last week 43 this week.....
And I agree a like button would be awesome this site is amazing because of the people but it could be way more user friendly
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Jojo & Amy and others who have been through AC & taxol- What to expect? My MO said he would prescribe meds for nausea. My sister went through this 6 years ago. She was sick... She said she figured out her best approach after the first round. The doctor said things have changed as far as nausea treatment since she had her treatment. What do you ladies recall? Also, do you get used to the port being there? I'm pretty thin feels like a stack of quarters. Lol
Hope everyone is doing well this weekend, especially those recovering from surgery. Sending positive thoughts and prayers to all. -
AuntieEm, I had a port for several years, I too am pretty thin and I never really got completely use to it , but it got to the point where it was just a slight nuisance.
To all you Michigan ladies, I really feel for you. We have some mild swings in our weather here in the south, but not much snow and rarely below freezing during daylight hours. It is supposed to be in the 50's here today and after DH finishes cleaning the bathrooms (that is one thing I am enjoying not having to do!) we are going to the park to walk. I miss not taking the dogs (2 Boston Terriers), but they pull too much for me to handle them. Won't be long before they will be joining us!
Hope everyone has a great weekend! -
Auntiem....AC does make you feel nauseous and things taste weird and smell bad but if you keep on top of your meds its managable. For me AC made me sleep for what felt like 3 days. The day of treatment and after was okay but by the end of the second day I would start to feel it and wanted sleep constantly.The other thing with AC was the neulasta shot the first shot took about 7 hrs to hit me then I had about 24 hrs of horrible bone pain.... Ask for vicodin or something for pain!
The second time and everytime there after the bone pain.didnt come with the shot. But others say it was always present.
With taxol..... Steroid high for two days and this made me feel like my old self again I could actually get stuff done but the the high came down and I would have a day where I slept. The rest of the time it was manageable till the next treatment. I did get nose bleeds though and a horrible stuffy nose but my MO gave me flonase and it helped alot. I did have a cpl days of bone and muscle pain on taxol which I would take vicodin for as well.
With both AC and taxol immodium AD was my best friends I ate it like tic tacs! My advice is take all meds like clock work! Do whay your body tells you to, let the dishes and house work sit it will still be there when you feel up to it. Do not be afraid to ask for any meds to manage your side effects! I got thru this and you can too! Hugs -
Not sure if I'm imagining things, but I swear my abdomen/stomach area is much more bloated looking since surgery. Its like I have a balloon in there! Is this a side effect of the anaesthesia or the antibiotics?! Anyone else notice this?
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