March 2014 Surgery

Hi Ladies - Add me to the list sad to say.  After lumpectomy 1/28 & re-excision lumpectomy 2/4, I'm scheduled for a right unilateral mastectomy on March 5th.  Best of luck to us all, Franny

KLJ, I really want to avoid radiation.  With the cancer being near the chest wall, radiation is even more dangerous because it can cause heart and lung issues (mine is on the left side).  He said by taking the fascia, he is more likely to get a clear margin to avoid radiation.  I think he just takes a small area near the tumor.  Of course my nodes will need to be clear, too.  You may want to ask your PS about the fascia thing.  I can't wait to get the surgery over with!

Hi Gals-  My exchange surgery is 3/17 (same as you KLJ!).  So far I'm trying to keep it out of my head as much as possible.

Thanks for starting this Sandra...

Welcome MCbeach! We are the lucky St. Patty's Day surgery sisters! I wish I was at the exchange stage instead of just beginning but I will get there! Is that an outpatient surgery for you or do you stay in the hospital. My insurance approved a 2 night stay for me. I think that's a good thing!

Hey KLJ, a 2 night stay?  My bilateral mastectomy is in the morning and they discharge you that night.  I have Kaiser here in California.  Both surgeons said it is safer to be sent home than stay in the hospital with all the drug resistant germs.  Thankfully my mom is coming up to take care of me for 2 weeks and my boyfriend will be helping when he's not working.  This is my first big surgery.  They said it would be a 4 hour surgery so I'm a little freaked.  My only other one was an excisional biopsy in 2009 on my "non-cancerous" breast.  That was just a 30 minute one.

My plastic surgeon uses this injection called Exparel that will hopefully mean I will need less narcotics afterwards.  Is anyone else getting this or have you in the past?  She wrote this in my visit notes:

The Exparel is injected into your surgical incision just before the end of the
procedure.  Exparel is a local analgesic that contains the local anesthetic bupivacaine. Local
anesthetics provide pain relief by numbing the tissue around the surgical site.  Exparel is specifically designed to release pain medication over time and can
control pain for up to 72 hours.

Good luck KLJ, Sandra, Mnbeck, MCbeach, Franny, and Faerywings.

Wow Juliecc, You are way ahead of me. I need to write all of this down and ask my surgeon. She didn't say anything about this to me. Seems like she didn't get very "technical" with me. I am sure we will have at least one more appt. before surgery. Mine is so far off because she is having a surgery of her own. More time for me to make my lists of questions. Did she actually describe your surgery to you in detail?

And yes, it says I am approved for a 2 night stay. Really surprised me. My daughter was sent home after about 20 hrs. I feel the same way about the bugs in the hospital and will probably be asking to go home.

Yikes!  I guess I better be nervous about them kicking me out of the hospital that night.  I really hope I'm not nauseous and throwing up.  I thought they could avoid that these days.  My brother is an anesthesiologist so I think I'll ask him.  

As for appointments, the week I was told the news, I met with 4 doctors on one day.  The doctors rotated with about 4 of us women in separate rooms..  I met with a geneticist for about 30 minutes and he determined I didn't have enough family history for gene testing.  Then I met with an oncologist.  He said I'd be doing 10 years of hormone therapy, first Tamoxifen for 5 years.  I didn't really like the guy.  I'll ask for a different one at the Kaiser by my house.  He didn't even know if I should take my Mirena IUD out or not.  I'm getting it out anyways on the 26th.  Then I met with the surgeon and plastic surgeon for over an hour each.  I liked them both and got a million questions answered.  Since then, I've come up with a lot more.  I keep a word document of questions and add them as I think of them.  I meet with both surgeons for pre-ops and post-ops.

Sandra4611, I'm surprised all 3 of your surgeries were 4 hours long!

Hi Everyone, I was  diagnosed with my breast cancer while I was enroute between California and Miami. Wanting to see my family. That was Jan. 21. I'm now scheduled for a lumpectomy March 11. Am trying to get the scheduling nurse to have the surgery sooner. Not having an easy time with her.  Want to get this awfulness over as soon as possible.  Am full of anxiety. I keep taking deep breaths. 

Sueal1, I was diagnosed in Orlando on Dec. 12th and moved to CA on Dec. 18th. I am having the same problems because of starting over in CA. Not scheduled for BMX until Mar. 17th. Moving cross country definitely adds to the stress of all of this. Hang in there. I keep telling myself that March is right around the corner.