March 2014 Surgery

I will be sure to stop into June to offer some support. I may even join because my exchange may be in June. I mighty have had my last fill today. I'm at 580. the nurse had me make an appt with the ps next week instead of with her for a fill. This is the most pain I have been in for a while. I can hardly move my arms.

I am excited to ger this over with but the thought of surgery makes my stomach turn. I was happy to hear from the NP that there will not be drains. Like Julie mentioned, my drain sights are still very sensitive and red.

Linda, you look great! I love the wig!

I probably need to be checking out the exchange board but won't be leaving this one either. This is home base and my favorite favorite.

Wow Stfne, that would be your third surgery in a little over 3 months. My PS likes to wait about 3 months after the last fill.  August 8 is my surgery day.

klj - Tamoxifen does not suppress hormones (estrogen), it blocks the estrogen receptors on breast cells. That is why it is given to premenopausal women who need circulating estrogen for heart and bone health. It allows estrogen to do the positive things it does for this age group while not allowing it to fuel growth of harmful cells. Post menopausal women are prescribed aromatase inhibitors, which suppress the conversion of androgen into estrogen by interfering with the enzyme aromatase.

My BC is similar, and my MO said that my Oncotype score of 7 means including Tamoxifen.  Meaning I have about a 6% chance or recurrence.  He said without Tamoxifen I would be at about 13%.  He explained to me the side effects, hot flashes, mood swings (he looked at my husband on that one), that it is actually good for your bones, and there is a possibility of blood clot.  He said that the blood clot almost always only occurs in those with some type of preexisting condition that would warrant that.

I have been taking it since the first of the month, and I do have hot flashes, not all the time, but I did anyways before this.  The only thing I have noticed on me, and I don't know if it is from the meds or from just not moving too much for weeks, is a sort of pain in my legs, not necessarily bone pain.  Like if I'm sitting in a car too long I want to stop and get out and stretch, that kind of pain. My husband hasn't complained about mood swings yet (I'll let him be the determining factor on that one).  My MO also stated that if I missed a pill here or there it wasn't a big deal, it isn't like a birth control pill or anything.  

I guess I thought for an additional 7% that I would take it.  Reading up on this, it amazes me how many women start this and never finish their 5 years.

I assumed recurrence or cancer anywhere in the body, not necessarily the breast.  Am I wrong? 

klj, my cancer was just like yours.  Surgeon said they got everything in biopsy.  I struggled a lot with the decision to to do hormone therapy but finally decided to just try it.  My onc said my chances of recurrence were 8% at 10 years and taking the pill would reduce it to 5% at best.  I'm 63 so taking Letrazole.  I have decided that if the SE's are too much I will just keep trying the other ones or just quit. My onc was fine with that. He did say that he wouldn't keep me on any drug for months that made me feel awful.  I've only been on it for a week and haven't felt any differently than before. He also told me this would only prevent recurrence of breast cancer spreading somewhere else (I was confused about that).  He said my chances of another kind of cancer were the same as before I was diagnosed with this.

SpecialK - thank you for clarifying.

KLJ - don't feel like you can't type/ask anything - that is the reason we are all here!

Thanks SpecialK! That helps a lot!

Hi ladies. Looking ahead to my mastectomy and reconstruction in a few months... How long after the initial surgery were you out of commission completely and how long was it until you could go back to work? I know a lot depends on individual factors, complications, infection, etc. I'm trying to get a sense of how long I should plan to be out of the office. Thanks.

EverForward:

I had drains removed at two weeks and returned to work after three full weeks. I had a few surprises during my surgery with some additional bleeding, but I still was able to have the nipple-sparing procedure. The BMX and TEs haven't really been as bad as I thought. Weird, but not bad!!! 

Best wishes for an easy surgery and recovery!

Hi Everforwad, I went to work after 4 weeks to a desk job.  I think I needed that 4th week off not because of pain really but I was still pretty fatigued.  I still liked my naps and would go to bed early.  If I had worries about my job, I could have gone back in 3 weeks but they took care of all my duties for 4 :-)  I drove by 2 weeks and was pretty self sufficient after 1 week.

For my 4 weeks, I applied for disability and the rest of my pay was made up by my 2 weeks sick time and a litlle vacation time.  Disability omly pays about 40% or something.  Fo my exchange surgery, I'll need to use vacation time.  It will be on a Friday so I'll try to just take off that Friday and the following week hopfully.  

Everforward...

Obviously a lot I will depend on your surgery, who you react to the GA, how you heal, etc.

I had a PBMX with direct to implant on April 24th. I was fortunate to have a very, very good recovery. Though I had some lifting and mobility restrictions in 1st week or two, my energy was very good after a few days, I was able to walk a few miles a day starting 3-4 days out, go back to gym for light cardio at 2 weeks, etc. Off narcotics after day 3" and take nothing regularly for pain at this point. Drains were out at a week though could have come out sooner but I live a couple hours away from my PS. Was able to drive at 3 weeks. Have not had any significant complications or healing issues. So I will say I am one of the ones who had a great recovery, though I was prepared for the worst. 

I booked 6 weeks off just in case there were issues or delayed healing, but am going back next week after 4 weeks off, either full time or near full time. I could have gone back this week, but wanted to give myself an extra few days just in case and as I had some personal appointments and such this week.  While my job is primarily a desk job it can be quite high stress and demand long hours. I did not want to throw myself back into that too soon. I did do some work from home starting at the end of the 1st week, but nothing major, just emails and such. 

I had to use every bit of sick time, vacation time, personal time, then when that was used up 2 weeks of zero pay, then short term disability at 50%.  Thankfully part of my salary is derived from commission so what I had submitted prior to my absence, still came in, thank goodness.

Anyone have any thoughts on riding roller coasters with TEs lol?! We have season passes to Cedar Point again this year and I rode a few "mild" ones with my daughter yesterday. I'm 8 weeks out from BMX and my TEs are half full. My PS said its not on a list of the top ten things not to do with TEs or implants for that matter. And I know a lot of you are jogging/exercising. So while I'm holding everything down (made for interesting pix) and avoiding the really vigorous rides, I just wondered if anyone had experience with this!