January 2013 surgery

Hi all,



Groggy but okay. I got the real surgeon and they gave me morphine. Nurse got the stick on the first go. Barely felt a thing. They took extra care since my biopsy was so painful.

Back to snoozeville.

-Melissa

Can hardly believe my day is almost here. I'm so ready to get this over and done with. But at the same time I'm so very scared and nervous. It's been an inspiration reading about all the surgeries that have already taken place this month - I've learned so much. Thank you to all of you for your honesty and willingness to share your post surgery stories. They have helped me so much. I think I have everything in order around here. I wish I had an idea of how long I'll need help and to what capacity. I'm not one to ask for help so this is going to be a challenge when I can't do things for myself or my family.

whenlifegivesyoulemons - I was diagnosed at 40 years old, my first mammo ever. I ended up with a UMX after trying lumpectomy. Once you've had BC, for at least the following 3-5 years they'll monitor you more closely. I have a mammo 1x per year and then an MRI 1x per year so I get some sort of monitoring every six months. I opted for the UMX for a similar reason to yours - and also my surgeon said that she saw no reason to mess with the breast that was not showing any signs of problems. I too have dense breasts.

Given all of the above, I totally get the symmetry problem. After the 4 surgeries that it took to get rid of the damn cancer, I've since had 1 more on the cancer side and also to clean up the abdominal incision and then I've also had 2 on the other breast - a lift and reduction and another modification to try to get them to match.

I don't think that I'd do it differently if I had to do it again, but I totally get the symmetry arguement. I also only have one nipple right now, the other will be added probably this summer.

Good luck with your decision, it's not easy, and is so very personal.

Josie prayers to you and your father in law. You will both kick cancer's ass! You and Iamenough will do awesome tomorrow.

Prayers for those recovering

I had a lumpectomy on 12/24/12, and then had a mastectomy on 1/7/13.  It was an outpatient procedure, and I had to go back in the hospital on 1/7/13 for two days due to bleeding.  I was given two pints of blood.  I still have my drain in, and I am glad to hear removing it did not hurt.  I am getting checked again on 2/4/13 to see if it can be removed.  

I have an appointment with an oncologist on 2/8/13.  

I was told on 11/14/12 that I had breast cancer, and everything has moved so quickly, I still don't think it has sunk in yet. 

Hi all,



I just got in from my first physical therapy session and would highly recommend it. The pt is a breast cancer/lymphodema specialist and showed me a variety of stretching exercises for chest, arms, core, and also did some massage. I have to do the exercises 3 times each day and I'm going back to see her twice next week. She spent 75 minutes with me. By the end of the session, one arm increased its range by 5 degrees and the other by 17 degrees. I know we all want to regain full mobility and I just wanted to let you know I think it is very beneficial. I wouldn't have had a clue how to do any of these without this session.



Melly and Shady, I know this is fast for you, and Melly, I'm so sorry for the complications you had. I hope you get great results from the oncologist.



Best to all.

I've scheduled two more sessions for next week and then I will go for there. I am going to base it on my range of motion and swelling. She did some massage to work on cleavage and to move implants a little more to center, and she did some core lymphatic system massage as I'm still bloated. She doesn't want me doing that yet, and the skin in my cleavage isn't as tight as before the session, so I'm going to keep going until I don't see benefit.

Glad you're feeling good shadytrake!  I am starting to feel my nerves kicking in for tomorrow.  My brain is going into overload with all the what if's.  I just want to get it over with yet I am stressed about waiting for the results.  Blah.

Sandy

Hi everyone,



I feel a bit guilty about not having posted for some time, but I caught up on the posts and have been thinking about you all. It definitely feels good to be on this side of surgery (3 weeks out today) as I so remember the anxiety waiting and leading up to it.

I did end up with good path results - clean margins, no nodes. I came down with the flu about 5 days after surgery and that had me knocked over for almost a week. I also developed a pretty large seroma at the lymph node incision site. My surgeon didn't use the drains so many of you have. Anyway, my seroma burst a week ago and has been draining ever since (kind of gross, I know, but I figure you've all pretty much seen it all). I'm just using gauze and surgical pads inside a sports bra per my surgeon's office suggestion. It's working and I'm just hoping for things to settle down on the draining so my incision can completely close up, just one small opening where the fluid is draining. Interestingly, I'd read that seromas can be re absorbed by the body but my nurse said its better for them to drain, less chance of infection. I do know it was pretty red and sore when all the fluid was inside and that's resolved a great deal since it opened up. I have so much to be grateful for that it almost seems whiney to complain about a draining incision. Has anyone else had this? I'm wondering about how long it takes to dry up?

I have an appointment with the RO next week for a consult. It's been sort of nice having a bit of a "doctor vacation" after so many appointments in the previous weeks.

Anyway, that's the view from here. Wishing you all a good evening and holding good thoughts for Jan 30 sisters (IAmEnough and Josie123) and also those of you on tap for tomorrow (chellle 21 and Sunny D).

Kkuziel, My surgeon does only face to face path reports, no matter what. Keep the faith that it is all positive.

Good evening.Got home from surgery center about 6pm.It went good but seemed a little different from last time.Seemed like I was a bit more nervous then last time.Not sure why.The chief of anesthesia himself came in to talk to me before surgery.He even gave hubby his card and told us to call anytime if we needed anything.We discussed my anesthesia plan and he did admit they gave me fentanyl at the beginning of surgery last time.That surprised me but since I had no problems last time I agreed to let him use it for me.When they finally got my IV in anesthesia was literally waiting in hall ready to wisk me away .Apparently my surgeon was running ahead of schedule.Woke up fairly quickly thanks to Propaflo .They were about ready to send me home just moments after giving me 1/2 of a Percocet but suddenly my HR went a little high 110 and we decided to get some Benadryl(this was really my anesthesiologist order.Don't think it was the Percocet though prob the little trip to bathroom.Sorry for the play by play.Been pretty sleepy on and off since getting home.Hope I can sleep tonight.BTW my dear surgeon told me it was perfectly fine to allow them to take blood pressure on my same arm he removed the lymph node a few weeks ago.I thought that was a no no.

Glad all went well.

Josie - please please please do NOT let anyone take BP, do blood draws, insert IV needles, etc. into the arm where you had the node removed.  Your surgeon is wrong about that.  This is not any kind of slam against his surgical expertise.  But he's a surgeon, not an expert on LE.  Most surgeons do not follow up with patients much beyond 6 months or a year, and therefore they have no idea how many of their patients go on to develop lymphedema.  You may want to check out the information in the Lymphedema thread here, and especially on the Step Up Speak Out lymphedema site. 

Sadly, there are many many women who post regularly on the LE threads here who only had one node out and were told the same thing that your surgeon told you.  So they allowed BP, needles, etc. and generally took no LE precautions because their surgeons told them they couldn't get LE with "just" one node out.  Six months, a year, or even later after their node removal, they developed LE.  Step Up Speak Out was developed by breast cancer patients with LE, including a doctor.  It's been HON-certified as providing accurate medical information.  There's one handout you may wish to download and give your surgeon about LE and LE risks:  http://stepup-speakout.org/essential%20informat%20for%20healthcare%20providers.htm.  There's another excellent sheet you can print out and give to all your health care providers to educate them about precautions you need to take:  http://stepup-speakout.org/what_we_need_healthcare_providers_to_know_about_lymphedema.htm    

Yes, your risk of LE is lower than someone who had a full ALND.  But you are at a higher risk than someone who just had a mx without node removal.  Chances are that you will never develop LE.  But since the risk reduction behaviors are so simple, like not allowing BP to be taken on that side, why not take every precaution you can?  Please don't let doctors, nurses, and others who are not educated about LE to tell you it's OK to do things that will increase your risk of developing LE.  If they are wrong, they're not the ones who will have to live with LE for the rest of their lives - you will. 

Thanks for the info Natsfan.I'll be sure to check out that for sure.

Mirmir - I am so sorry.  It if helps, my wonderful SIL had a similar pathology report to yours 3 years ago - Stage III, many positive nodes.  As you can imagine, she had the same sick feelings as you.  She went through a pretty grueling year of treatment, but today has no evidence of disease, and is happily getting ready for her daughter's wedding in June.  

There's a Stage III section here on BCO - I'm sure the women over there can provide you with information and support.  

{{{hugs}}}