Best wishes to you Leihla & MusicLady with your Lumpectomies w/ SLND. I wish you both a speedy recovery, lots of health and my blessings are with you, along with many prayers tonight. (((((((HUGS))))))))

Mulligan, I pray that your exchange goes well- You'll be on the squooshy side!!! YAYYYYYY!!!! I bet you can't wait to get this overwith. Thank you for being a wonderful woman and for helping me along when we first met by giving me those amazing pink pockets. I'll be using them on my own surgery date  I wish you the best tomorrow and hope everything goes perfectly. Lots of love and prayers. 

Marie J Mello

Leihla and musiclady I will be holding your hands as all 3 of us head in tomorrow. Here's to an uneventful surgery and speedy recovery!

today is your big day, our twins (MusicLady & Leihla) having the same exact surgery, and My dear friend Mulligan, I pray your new foobs come out amazing !! I wish you a quick recovery & I pray that you all do well today. My prayers are aiming at you all today. 

Love Marie

Hello ladies,

I am new to this site and find the information being shared very helpful. I am scheduled for BMX with reconstructuon extenders placement surgery 9/10. Any suggestions on clothing/undergarment support? How soon were you able to go out? I am fearful of missing out on my son's activities. Did you wear prosthetics? And any other advice is greatly appreciated. 

Thank you!

Hi Betty,  Welcome, we have surgery on the same day!  You will want to wear something to the hospital that buttons up the front.  You will not be able to use your arms for at least a week and probably longer, at least until the drains come out and even then it is slow going.   My hospital also gave me 2 camisoles that velcro'd up the front and had pockets on the inside for the drains I wore that home and basically for the next week and a half, until my drains were gone.  You will also have a surgical bra or two to wear from the hospital.  You will wake up in one.  You can go with out any support if you like after a week or two.  I had my BMX on Monday May19th  and I was out and about after 2 weeks.  The only thing was I got tired really easy, so I went out in small increments at first, about 3 hours was about all I could take at first.  I did not go out with prosthetics, to be honest I never even thought of it.  They gave me some at the hospital but they were way bigger than I ever was...so that would have been even more obvious. The only advise is to take the painkillers on the schedule they give you at the hospital for at least 4 days before you start skipping And don't use those arms for a while.   I had a pain pump when I came home that slowly leaked morphine in and around my breast area.  Once it was empty, about three days, I just pulled the tubing out, slowly and threw it away..I will say I was sorry to see it go!  The tissue expanders are the worst but it really does get better..really. :-)   

Mischief46,

Thank you for the heads up. Pillows, got it! I don't have a recliner so they will have to be my friend. I am so upset about not having breasts. I am a curvy person and they balance me. So I think prosthetics might be helpful not only for me but for those that are used to seeing me in that way. 

I see you are getting your permanent implants. Please keep in touch and let me know how that goes. 

Hello ladies, it's great to hear that Leihla is doing well. 

My TE replacement was pretty easy as well. Had to check-in at 5:30 this morning and the actual surgery took place about 7:30a. I think I finally got home about 1pm. Doing great, a bit sore but that's to be expected, so much easier recovery than my mastectomy.

Thanks MarieJ, I will be thinking of you on your day and I'm so happy to be able to give it to you and for you to be able to use it. You are such a sweet and kind hearted person.

Much love to everyone and speedy recovery through all your journeys.

Gamma1959 I'm sorry you've found yourself having to come here, but I'm glad you found us. It is very scary to go through this, sin't it?  It is also really hard not to second guess ourselves. All we can do is make the best decision possible with the information we have at the time. My surgery is a couple days after you. on the 12th. I had a lumpectomy back in April, and now bilateral mastectomy next week. I'm soooo nervous. My kids are a good distraction! 

welcome Gamma1959!   Sorry you're going through this too but looking on the positive side you have surgery next week so it will be over soon and you'll be on your way to a speedy recovery!    You have mischief,  lovemysons and BettyC to hold hands with you that day.  And like all of the tests we have it's the waiting that's the worst!   

Glad you're home and recovering April8.   Sorry your surgery/SLND and pain meds were a "speed bump" for you. Wishing you clean margins and speedy recovery from now on!

Hello September surgery sisters!  I'm looking forward to hearing how your surgeries go.  September 30th is my date.  Double "m" with reconstruction.  Nervous about the sentinal node lymphoscintigraphy.  Heard sentinal node thing can be painful and the resident "doesn't know".  She also thought I'd be in the hospital a day but plastic surgeon said 2-3 days.  Not feeling the love at the surgery area but really hate to second opinion and wait more.  I have lots of confidence in the plastic surgeon.

Masectomy left side 9/3.  My biggest hurdle was getting anesthesia out of my system.  Went in at 130, out at 5pm & loopy until 330 am.  Vaguely remember seeing him & sending him home post surgery.  Had nurse check to see how often I was drugging myself.  My mental function was primary concern.

Had discussion with my PS who said to cut Percocet in half but asked that I take for 2 days before trying to switch to extra strength Tylenol.  That dose worked well for 4-5 hours.  By Saturday I went to half Tylenol every 4-6 hours and am extending out to longer intervals.

Was able to strip lines by myself but they trained my husband too.  Not really interested in food but eating lots of fruit and drinking protein supplement to help healing process.  Since I made it a point to workout pre-surgery to help recovery I was already using protein.

I really expected a lot more pain but mine hasn't been bad and I am thrilled.  My hope is that everyone do this well.  I believe the months of pre-hab paid off and encourage others to do the same.

Wednesday they should pull the drain & I look forward to it but cringe at the same time.  Two steps forward, one step back.

Thursday oncologist then BS (one floor apart).  Since no cancer found in nodes during surgery hope pathology will confirm  the same.  Mammo-print results same day.

Going into surgery I thought I was insane for doing this even though Iknew it was right for me.  I made it a point to know the good, the bad and ugly.  The ugly scared me to death.  It could have been easy to jump ship & tread water a while longer.  The hardest part was staying on course a and not letting my fears take over.  We are stronger than we think.  I posted my trip so others would realize the ugly doesn't affect everyone and show light at the end this section of the tunnel.

I will let you know how "drain pull" goes.  PS knows I plan on PT when ready & hope it's next week.  He is afraid I will push to hard too soon (reason for PT).  What I miss:  walks in the park (seriously), lifting weights, social gatherings (hate being stuck in house) & freedom to come and go as I please.

thanks for the warm welcome!! We are on for the same day?! I fly into San Antonio 9/23 meeting my BFF at airport she's flying in from Savaanah ! She is a treasure! It's been 4 LONG years with this concave chest Now starting to get anxious but excited My house is cleaner than ever guess it's the nesting?!!

I am so excited for all of us we are all here and moving forward with our lives!! Sometimes baby steps but still forward

I too wish everyone nothing but the best I want you all to feel happiness and to feel the strength and support I wish for you

Well guess I'll go start painting now!!

Hugs

It was 104 degrees in San Antonio when we left Aug. 28th and 52 degrees later the same day when we got to Seattle. Talk about a shock to the system! On the ship, each day got colder as we ventured further north and we put on more layers. I had 2 shirts, a thick sweater, and a warm jacket on most of the time and felt like a little kid in a snowsuit...unable to get up if I fell over. From our wonderful Alaskan cruise:

I'm new to this board. I will be having a mastectomy, both, next Thursday 9/18 with TE. Scared, nervous, and just ready to move on. I'm concerned about recovery. How long before I will be able to stay home without support? We don't have any family here and my husband can only take two weeks off. 

Lovecoasters,  My husband stayed home 2 weeks.  When he went back to work he put everything on the counter or table he thought I might need or want through out the day. Although he forgot my coffee cup the first day.  I just stared at it up there on the top shelf wishing it down.  :-)  You will still not be able to reach up high to much but if your drains are out you can start moving your arms a little bit more each day.  It takes time to get that back.  Everyone is different but from my experience you will be okay.