August 2013 Surgeries

No tips here poodlemum, I am "flat", which means lumpy with wings under my arms so can't help but I wish you the best for your upcoming surgery. Take care of yourself.

Poodlemum, I am sorry that you are struggling with this.  My tumor was very close to my nipple, so I had no choice.  It really did not bother me; I just wanted all traces of the cancer gone, so I was fine with seeing them go.  I have reconstructed ones now, and though I have had some complications with their healing, they look decent now.

Poodlemum, I am so sorry that you've had to go through all of that.  I hope BRCA comes back negative. Hope you get those dang drains out soon. I am sorry you had to have them, but glad that you are on top of things and got this quick-growing beast removed.

Lili, How are you doing?

Wren, Feeling any better?

Babs, Healing OK?

Everyone else???? How's everyone doing?????

I had follow up today with BS today about the lumps that came after fat grafting. He explained his rationale for not ordering ultrasound based on the fact that the fat cells in the lump would look like other fat cells on ultrasound. He first said that the lumps were fat necrosis and that the biopsy showed lipocytes. I politely corrected/questioned him (since I had asked for copy of my biopsy results and knew it said lymphocytes).  He did go and double check my biopsy results and said that they were in fact lymphocytes and not lipocytes, and said that since I am thin, maybe my lymph nodes are more on the surface. Um.....just on one side???!!!   He still did not see a value in an ultrasound, but said he would send a note to MO and have him make the final call. Moral of the story is if you do not have a copy of all of your biopsy results, get them in your hands!!!!! I now will have to work on MO to see if he'll order the ultrasound. I think he may do that. He'll see more value in having a baseline than the surgeon, who said we could always remove them if they are bothersome, but did say it was better to wait and see. I tried to explain that I was not wanting it to rule out anything now since the fine needle aspiration was negative, but so that we have a baseline, so if there are changes over the course of the next 6 months or so, we have something to which to compare it. Since there are several lumps, I do not trust my fingers to remember which are new and which are not. He thought we'd be able to.  He thought that based on my tumor stats and treatment, my risk of recurrence was really low. I wanted to scream...my risk of BC was even lower than that statistically, but here I am! I didn't...by that time I decided that I would see what MO has to say..................I think (hope) he will be more open minded to it, especially since his PA asked if he had ordered one previously..........I see him on Wednesday.  Wish me luck!

sorry Poodlemum-- what a long year for you! At least it was caught and removed, and can now carry on. Hope your recovery is a smooth one...

I just had my 2d exchange (smaller, diff shape, with lipo), and think Im about done with it. Taking arimidex, got lucky no chemo or rads...maybe some tatts instead of nipples!

How 'bout a 1 year check-in???  How are all of our Aug 13 ladies doing???

it has been a wild year.  

I did radiation during October and November.  I lost my mother 2 days before finishing radiation.  Had a gastric flair up Thanksgiving and was given meds to resolve those issues.  Husband said he thought it was gallbladder but doctors said no. 

In March I did a bilateral DIEP reconstruction.  Woke up with only one breast reconstructed, luckily the radiated one. Had some minor healing issues with my belly incision and a small area on the breast.

In June I did a Ruben's flap for my other breast.  Had major complications, lower incision opened back up after the staples were removed.  Had to do wet/dry packing for 8 weeks then decided to hook up a wound vac to assist in healing, had that for 3 weeks.  Got the pump off off on Friday then on Sunday started having bad gastric pains.  Took all the gastric meds I got at thanksgiving.  By Friday not getting better, so I went to my GP and he had tests run and said gallbladder was ripe and I needed to go get checked in to the hospital and get it removed immediately.  That was August 17.

I have a followup appointment this afternoon with the surgeon.  Too many surgeries this year.  I think I am just going to heal and maybe start finishing revisions next year.  I did not anticipate all these hick ups.  Oh well, could have been worse.  

Hope everyone else is moving along nicely.

Hard to believe it was a year ago we were all going through our mastectomies.

I healed fine after BMX.  I did 4 rounds of TC chemo, then had exchange surgery over the winter and nipple reconstruction and fat grafting in early spring.  I have healed well from everything, but developed lumps after fat grafting.  One was biopsied and is inflammation.  Others that have developed since were assessed by ultrasound and since there's some cortical thickening of 2 lymph nodes, they will be reassessed in November and biopsied if still enlarged.  I am thinking it is just more inflammation.  My body seems to like making inflammation...developed carpal tunnel, cubital tunnel (elbow) and trigger thumb in the months that followed chemo.  I am back to work now and trying to just enjoy life and not think about cancer all the time!  Hard to believe it's been a year.  Time stood still in the 3 weeks between diagnosis and BMX and also during chemo, but it has flown by since!

AMEN. Aviva.

I can't believe it's been a year. So glad to see you folks doing well. It has been an eventful year for sure. I had surgery August 16th and had homecare coming daily or every other day until boxing day. I still feel weird getting in the shower without wearing plastic bags. It is so freeing. I had a BMX and 6 clear nodes removed. I am triple neg so should have started chemo earlier than the date I started (Nov 25th). I developed diverticulitis so was cut off chemo and saw onc in 4 months and now see him every 6 months.

I am about to have a D&C to biopsy my thickened uterine lining. I was spotting and cramping (not good at age 67) and am not looking forward to another anesthetic but for some reason I am not worried about outcome.

I have peripheral neuropathy which shouldn't happen from one infusion of taxotere/cytoxan but I think that combined with the cipro/flagyl for the diverticulitis the same week is what caused it. I am having trouble walking but still really feel pretty good especially when I read what other's endure.

The weirdest chemo side effect is my curley hair. I had really straight hair before and now I look like I got an old lady perm. It is growing very slowly but picked up some after starting on synthroid. I became hypothyroid in the spring and the meds seemed to make my hair grow faster.

I guess my post seems to have a lot of complaints but really I feel lucky and am happy to be here. I hope more of the woman check in. This was a nice idea to start this thread.

Take care everyone. xoxo

Hello ladies!  Here's my update.

As you know I had DCIS last August, nipple sparing.  A growth came up in November that they thought at first was scar tissue due to the complications of my seromas.  I went on chemo, the growth continued. In March they canned the chemo since it was an obvious growth, scar tissue doesn't grow! :-)

I was too sick to have surgery so they had to wait it out.  IDC so continual x-rays, etc to make sure it wasn't spreading into the ribcage. Ultimately I had surgery June 20th. 4.5x5x4cm - she had to go slightly under the ribcage.  Pathology reports came back three weeks later - she got it all.  She seriously wasn't sure she was going to get it - but it's all gone - I'm cancer free!!! I joined Flat and Fabulous on Facebook and I love it. No complications from this surgery. Drains came out in 5 days. Small seromas on each side near drain sites.  The left one has almost totally reabsorbed.  The right one is still on its way to reabsorbing but it will do fine. She's going to see me in March (she "accidentally got pregnant" so my 6 month check up had to be postponed).  She will decide at that time if she or I want to go back in for some minor clean up of any extra skin that may not flatten out completely. I go in January for my BRCA assessment.

So all in all, I'm doing great.  Slowly getting back into my normal routine. I have to remember to slow down a bit and not do too much since I have to do everything with my arms and I tend to forget until "after the fact" that I'm still healing. I'm using pure coconut oil on the incisions and area to loosen it up - the tightness in the morning was awful.  So once the incisions were clear and free and fully healed up, I started using the coconut oil twice a day and it's really helped a lot.  My porcupine is totally untamed, it's coming in thicker than it was before the chemo, sadly the grey still decided to return, but that's alright.

I lost my grandma 4 weeks after surgery. We thought we were going to lose her last summer and against the advice of my family, I told her I had breast cancer and would be having surgery, she hung on and went home to her apartment.  In and out of the hospital over the year. She had gangrene in her legs that was spreading throughout her body.  In May they told us she would probably be gone within 3 weeks.  A week or so later I found out I would be having my surgery and showed her the tumour which was quite prominent.  She held on.  She was in the hospital shortly after I had my surgery but came home and celebrated her 93rd birthday July 3rd.  She was back in the hospital the following week and then I had my follow-up on the Tuesday two weeks later.  She asked Mum how I was doing and if I was well enough to "officiate" her funeral.  Mum said yes and my grandma went home the following day and passed away almost exactly 24 hours after she heard that I was fine.  She was more of a parent to me than a grandmother and she fought to stay here this past year until she knew I was ok.  It did set me back a bit - developed the right seroma (very small) on the right side because I had to use my crutches for the time of funeral, etc. But here I am!

I haven't tried using my manual chair yet because of the movement and I want to ease into it and not do anything stupid. 

I also signed up for the CIBC walk again this year and I've raised over $2,030 (I raised $1,030 last year) and I'm still raising more for the next month.  So, as crappy and hard a year as it has been - I'm pleased to say - I'm healthy, I'm happy and I'm alive and here to stay! :-D

Hi past August surgeries , we are all a year out now   I have a question does anyone else still have pain where the incision was if you had a Lumpectomy?  I still do and its actually sunk in some. My bra rubs the spot so that doesn't help either I am sure. I do see my radiologist this week for I hope my final checkup as its been a year since internal radiation.

I have about a 3 inch area on one side that is scar that alternately hurts and itches, off and on. It is still raised more than the rest of my scars. Technically its a scar from the lumpectomy/oncoplasty that was done. I have a (final?) surgery coming up in November, Ive asked him to see what he can do about it. Its not infected, but just oddly hasnt settled down like the rest of the scars.

I'm so sorry to hear this news Babs. It seems like such a long time ago but I will always remember that I wouldn't have got through it all without the August surgery sisters. I had complications and although all of us were experiencing the nightmare of discovering and starting on this cancer journey I still felt supported by everyone.

It is doubly hard to watch sisters struggle through treatment and reconstruction (which I was lucky to avoid) and still not be done with this stuff.

I guess we know from this forum that it is not a death sentence but really seems to be a life sentence when it comes back. I hope you have lots of support dealing with this and that it can be resolved. Take care. You are in my thoughts.

so sorry to hear that Babs. I agree-- my August 13 sisters really have helped me thru. Ive had a lucky journey but am still here getting, and hopefully, giving support.. Hang in there girl!

Just PM'd you Babs. I am dealing with a recurrence too. I just found out on Monday. I know will know the plan next week.