May 2013 surgeries

yea Ann!!!  Welcome to the other side.  So glad there were no nodes involved!  My dye hurt like a SOB but like someone else said, only for a few seconds.  I think I yelled louder for that than I did the drains coming out.  So glad you didn't have to experience the burning.  Now rest up and feel better!

Sorry submitted before I meant to:

Ann-Good morning!  How was your night?

Ckmoss- I had the test and will be getting my results on the 13th. It's called oncotype dx. I'm still not sure if I want to do Chemo as precaution or not. I'm really on the fence about it. I guess I'll see what the oncologist has to say.

wow, that visual gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "doing the wave".    I haven't talked to my oncologist, she wasn't available when I stopped in yesterday, but the surgeon said he thought i should do radiation.  As much as I don't want to, these doctors have gotten me this far, and I will do what they suggest.

SO, if you need radiation, I will be there for you a few steps ahead.

Gowith--LMAO..that was so funny!  My surgeon said he didn't see why I needed radiaton and so did the nurse manager at PS..although, her word would be last I go on.  But like you said oncologist is head honcho on this.

Science gal-Thanks for idea about the frozen peas..I just read a bit about cold caps..asked nurse mgr at oncologist ..she had no clue what cold caps were..Upstate SC is not on the cutting edge of ANYTHING I can tell you..and I do live in a city..But I don't love my hair 1500 or however much worth..looking at your avatar I can understand why you would..Great hair.  Mines thinned since I turned 40, so looking forward to the thicker hair I'm suppose to get back by sacrificing hair to the Chemo gods. So do you keep your fingers covered with peas the whole time doing chemo infusion? 

Thanks CK, I mainly did it because we have a lot of funding and clients that could be lost if people realized I was sick and would't be working 20 hour days seven days a week like I used to, in order to meet their insane deadlines. But I am really glad I did the coldcaps. They are expensive and a pain to do, but worth it for me.



We had six small bags of frozen petite peas with us, I put one on my toes (with thin socks on) and kept my fingertips and nails folded into another, just a few minutes prior to and during the carboplatin and taxotere infusions. Then kept them on about ten minutes afterward, during the herceptin. We changed the bags out when they didnt feel super cold.



It just constricts blood vessels and reduces the overall amount of chemo going to those regions. My doctor had never heard of finger or toe mets so said it was fine.



I think this really helped me avoid nail issues and neuropathy of the fingers. I had some really frightening neuropathy in the fingers on my right hand after the first round of chemo, when I didnt do the icing, but then it never came back after the next five rounds, when I did the bags of peas. So I was kind of my own control!

sciencegal-Peas it is! So basically just bury toes and nails in frzn bags wrapped around and then do the hard nail stuff too.  I'm not getting HER2 so guess I would just stop when over.  Its good to see you are from CA..funny, I was just thinking that from what I can see of who shows...most of us are from south to north and a tad over..Did your reconstruction go well?

I need to go and read more on chemo board I guess.  Was in there long enough to read about nails and hightailed my butt out of there! lol..Scary board...came back to our nice safe room here..where most painful thing is tight arms and drains

I slept like a log last night and it felt so good. I even woke up on my left side, which I haven't been able to do yet. I think I was exhausted after piddling the day away with my husband. He took me out for breakfast and we did a bit of shopping in the afternoon. We have major flooding in our area so we took a drive last night to see which roads are still closed. I am tired today so I am being very lazy. I get my drains out next Tuesday and it is a 3.5 hour drive so I booked a room at a nice hotel in the area for the evening. It's going to be all about me that day.



Ann

Ann- where in Iowa are you? I grew up just outside Davenport. Stay safe and dry!

Ann so glad you got a good nights sleep!



The "magic mouthwash" is great, I got some mouth sores from chemo and it really helped. It had lidocaine.



CK, chemo is just another step in this roller coaster ride. I am more woried about starting radiation in two weeks than I was about the chemo!

For me, there were meds to help with all the side effects and I took them religiously, keeping track of what times I had taken them each day on a big calendar. I only felt nausea once, before I started that process. Try not to be too scared. I wish you luck with minimal side effects.

Ckmoss- umm yeah, that would be a big fat no! lol



I agree that taking the meds to manage the side effects helps a lot.

ckmoss- I think the oncotype dx is done with the breast tissue that was already taken during surgery. It is a type of genetic test like the BRACA tests just different. It is also a $4000 test, which I think is insane.



I hope my score is low so I won't have to have chemo. I'm like Ann. My tumor was really small and had not gotten to the nodes yet.



I am almost 4 weeks post op and I can sleep on my sides pretty well now. I have a few twinges but for the most part I'm feeling pretty good.

Oh, just ask your Onc. for a prescription and they will call it in for you.

Two of my drains have been right at 25 ccs for several days and the other one is 40. I'm counting on all of them being removed next week - 13 days out. I pray I can get to 30 by then. It would be disappointing to travel that far and then only have two removed.

I took one pain pill on the way to the appointment.   The first side hurt more than the 2nd side.  It wasn't good, but wasn't as bad as the needle the day before surgery (for the node mapping).  Once it was out, I felt better.  Even though it still hurts, it's nothing like it was before the drains came out.