August 2013 Chemo Sisters

Cougararlicious: So sorry you are doing this while having such little ones. I know you will do awesome though.

My surgery was decided on the fact that I DO NOT want to go through this again. I had a lumpectomy but they didn't get clean margins so the left breast if to remove the cancer the right breast doesn't have cancer (yet) but I have a marker that says chances are very great that it will get it down the line so I figured I would remove them both and have immediate recon so I don't have to do all of this over again. I would bawl my eyes out if in 2 years they told me it was back and I had to start over after all I'd been thru and hair finally grown back, would be @#$%# awful.

Thats the reason I made the decision I made but it is truly a very personal decision and no one decision is wrong.

Love, Rayna

Shalimar: Yes the steroid will make you flushed for days.

4.18 am fri - hi Rayna

I have to make a decision about a double mastectomy at the end of chemo. I was told that there were signs the lumpectomy breast was unstable with separate patches of DCIS as well as the idc and the other one was likely to be similar. The surgeon said it wasn't essential I have them removed and he wasn't particularly recommending it ( so why suggest it in the first place ?) when I first started on this forum, I noticed some of us had had a recurrences AFTER a mastectomy. It's almost made up my mind that I won't go through with it. I figure with the close watch on me it would be easier to spot a recurrence and I'll face the mastectomies then. After all they are so sure to tell me I'm cancer free already....actually I am frustrated at the double messages! There are no guarantees I am cancer free hence chemo and there will be no guarantees in the future. I just wish that they'd discuss it with me like I'm a sentient being rather than worry about my feelings or wether we all have that essential positive attitude. I prefer realistic and hopeful. But still like you I have this on my mind through chemo.

Right back to sleep with a Faye Kellerman audio story in time for getting up for school at 6.

Hey, Lisa, they can bondo that dent with your own fat, now! ; ) meetup a definite.



Rayna, they "use" e.coli in the process, it's not (apparently) made "from" e.coli. I know, it's all in the semantics. Oh, VG - lots of dental work on Nicolas cage since then. My favorite line: "When they attack the car, save the radio!"

Gashgold, I just looked back at your avitar and saw that you live in New Zealand. I guess I just wrote it down wrong. I'm sorry. I feel really really bad at the moment. I start chemo on Monday and I'm very emotional anyway. Hope you'll forgive me. God bless you.

38tooyoung: You sound so great, you have obviously had a great experience, I am so happy for you. You will do fine during the chemo with your attitude, just another bump in the road. It is a very personal decision though and hopefully we all have a surgery and recovery like yours. Good Luck with upcoming chemo.

Love, Rayna

THank you Rayna! I have been told so many times that attitude is what helps you get through this. I just take one thing at a time and I hit it when it comes, full throttle! I have no time for stress so it helps me to tackle each bump as it comes. If I anticipate it becomes a disaster. I have trained my mind, as some would say.   I hope this is a thing of the past soon enough:)   and I always try to look at the positive of each situation. It helps me get through each day!  I also have stayed off sites daily, just when I need encouragement I hop on!! Good luck to  all you August Sisters!! Hold on tight, the ride is a fast one!!!

Thanks to everyone who has shared their surgery story. I'm leaning towards bilateral MX because as Rayna mentioned, I don't want to have to worry about this again! I'm waffling between implants or not...I'm currently a 32A cup so it's not like I'm missing much....but I think my husband was secretly hoping for an upgrade after surgery (lol). I know I'm young so perhaps I will miss my boobs more than I think right now...but on the other hand my doc said reconstruction comes with 40% risk of some sort of infection and that sounds high.

Um that's me with the recurrence in the mastectomy side (waves hand).



That said, I am also choosing to REMOVE that implant when I have my left one off, and go with no reconstruction. let me tell you all why, and maybe dispell a few myths. Oh, and I saved the left side because i wanted the continued sexual feeling for me and my new husband. Now with triple neg, it's going too (back to ear lobe sucking like I enjoyed during necking in high school ; ).



You will NOT have sexual feeling if your nipples and the attached nerves are cut / removed. I had a L side reduction, which involved downsizing the Areola, and altho I still have plenty of feeling ther it doesn't, uh, pinch and roll like it did. That hurts.



Check out the Flat and Fabulous group on FB. It's closed, but they admit anyone who asks. there is s LOT of testimony there from women who ditched their implants due to the feeling of "rocks" under their pectoral muscles, or continued issues. Implants REQUIRE periodic maintenance - ie, removal of scar tissue, capsular contracture, etc. 4 years out and mine has already had problems. Implants are NOT a one and done deal, there WILL be more surgeries.



Of course, the plastic surgery industry downplays this. Seems to me this is WHY the British NIH only does flap surgeries - they'd be covering a LOT more surgery otherwise.



Cougar, think long and hard about it, especially since you're already a teacup. You're gonna lose the sensation anyway. Research carefully the minuses of implants, especially if they do not balance your frame to be larger, like for FMGDTR.



Please, PLEASE, don't anyone be offended at my words! there is no criticism implied of any of your choices! I just truly believe that we women are not fully informed or educated by our own doctors. How many of our doctors just assumed we would do reconstruction? I bet everyone here.

I had BMX with no reconstruction. I had planned on it, but BS said he would recommend NOT having reconstruction at the time of surgery because if there were complications and chemo had to be delayed, he would lie awake at night kicking himself. He did say that we would go ahead if I insisted. Getting rid of the cancer just seemed more important. I can do it later if I want (after systemic therapies, which will take over a year). It really is a decision that has to be made based on your individual circumstances. I chose lumpectomy with my first and was cancer-free for 16 years.

Check out your local cancer center. I did get a free wig from the amercian cancer center, it's about 160 miles away from me. I got to meet up with my daughter so that made the trip double fun for me,,

COUGARLICIOUS - If you are wanting bigger breasts and they will fit your frame, I say go for it, may as well get something out of this. 40% risk for infection, I knew it was always a risk but that seems really high. I think the thing I'm not going to be happy about is the lose of sexual feeling in my breasts after surgery and just the overall numbness forever. This may play a part in your decision as well, I'm not sure if you get one of the FLAP surgeries that uses your own fat and tissue to make them feel more real would there be any feeling compared to the implants??? I don't think I have enough fat and tissue to do that surgery, at least thats what the surgeon said today.

FMG - Glad to hear that you are still feeling well. That's wonderful.3 surgeries in 3 weeks YIKES, so sorry that had to happen to you, that must have been painful and disappointing as well. Your surgeon sure sounds confident though and I would take that as a good sign. Are you replacing the expander for the implants in October or is that just to fix the pinhole? So many things to take into consideration.

MARTIE - Yes everyones circumstances sure play an important part in the decision making, I know even my own Dad said to me before my lumpectomy, "Oh, just get them both taken off", It seems like such a simple decision for someone who is not female or going through it. 16 years that was great so sorry it had to come back. I was looking at your dates and you only had 22 days between surgery and starting chemo, do you feel that was enough time for you to recovery from your surgery and start chemo. My surgeon said they like to give you 5 weeks between each.

CAROL - So sorry for your reoccurance, was it found on the chest wall then because the breast tissue had been replaced with implant and do they just do a regular mammo after we have implants put in?

BELLAMOMMA - you are right we are all gonna get through this and be stronger women for it.  You have a great attitude and I think that is half the battle right there.  Check out the Thread for the TA TA Sisterhood for Vegas, it will get you really excited just reading their posts and they sound like an amazing group of women.

GASHGOLD - You know, you're right, I think I read somewhere that the chance of reoccurence is only about 2% more (something like that, small figure)with mastectomy vs lumpectomy, so it is a very personal decision taking into account all of the circumstances surrounding one's situation. I'm like you, I want the facts and don't worry about scaring me or making me afraid, I find if I have all of the information I feel much more confident in decision making and not afraid. I would be afraid if someone didn't tell me all I needed to know.

Cutiekool - Hope the headaches get better soon and you have no more SE's.

Everyone else starting or continuing chemo, STAY STRONG, STAY POSITIVE, STAY HYDRATED. LOL

Love, Rayna

38tooyoung: great message! Positivity will definitely help us alll. I decided right off that I am a fighter and I will fight as hard as I can to stay as well as I can.



FMG: your boobs will even up and hopefully mine will too!



Aef: Orange Is The New Black is my new favorite! Good luck next week; I go in Monday!



Rayna: thanks for being here. Your reassurances help us all stay strong. And stay hydrated!



Cutiecool: Speaking of ACS, I have a goddaughter who wants to go wig shopping with me. I told her we'd be going to the local ACS soon. Oh and everyone, last night was the public debut of my wig at a BIG event at my daughter's school. NO ONE KNEW I HAD A WIG! I got a lot of compliments on my 'hair'! Gave me a lot of private laughs.