June 2014 Surgery Sisters

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  • worryocd
    worryocd Member Posts: 41
    edited June 2014

    Wishing songlady and sjbaker  successful surgeries.  My prayers go out to you!

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  • kcat2013
    kcat2013 Member Posts: 391
    edited June 2014

    Good luck tomorrow SJbaker and Songlady!

    I'm glad we have Sandra's pink bus to hop on!

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  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 2,913
    edited June 2014

    Margie7121, what kind of surgery are you having? Need the info for the list.

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  • linda505
    linda505 Member Posts: 847
    edited June 2014

    thinking of all of you in recovery, going in today, and nervously waiting on your dates.   Soon you will all be on the other side and on your way to life again.  I am on the bus with fuzzy slippers to keep our feet warm in the cold operating room.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited June 2014

    We love the picture jbokland and congrats on
    your last treatment!

    Sending good wishes to you Sjbaker,Songlady, Margie, Linda505 and to all
    of you who have been through or will go through surgery!

    You are so supportive of one another, our
    good thoughts and best wishes go to you all.

    The Mods

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  • thinkpink4ever
    thinkpink4ever Member Posts: 205
    edited June 2014

    Yesterday's highlights:  all four drains came out and I am now in an ab compression binder for one week.  Back to see the doctor in two weeks!  Yay!

    Praying for songlady and sjbaker!  We are right there with you in spirit, ladies! Stay encouraged...

    One love,

    tp4ever

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  • Wizard50
    Wizard50 Member Posts: 113
    edited June 2014

    Good luck today songlady and sjbaker!  

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  • gila4936
    gila4936 Member Posts: 62
    edited June 2014

    TP4Ever -  Congratulations! That must feel incredible!

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  • Nicole32
    Nicole32 Member Posts: 21
    edited June 2014

    Hi everyone.  I saw my PS yesterday and had all of my drains removed.  I am now 10 days post op and doing great.  Not in too much pain...Im mostly taking Advil during the day and pain pills at night so I can sleep.  I have full range of motion of my arms and I am slowly lifting things.  My doc said everything looks great and I am super happy with the results.  Good luck to all of you girls having surgery today...YOU CAN DO IT!!!

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  • gila4936
    gila4936 Member Posts: 62
    edited June 2014

    Congratulations, Nicole!

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  • Slappy-Squirrel
    Slappy-Squirrel Member Posts: 296
    edited June 2014

    Thinkpink4e,

    You are so lucky to get your drains out!, I just got back from the breast surgeon and mine have to stay in until Monday.

    Shirley

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  • aff
    aff Member Posts: 279
    edited June 2014

    thinkpink - congratulations!

    Woo Hoo for both of us! I just left the PS and also had all 4 of my drains removed. I feel like a new person. 

    Shirley - Mon will be here before you know it and it will be glorious

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  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 2,913
    edited June 2014

    You all are the best! Even the Mods are impressed with the level of support our thread gives. Congratulations and keep it up. Knowing you have friends here can brighten even the gloomiest day.

    Slappy, I know it's hard when you expect to have your drains removed and end up going home with the same amount you came with.  Take some consolation in knowing your drains are doing the job they were made for and without them, you might be sorry. That fluid has to go somewhere so if it can't get out through the drains, it will build up and cause you trouble. In the grand scheme of things, a few more days won't mean much but now, while you are smack dab in the middle of recovery, a few days seems forever. I thought drains had become a permanent part of my body because they'd been in so long. My PS is quite conservative. My husband would say, "Another few days won't matter. Cheer up." and I wanted to smack him! I was disappointed and sad and it was not helpful for him to invalidate my feelings. He was right, of course, I just didn't want to hear it. By the next day I was fine. You will be too. Count on it.

    Thinkpink, hope your dad's surgery goes well. By the way, thanks for the great "virtual lunch" in NOLA. Congratulation to you, Aff, and Nicole for leaving those drains behind. Makes you feel like you've climbed another rung on the recovery ladder, doesn't it?

    Everybody says, "Don't do too much" but do we really know how much is too much? Sometimes we have to find out the hard way. Jbdayton, even though you've had surgery before, you found out what your limits are for this particular one. No wonder you were worn out.

    Wildflower, loved the margaritas on the bus this morning and Linda, the fuzzy slippers are just what the girls needed.


     

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  • gila4936
    gila4936 Member Posts: 62
    edited June 2014

    So happy for all of you getting your drains out. Jealous, but happy! 

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  • kfinnigan
    kfinnigan Member Posts: 1,729
    edited June 2014

    Cheering everyone on!  Love the great positive vibe of this thread.  You ladies ROCK!!  soft hugs to all healing and for those of us awaiting surgery!

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  • bethq
    bethq Member Posts: 311
    edited June 2014

    Concerned about the "muscle spasms" I keep having at the tops of my breasts. One week since surgery. See BS and PS tomorrow. I keep wondering if my drains are clogged but they put out around 10 cc each per day and we are good about stripping them. Tops of my breasts seem swollen (probably just the expanders which have 100 ml in each already) and today are in almost constant spasm mode.

    Saw oncologist today, final patho read invasive ductal carcinoma but since it was 1.1 mm no chemo. He is strongly suggesting Tamoxifen and I did get script for it. So now I am a stage I instead of 0, crap. What I wonder is, how do they know cancer has not already went elsewhere? My node was neg. My mother is worried about this nagging back pain I've had for a year now.

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  • jbdayton
    jbdayton Member Posts: 700
    edited June 2014

    Just another dip on the roller coaster.  I had my staples removed yesterday.  Sometime during the night the bottom breast incision decided to open back up.  It opened about 4 inches long and it is about 1/2 inch wide.  Sent pics to PS will have to do wound care today layers of wet gauze against wound then layer with dry gauze and cover.  Have to be in his office at 8:30 in the morning.

    Yesterday they told me how good the incisions looked.  I sure didn't expect this.  I am still with you guys on the virtual bus though.  

    I will be in the recliner most of today so I will keep the ipad handy.  Hope surgery is going well for songlady and sjbaker.  

    Sandra I now know what it is like to encounter one problem after another; yours infection, mine healing.  I know how lucky I was through all the pre surgery treatments with very minor SE's.  My body must not like being cut on.  I try to follow all the instructions religiously but something keeps going wrong.  I will be super careful to not get an infection though.

    Congrats to all those getting their tubes removed or close to it.

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  • Margie7121
    Margie7121 Member Posts: 19
    edited June 2014

    Hello Sandra!

    I am having: full mastectomy on both breasts and 3 x auxiliary lymph nodes removal on right breast  

    I am super super scared have to admit!

    Thanks for this forum and all the ladies with there positive feedback!

    Congrats Nicole!

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  • Juliecc
    Juliecc Member Posts: 4,868
    edited June 2014

    Jbdayton, I'm sorry your incision opened up.  I hope the PS can do something so you can get back to healing,

    Bethq, please ask them to do the Oncoype DX test for you.  Anyone who is node negative and ER+ should ask for that.  It's not too late.  Mine was ordered a couple of weeks after my BMX. They send a sample of your tumor to a lab in California.  It's very useful for those with ER+, node negative tumors.  It will tell you what your recurrence rate is with or without chemo to help decide about chemo.  I had a similar diagnosis with a 1cm IDC, ER+, PR+, Her-, except mine was grade 1.  My nodes were negative and I thought, "Great!  No Chemo!"  So I was surprised when I had my first oncolgist appointment and she said because of your age, I recommend you do chemo.  I'm 46.  She was ready to sign me up.  She said that she wasn't worried about 5 or 10 years from now, but 20 or 30.  I was still waiting for my Oncotype DX score and I wanted to wait for that.  The score came back a low 12 meaning the risks of chemo outweighed the benefits.  She agreed that I shouldn't do chemo.  With Tamoxifen, I have an 8% recurrence rate in the next 10 years.  Without Tamoxifen, I believe it is twice that, about 16%.  So even people that are node negative can have metastasis, unfortunately.  So IF you have any stray cells that escaped in your body, the Tamoxifen will hopefully kill them off.  New studies have come out that taking it for 10 years instead of 5 is more beneficial but I'm still learning about that.  I imagine they will know for sure by the time my 5 years are up.  I feel more secure taking my little Tamoxifen pill everyday.  For muscle spasms, did your PS give you valium or something else?

    Congrats to those of you getting your drains out!  It really does seem to boost morale to get rid of those  things.

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  • kcat2013
    kcat2013 Member Posts: 391
    edited June 2014

    thinkpink and aff  yay for no more drains, getting those out was a big boost to me!

    Slappysquirrel  It's kind of strange how just waiting a few more days to get the darn drains out is very discouraging!  I was disappointed when I went in to have mine removed and my PS only removed 2 of the 4 because she said her policy was to not remove all at one time.  So I had to wait a few more days to get the other 2 out--I was so bummed!  

    jbdayton  I'm sorry your incision opened up again, I hope your PS can fix you up well tomorrow.

    I had a couple of days this week where I thought my surgery might have to be postponed.  I have some  silly little rash rash on my upper stomach that looks "suspicious" for shingles.  But I have no symptoms of shingles, no itching, pain, etc.  But the nurse practitioner I saw went ahead and prescribed antivirals and told me she didn't think I should have surgery and should wait at least a month because of the shingles, but to talk to my surgeon about it.  Well, that sent me into a tizzy since I'd just spent days getting childcare squared away and help for me organized for the surgery--didn't want to have to reschedule!  Thankfully my PS said she was comfortable with going ahead with surgery at this point unless the rash gets a lot worse or I start having shingles symptoms.  I'm glad I'm still on schedule!

    Kendra

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  • jbdayton
    jbdayton Member Posts: 700
    edited June 2014

    Kendra my prayers are for your rash to behave and allow you to have your surgery on schedule.

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  • gila4936
    gila4936 Member Posts: 62
    edited June 2014

    jbdayton - I hear you. Yesterday my belly incision started seeping enough that I needed to put some gauze on it. I keep wondering if I overdid something but I really don't think so. But maybe? 

    At lunchtime yesterday my husband called and was worried because he didn't know when he could get home to feed me lunch. I said I thought I could make a smoothie for myself because everything was very reachable. Well, yes, I made the smoothie not problem with my NutriBullet but then I was unable to unscrew the lid so I had to text him to come home and free the smoothie so I could drink it.

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  • sandra4611
    sandra4611 Member Posts: 2,913
    edited June 2014

    Gila, so frustrating not to be able to do things you so recently took for granted, isn't it? I was alone one day and needed Tylenol but couldn't get the child proof cap off. Then it started to rain and the cat was on the patio, frantic to be let in. But I couldn't open or close the heavy sliding glass doors.

    Bethq, well that sux. I agree that you should ask for an Oncotype test. It takes several weeks to get it back, so ask pretty soon. Strange that you are only getting 10cc from your drains and you have swelling. Certainly does sound like fluid is building up somewhere the drains don't go. Muscle spasms will go away with one Valium. No need to make yourself sleepy with too much. Did you have the spasms before the swelling?

    Welcome to our sisterhood, Margie7121 and Kcat2013. One more week! I know you are excited to get your "squishies" Kcat. Glad your doc says no delay needed. Margie, I was so afraid the week before my first surgery so I know how you feel. Finally had to get an Ambien from my doc because I couldn't sleep. Couldn't turn off the "what if" worries.

    Bless your heart Jbdayton. You are having a heck of a time. I would have been horrified if my incision opened up 4 inches and was so wide. Hopefully they won't put you back in the hospital and re-suture. We'll be anxious to hear how it goes for you in the morning after you see your doctor. No infection! I forbid it! You've already had enough trouble for 10 people and certainly don't need that monster to visit you. Stay strong. Worried about you.

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  • jbokland
    jbokland Member Posts: 890
    edited June 2014

    jbdayton- I am so sorry for the complications.  I am surprised to hear you had staples, tho!

    Margie- I understand your fear, but keep it at a 'healthy' level.  Use your energy for thinking positive.  When you find yourself in a bad situation, your only choice is to move through it.  I promise you, it won't be as bad as you are imagining.   80% of recovery is attitude!!

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  • turtle42
    turtle42 Member Posts: 139
    edited June 2014

    I'm so glad I found this thread. I am having surgery June 23 rd. Double mastectomy with reconstruction. Latissimus Dorsi on the left. 

    As the time gets closer I am feeling more anxious. I have a great team of doctors so just knowing that helps.

    It also helps to read thru these threads and see others with similar timelines for surgery.

    Good thoughts and prayers going out for all of you!

    Jackie

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  • bethq
    bethq Member Posts: 311
    edited June 2014

    Julie the MO said because the IDC is only 1.1 mm he wouldn't consider oncotype or chemo for that matter. Maybe I will mention it to my BS today.

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  • Juliecc
    Juliecc Member Posts: 4,868
    edited June 2014

    Beth, sorry I misread it as 1.1cm, not mm.  That would make a difference I'm sure!

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  • bethq
    bethq Member Posts: 311
    edited June 2014

    yes, I did bring it up and was told "too small"....so yeah!...I think! Now hopefully won't obsess about recurrence. Seems like with every bit of good news there is bad....or maybe just some new way you have to look at your life.

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  • KLJ
    KLJ Member Posts: 284
    edited June 2014

    bethq, I was told the same thing. My IDC was too small to do the Oncotype test on. In fact practically all of it was removed during the biopsy. So no chemo for me. Now I just have to decide if I am going to do Tamoxifen. Still haven't decided.

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  • KLJ
    KLJ Member Posts: 284
    edited June 2014


    Julie, did they tell you that Tamoxifen kills off any stray cells that may be running around? I hadn't heard that but then again my oncologist threw so much at me I could have missed it. I really felt that he was trying to talk me out of taking it but I see him again on Tues. and I have a list of straight forward questions that I want some straight forward answers to!

     

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