January 2013 surgery

Pattzsy, it sounds like your official dx is IDC and not DCIS? If they found invasive, that's more than DCIS, no? Ask for the oncotype dx on that tumor to determine whether or not you really need chemo. Also, feel free to get a 2nd or 3rd opinion before doing anything.

hi crescent5 and tami,

yup i dont know what to think.. yup all my nodes are clear she added up some additional test just to make sure thanks for the advise i will surely follow them would seek 2nd or 3rd opinion before doing anything. thanks thanks!

Question ladies.  I have an area on my right side that feels like I have a small rock under my skin.  Has anyone else noticed anything like this.  I did not have the immediate recon so do not know if I should be alarmed. 

Ok I don't want to sound like a know it all or that I'm questioning anyone's drs, but I'm questioning anyway.

Pattzsy, please run to a 2nd opinion. Make the calls TODAY. Any BS who takes out 36 perfectly good nodes needs to have his/her work checked. This dr may be wonderful, and I'm just a patient. But it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense given the rest of your post.

tangles I have to question your drs too. Maybe they're fabulous, and I'm the numb one, but why on earth would they shoot a bunch of chemo into someone who may not need it instead of just going in and getting the nodes?! 2nd opinion is in order IMO.

robinlee76 It hurts like there's a small rock or you're feeling a lump? If it's pain, it may just be tissue/muscular pain. But if you feel a little lump, get it checked. It may just be internal stitches that are yet to dissolve, but it's worth it to have it checked.

kelly279 I don't think you can do any exercise until those remaining drains come out. I know it sucks, but even walking can cause those drains to fill. I know I know. It really sucks. But once those remaining drains come out, you can start up again.

Tami:  youre not going to believe this......i woke up this morning.....still in pain from the tubes AND the flu i got this weekend.....thinking.......GOSH!  how cool that Tami doesn't have to deal with this!    I'm sorry honey!  but the antibiotics will help so much!  i got my first infection last Monday and the antibotics helped immediately.   but this weekend i got a flu type thing and i'm not sure if it caused a slight infection on the other side or if that was why i had a temp of 103 on saturday evening.   i feel much better this morning and doc says just stay on the antibiotics but i can't lie.......because of going thru everything i have in this last 15 months......this just made me cry.   it made me think i wish i wouldn't have done it.    and i'm a pretty strong girl!   very upbeat and filled with God's spirit.....but i had a weak moment this weekend.   over stupid drain tubes!  lol!   i know when it's all done and the drains are gone and i'm on the healing path.....i'll be way better. 

i was sooooo a big ole baby this weekend!   LOL!    glad you're feeling better!

Ding Dong the wicked drains are dead! Thank you God for a BS who was willing to run up to her office between cases on an OR day and take my drains out. I will love her forever. Now that I have graduated from PJs to a sweat suit it feels like formal night on a cruise ship. Now I can start gradually building my activity level up. I was terrified to do much of anything until I got rid of the drains for fear that I would have to keep them longer.

dynadebbs everyone has an occasional down day and you are certainlly entitled when you coping with both surgery and the flu. Both will sap your evergy level dramatically and when your defenses are down like that every little thing that goes wrong seems like a huge problem that piled on top of everything else is just too much to deal with. This is a journey that is filled with ups and downs but keep your eyes on the destination-regaining your health and energy so that yu can live a full and long life. You will get there sooner than you think.

Hi all. There seems to be a lot of people wondering about chemo. Have you all been to the John Hopkins message board? This is what I was told by them and my oncologist.



"oncotypeDx will help to make a determination regarding how beneficial or not chemo would be. commonly low grade slow growing tumors are not chemo worthy because chemo destroys rapidly growing cells and these are not of that grade. wait for score to come back. today size of tumor and age are not the major focus-- genomes are."



Here is the link.

http://www.hopkinsbreastcenter.org/services/ask_expert/



My oncotype is back and I go in Friday to hear what is is. More waiting.



I'm thinking of you all. I think we are all realizing how massive this surgery is and that recovery is more than a few weeks. I am so over the heavy swollen concrete foobs and the pain where everything was sewn on my ribs. I hope pt will help. I'm also going to a counselor and beginning a support group here. I need to DO something to help me.



I hope drains come out, test scores are positive and moral continues to grow. Best to everyone.

Prayers going up for you TammyT. Pray surgery goes smoothly, everything is accomplished and a speedy and easy recovery.



Today is the first day I feel almost normal (except when I do my exercises! Still have some pulling and twinges of pain when I do certain ones. It is amazing how stiff you get after just 3 weeks of being down!). The weather is beautiful here today a balmy 65 degrees and a high in the 70's tomorrow! Is this really January? I'm sitting out on the deck and reading over all the names for surgery in January. My heart is saddened that there are so many, but yet encouraged that there are so many fighting for healthier lives. I have lifted each of you up by name and pray that wherever you are in this journey you get continued strength.



MMSS, yay no drains! It is the most freeing experience is it not?


Tamiami, so sorry you are having to deal with the fever on top of all of this.



Robinlee76, I also had a hard lump right where my drains were, my PS told me that they could be clots so now I am taking aspirin daily until they go away.



Dadebbs, I hope your flu bug hurries up and leaves you alone!



Lmimp64, when do you start PT? I was in PT before surgery for MS related issues and my therapist told me to come back as soon as I was released to work on the tightness and scar tissue formation. PT seems to help me in most areas when I have needed it. I hope you find relief soon.



Hopex3 glad to hear you are doing so well, but do not try to rush off your pain meds too soon, pain can actually keep your body from healing. Please take it if you need to! (I know I am not telling you anything you don't already know, but sometimes we just need to hear it again!)



Pattszy, sorry to hear that more treatment may be in your future, but just as you've gotten through this, you can get through whatever they throw at you!



Lbwagner69, melindagb, and shadytrake, best of luck to you all tomorrow! Praying for calm nerves and a restful night tonight!

PeggySull - great news - will go look at their website to see if there's a freebie.  Not started chemo yet, and am waiting for the date for mediport placement.  Thanks for the suggestion - will follow up on it.

Janice

Tangles - you can't do to much resting right now, that's what my BS kept enforcing, let your body heal, but that sure is hard for the head to follow.

I'm in the same boat as you, with being told I'll need chemo, radiation and 5 yrs of hormone blockers...AND I am the bread winner, having to go/drive to work, think, analyze data, etc. It's not a physical job, but a heavy mental one.   I'm so scared of the "chemo brain" effect and how this could affect my type of work down the road.  I know fear is paralyzing so, we all need to get these fears (dragons) out and deal with them so we can find creative ways of working through the coming months  and that pink light at the end of the treatment tunnel.  

Janice

Mirmirpanda, so sorry report isn't back. If it helps at all, I will tell you mine was almost like reading the biopsy again.Nothing new. Great news on the bone scan.



Pam, I'm beginning pt exactly 3 weeks after surgery. She only works with breast cancer and lymphodema patients so I hope to she can really help me to help myself. The pain where the alloderm is sewn onto my ribs is the worst. It actually is worse. I hope she can help me there as well as with mobility.



Best to all.

Mirmir, I can't imagine being 3 weeks out and no report! I'm only 4 days post surgery (1 business day) and the desire to know patho report is literally plaguing my every other thought (first I couldn't sleep because of pain and now it's my thoughts!). Don't feel like you can breath for fear of what might be!

*hugs*

Prayers for those facing surgery today, those recovering from illness and those who are still healing.

Love and prayers for Laurie, Melinda and Shadytrake, our surgery sisters for tomorrow. Enjoy the good drugs and before you know it you will be feeling so much better. We have left a huge pile of cancer cells behind us this month and that is real progress that we can all be proud of.

TammyT-I hope you kicked some ass today!

Lbwagner69  melindagb shadytrake-Goodluck!

mirmipanda, that pathology bullshit is the worst part of BC in BC. Dr. Dingee even told me that it could take forever the day of my surgery. I did not cry but I did get mad and I think the staff at MSJH was relieved when it finally came through, not to mention everyone around me. Hurry up and wait became my motto. 3 weeks +/- a few days seems the crazy norm and BS said in US only a few days. But we can take heart in the fact that theirs is an insurance issue and patholgists there get paid a bundle to do it. Does not make it easier to wait but I bet Hazel keeps you from going completely crazy.