August 2013 Surgeries

A Very Happy and most importantly, a HEALTHY New Year to all my sisters,

Babs

All is well here- just planning my next step which I think will be a small implant on the left with fat grafting and an implant exchange with a reduction on the right.  How are all of you doing?????

Babs

Aviva -glad to hear you're good.  Which kind of implants did you use-gummy?round?  I'm thinking of the gummies.  How big were you before? About how big are you now?

Babs

Aviva, I hope things have settled in well for you.  I have my exchange tomorrow...excited for it...bye bye boulders!!!!!

KBee-best of luck!!!!!

I'm doing a fat grafting within the next 2 weeks!!!!

Aviva- how are you doing?
Everyone else- hope all is well with you

Babs

Sorry I haven't had a chance to update - family emergency has kept me busy.  

I'm still not healed from surgery - the left keeps draining a bit and I still feel like I've been used as a punching bag.  They can't do the ultrasound or anything  until the opening heals.  It's a waiting game that I'm not that keen on but hey,  that's life,  right? 

Congrats to everyone who is moving on to new stages. 

My thoughts are still with all you 

Poodlemum- so sorry to hear that you're still not healed.  Hang in there-I know it's not easy!

Kbee-once I had my left TE removed I was fine.  So crazy all the test results on the TE were negative.  We still don't know what it was that caused my issues-oh well!!!

Babs

So, I've been obsessing over what to do next and finally decided to do fat grafting and a small implant on the left and then last night my MO calls to tell me that one of my Ca markers was high. Today I'm having the blood work repeated to make sure it wasn't a mistake/fluke.  That phone call was a wake up as to what is really important -to be ca free.  Really shook up but trying to stay calm.  

So glad we have plans tonight to see a Broadway show and to have dinner in the city!  I'll get the results on MOnday-need to keep busy all weekend!!!!

Karen

Glad to hear you're doing well and have nice new foobs!

Thank g-d the test results showed no increase this time- we think a UTI caused the spike.  I'm having my fat grafting tomorrow.  It just keeps going on and on. I think this will be an easy one at least!

Hello Ladies,

It’s been a long while since I disappeared for months but have always had all you in my thoughts and prayers.I feel strong enough once again to “talk” and figured I’d hop on the forum to get updated with everyone.Looks like it’s been a long while since anyone posted to the Aug 2013 Surgery thread so I don’t know how many will see this – but I’d like to know how everyone is doing.Perhaps this post will regenerate the group and we can all connect again to see where everybody is at.

I had a terrible time with chemo after Thanksgiving; developed a lot of bad side effects and just needed to hide inside myself to find the courage to get thru.  Although I had to skip one treatment due to the severity of the hand-foot syndrome (my skin on fingers/feet &toes like blistered up, then turned into gross looking pus-filled calluses(but they were not pus filled), then peeled.....then about a week later it would all start over again....we reduced the dose of Taxol by 20% and that eased up the problem by time I finally finished chemo in February), I finished1 week beyond my scheduled finish time.  This constant blistering and peeling was terribly painful - especially on the fingertips and typing was very difficult.  It was all I could do to get thru the work day.  I still have neuropathy in the left foot pad....I doubt that will ever go away. Tried treating it with Lyrica for many months but finally weaned off it as it just was not helping.

I had also developed another lump under the right armpit.  Had a US and they said it was a seroma - STILL even after 6 months post surgery I have this seroma.  However, this caused more concern in recent weeks.

I had my 1 month post chemo checkup; labs and CT Scan.  They found a spot on my lung; as I was to find out a week later when I requested the original PET Scan report from Sept 2013,this spot was also seen then but was thought to be scar tissue.  When I saw my Oncologist at 1 month post chemo visit, she said they were now saying it appeared to them to be early slow growing cancer.  I had smoked for years and so this was terrifying news and everyone on my cancer team (which has grown to the point where I almost can't remember everybody anymore) was very, very worried about this. I had 2 choices; look into it further or wait 3 months and have the CT repeated and see what comes up.  As I'm sure you know, lung cancer often times is a death sentence - but I still originally opted to wait.

But then after reading my original PET Scan report and meeting with my family doc, I went to Pulmonary Specialists and they highly recommended surgery - said the spot was too large to just "wait and see" in their opinion and so then a flurry of tests were done because surgery could cause problems with the heart which may have been compromised by the AC treatment.  Had repeat EKG, Stress Test,PET Scan and I can't even remember what else, and made the decision to have surgery to remove the spot.  Biopsy was not an option; they said they were not comfortable they could get an accurate reading as this area of concern was buried in the lung.  As you know, I can fall apart pretty easy and was put on several anti-anxiety meds to get me thru to get this surgery done which I really didn't want to have done but everyone was telling me I needed to AND knowing if I gambled and waited 3 months, I could end up with that death sentence.

The PET Scan was done again at my request because of my reading the original report.  I was pissed beyond words to find out the report showed there were 4 nodes that looked to be cancerous and they only told me about 1 - which, you may recall, I had removed in October.  So now I had the added worry that there were possibly 3 more nodes in my armpit spreading cancer thru my lungs and body and I was never told about it.  Met w/my family doctor; she contacted my Oncologist and we all agreed it best to have the PET Scan done again to get a clearer picture of these nodes asap (oh, the original report also said the right underarm should be scanned again in 3 months - which was never done - that should have been done in January and it was now March).  What a mess! As it all ended up, the nodes are still somewhat suspicious….but they also appear similar to the wall surrounding the seroma and after a very clear and thorough explanation from my MO, I feel comfortable with their recommendation to follow this area up every 3months. MO does NOT want the seroma aspirated; said she doesn’t want any more needles going into me as necessary (really?after all the tests and now surgeries and shots I’ve been thru I’d think a needle aspiration would really be something to NOT worry about-but what do I know?)

I just had lung surgery the past Thursday, April 10th.  They cut off the top portion of my right lung.  Initial pathology done during surgery did not indicate cancer so they did not need to remove the lobe or worse yet, the entire lung.  So now I wait for final pathology.  If it is cancer, that's all I needed to do - no chemo, no radiation, no nothing.  Remove it and it's gone. But my Thoracic Surgeon said my lungs look very healthy and he expects that the pathology will either be cancer free or may show just minute amounts of cancer cells.

It's been a rough 8 months....I held up well until Thanksgiving and then when I started with all the side effects on top of the normal fatigue and losing weight...it was just too much.  Then made it thru chemo, felt great to know it was behind me and then got slapped down with the whole lung cancer scare.  So now as I recover at home, my head has again cleared and feel I can/will just move forward and God willing, have my reconstruction surgery scheduled for May 19th and then hope never to see another surgeon again in my life!  I'm damn tired of being cut into, dissected, run thru every flipping test you can imagine and ..... well, I'm just done.

So please, I’d love to hear how all you are doing.Looks like a couple reconstruction exchanges are done (congrats ladies!) and I’d love to know if your implants are still larger than you expected.I can’t remember who mentioned the “teardrop”– but I guess I assumed that the PS would take our ages into consideration and use those types of shapes. Of course,now that time has passed you might now have that look – let me know as I’m nervous about having high, round breasts that just don’t sound right on a 50year old woman (at least they’ll get these TE’s out of my armpit!)

I hope all is well in your livesand that everyone enjoys a healthy, happy Easter. 

Lili

glad you checked in with us Lili..so sorry to hear of your troubles, but glad you are being a warrior and fighting thru.  Good luck on your path reports, and hope you will be cancer free!

Lili - so sorry to hear you had to go through so much. Good Luck with your reconstruction surgery on May 19th.  Glad you checked in!

I made it through all 8 of my chemo sessions on scheduled and ended 1/16.  Still dealing with some side effects - neuropathy, digestive issues, issues with my leg muscles, nail issues, etc.  Started my radiation treatments in March and had #25/33 today. So far I have the usual side effects - some skin issues and fatigue and nothing out of the ordinary.

Lili

Glad you're back on the board- I was worried about you and sent you a PM when you disappeared.  Now I understand why-sorry for all your issues!!!  This is some journey we're on isn't it?!?  Since I last wrote, I had a fat grafting and developed another infection (#3) and ended up in the hospital again!  All my friends think that I should give up on having a left foob but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do going forward.  I see the PS next week and we'll discuss my options once he sees if/how my skin is from the FG.

Hello to all!
Babs

Glad for the updates from all of you. 

Lisa, I am so sorry to hear about all you have gone through; what an awful and rough road it has been.  I hope you feel better nad better each day, and that all goes well with the exchange.

Jo, I hope the mammo goes well and is uneventful.

Wrenn, Great to see you back here!

Babs, so sorry to hear of the infection.  I hope your PS has some good options for you moving forward.

I had my exchange surgery and all healed well; the implants are so much more comfortable than the TEs.  Wednesday I had nipple construction and fat grafting.  I am a bit sore and bruised, but the nipple actually makes my breast look like a breast and not just a mound, so I am hoping that it all heals well.

I had GREAT news today.  The genetic tests I have been waiting for since December came back negative today!! YEA!!!

So I did not inherit the gene that would have given me an increased risk for colon, lobular breast cancer and Stomach cancer!  This is also good news for my kids as they will not have it either!!  I am sooooo relieved!!!!!!!!!!!!