March 2014 Surgery

"Pretending to be strong is just as exhausting as actually being strong." Everforward, you hit the nail on the head. Thank you.  

Fayth, I can't imagine the stress of having a child with a brain tumor, then not being able to be with him because of your own surgery. I can just see the two of you, recovering together. What a blessing that he is ok.

Sailon, love your idea about the mini-pads. I have a lot of sutures from the front of my shoulder down to my side. The surgical bra rubs on them so I've been trying to keep gauze pads covering the sutures, but they keep slipping. Now I know what to do! Thanks.

Jenw4kids, it's so good to hear from somebody a month ahead. Please stay and comment when you can. What an intriguing idea about retraining the nerves by using different textured things. Never thought of that.

Welcome KellyGreen. Truth be told, I thought getting the radioisotope injections were quite painful too. My surgeon had said it wouldn't hurt. (He got mixed up and thought I was going to have the dye injection, which doesn't hurt, instead of the radioisotopes, which does.) So I wasn't prepared at all and panicked when I felt the Texas-sized bee sting because I thought something had gone terribly wrong. Tears sprang out of my eyes and my heart pounded with fear. Fortunately the sting was over in 5 seconds, but it took me 5 minutes to calm down. I was really mad at my surgeon and told him so at the post-op appointment. He promised to never get it wrong again. On the other hand, I WAS prepared for post-op pain. Surprisingly, even though I can't take pain drugs, it was much easier than I thought. Just goes to show how important it is to educate yourself and be prepared. I think it's the fear that hurts.

Some doctors prescribe ace bandages and some say you don't have to wear a bra. Some say to avoid compression at all costs, others have just the opposite view. Some have patients showering right away. Others say no shower until drains are out. Mine says no underwires, ever. Others say underwires always. Apparently there is no way to know what is right or wrong, which I find one of the most frustrating parts of this whole experience. It's hard enough to get through this without such polar opposite treatment plans for absolutely every step of the way. It causes us to question our doctors at a time when we are most vulnerable. 

Kazzy115, I'm glad you are here. That arm/elbow pain you mentioned is something I've read about a lot recently. The common thread seems to be women who had an incision in their underarm to remove lymph nodes. Those lumps you mentioned are common too. Swelling due to the ALND? I had four lymph nodes removed on both sides in the sentinel node biopsy but do not have any repercussions and don't have any incisions under my arms from it. Mine was done through the BMX incision. Of course if your doctor does the SNB ahead of time or you have a lumpectomy, you can't very well avoid the underarm incision. I wonder why some women have your symptoms and some don't?

For those having muscle twitching, ask your doctor for a muscle relaxant. I found Valium made all the difference in the world when I had muscle spasms.

I use Bio-Oil after hearing that many find it so helpful both during the TE expansion experience and in scar softening. What is everyone else using to keep that skin supple?

Kitty,

Please DO post any and all pictures. We're among friends here and the pictures won't show up in Playboy, I can assure you.  Glad you are past the first tough days and are making good use of your meds. How nice that your husband stayed at night. Mine did that for one night after the exchange surgery and it made me feel so secure and safe since my pain level was challenging and I couldn't reach for much. My daughter stayed one night after my BMX and made getting to the bathroom so much better. I always go to a monitored intermediate ICU-type floor so I have tubes and machines attached to me everywhere. They give you a lot of fluid after an operation and when you have to go, it's a pain to try to unplug everything and extricate yourself from all the monitors in time to get to the bathroom in time since you are moving slow. Pushing the IV pole over the threashold of the bathroom was difficult the first night, so I appreciated her help so much. I was exhausted when I got back in bed, so she could plug everything back in where it belonged.