October 2014 Surgery Sisters

Maggie - glad it's over with for you and that you dodged the ALND. That should help you avoid some problems down the road as well as easing your healing now.

Oh Fourminor - you just made my day with your story.  

About a month ago, I was late getting home from a doctor's appointment and my youngest was standing at the garage door, not too happy that I was making her late to gymnastics.  Her older sister had warned her that I would be late and let her know I was at an appointment.  She jumped into the car and when I apologized for being late, she responded "that's okay mom.  Did they take your breast out today?"  OMG.  I had no good response for that one, except to look down into my shirt and say, "nope, it's still here for now".  Geesh.

I have had a terrible day today my friends.  Woke up and was feeling fine, drank some tea and had an english muffin with my medications.  Then, I was standing up getting my drains all situated and had immediate impending vomit.  No warning, no queasiness, nothing...just ran into the bathroom and puked.  Okay, maybe I didn't get enough in my tummy.  So, went downstairs to watch some movies with my MIL.  She made me soup for lunch - went down without a problem.  My noon medications went down without any problem. Stood up to get more water and it happened again!  Sudden onset of major vomiting.  Hubby called the surgeon, she didn't have any answer - as I don't have a fever, I have no streaking, no odor, weird color from the drains, etc etc.  Fast forward to this evening, was standing in the bathroom to have my drains milked and it happened yet again.  With no meds on board this time.  UGGGHHH!!!  I am so frustrated.  The only time I have seen this type of sudden onset is with closed head injuries, brain tumors, and other neurological issues.  

The bowels are working - although it did take several days for them to get their act together.  So...any ideas?  Has anyone else had this happen to them?  I am worried about an occult infection, or perhaps a bleed somewhere that I cannot see (I am on blood thinners).  

Otherwise...just doing fabulous.  

Thank you for listening,

Akitagirl

Hi Hopeful - no, thankfully no signs of abdominal bleeding...  just whatever went down is coming back up.  That's why I had an ice cream shake for snack.  When my hubby looked at me weird, I just told him it would taste much better than mexican food. 

Trying to keep a sense of humor...  

I have been sitting now for 1 hour and ate applesauce, grapes and two crackers.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  :-)

Definately ask for Zofran.  If you are still taking pain meds, they can absolutely make you vomit.  I suffered with kidney stones throughout my 2nd pregnancy.  They gave me pain meds that made me sick as soon as I took them.  The zofran was a godsend.  Hope you feel better!

HI Akitagirl.

What meds are you on?  I can tell you that I have a cast iron stomach and have not thrown up in a decade or two.  Well, two days after surgery I noticed my bowels were churning and I bloated up with gas.  On day 4 I got up and took my morning meds and started feeling terrible, was puking my guts up in 5 minutes.   Later on I started having diarrhea.   At this point it was a toss up what was worse, the post surgical pain in my chest or what was happening in my abdomen.  I knew it was something I was taking but I wasn't sure what.  I was on Declofenac (NSAID), Narco, Colace, and Antibiotics.   

I got off everything by day 6, but in the end, I am pretty sure the main culprit was the Declofenac, which lists GI upset and gastric erosions/ulcerations as main side effect, because even 48 hours after taking it, my entire epigatric region was tender to palpation.  Although I think the antibiotics were also hitting my colon.  It took two weeks for the gas and bloating to stop after I got off everything.

I have not had any issue with OTC ibuprofen.

Hi Swoobs!  I am also in Ontario, Canada.  I just joined this site today and I totally suck with technology (age 49).  Hope I am doing this right?  Anyway, my surgery is approaching - still in the "deciding upon all of my options" stage and seriously, not sleeping, very confused....I can't even research anything else.  I'm definitely overwhelmed.  So many questions!  I don't even know where to start?  How are you feeling?

Forhisglory, I hope you sail through your surgery today with absolutely no complications! You wouldn't be human if you weren't nervous, especially considering your seizure worries. I was nervous and almost fainted when my drains came out, this journey is just one first after another of unexpected twists and turns and none of them are something we look forward to. Sounds like you are well prepared, just try to relax and let them do their job and in no time you'll be resting at home. We're thinking of you, you can do this! Pls let is know how everything goes and remember god is with you every step of the way!

PerAngusta, welcome to group you never wanted to be a part of! This website and the ladies here have been so helpful and comforting. Just to know there are SO many others out there who are going through exactly what you're going through is huge. I have had wonderful support from family and friends but I can come here and ask questions that nobody else would be able to answer. I wish you the best as you begin your journey and know that we are here to support you.

Thank you hummingbird!  You are, officially, my first "contact".  I sooooo appreciate the welcome - I wasn't sure how this forum gets rolling and I have some questions to put out to the group - would love to hear from others who have similar anxieties or already passed this stage?  My surgery was supposed to take place on Oct. 23rd...but it was delayed.  I found my lump on July 10th....and have been on this journey since then.  It feels like time has craaaawled by since then (tick, tock, tick, tock!!) and actually, I was doing really well.  Mostly, offering comfort/assurance about my own disease, to my spouse, young children, relatives and friends.  I suppose it gave me purpose and carried me along?  Anyway, my surgery is in limbo right now and I don't know how long they can leave me "hanging"??  but guessing that I will be in within the month.  I am recommended for a partial mastectomy of the left breast (gulp!) - the right one contains benign material that needs to be re-evaluated again in 6 months (gulp, gulp - as in "do this whole process TWICE maybe"?  EWWWWWW), reconstruction via implant-based does not appeal to me.  My choice to exercise immediate reconstruction at the time of mastectomy using tissue transfer/autologous is not an option - I don't have enough ab tissue!  We may be able to get some from my buttocks (slim chance!), this means another appointment and more waiting for an assessment from a plastic surgeon.  At this point, I wish we didn't cancel my surgery!  It seems that I am right back to where I started - just remove the darned thing, get this cancer gone?  Sigh.  I'm getting anxious now.  Also, thinking about just removing them both and going flat chested?  

Perangusta welcome to a club you never want to belong to....it's very tough.

As time goes on and you start making choices with the help of your surgeons everything stage gets a wee bit easier. (This damn font lol ) 

peramgusta I changed my mind from July 12 to about 2 weeks prior to my surgery 1000 times....it's so emotional but I assure you once you decided YOU ARE CLEAR and it stays clear. It's the only way to make peace...

I was only have 1 mastectomy and then when they said every 3 months to have MRI and mammogram on healthier breast I said forget that noise....not risking doing all this twice...I did both on oct 7... And I am at peace with that!

I need to ask why implant isn't on your list for recon? Before I can give you any opinions you are asking for

PS in Ontario they have 3 months to date from the first visit with breast cancer surgeon not plastic surgeon to do your surgery!!!!!! Keep that in mind !!!!!

PerAugusta, we are sorry that you have joined the club, but welcome you warmly to our community. You have found an amazing group of women here! Hugs from the Mods

Warm welcome to you PerAngusta. The nice thing about being here is you are allowed to vent, have pity parties, make a decision, change your mind, make another decision which you swear you'll never second guess, then change your mind again...and again. We've ALL been there. No one can make your decision for you...well some doctors think they can...but it is truly up to you. Sometimes it means finding a new doctor who will support you. Part of the frustration is that some of the info you read online is old, or even has been disproven. You can drive yourself crazy because one article will contradict the next. I only had four days from diagnosis to meeting the breast surgeon, radiologist, and oncologist. (At my hospital, you stay in one room and one by one, the doctors come to you.) Having to go from knowing NOTHING on Thursday afternoon to having to decide what I was going to say to the doctors on Monday morning was a nightmare. I barely slept.

What helped was to limit my research to a few websites of prominent places: Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and MD Anderson. I kept a spiral notebook handy and wrote down things I wanted to remember. If I had a question about something I read, I put a big question mark in the margin. Sometimes the answer could be found in the next page I went to (so I went back and crossed out the question mark) but other things were still unanswered by Monday morning. If I hadn't researched and narrowed down my questions, there wouldn't have been enough time to get in all my questions and, more importantly, I would have been so confused by all the information, the whole meeting time would have been almost useless.

I would advise you to ALWAYS take someone with you to the appointments. They don't have to be as knowledgeable as you are or even more knowledgeable...they just have to be able to listen to what the doctors are saying and be willing to discuss it with you later. (You'll forget.) Knowing some of the language, some of the options, and which ones I wanted to know more about made that first appointment really worthwhile. Still, even though I took my notebook and wrote things down, I found being able to go back through it with my husband was the most useful..

You are going to hear this next phrase a million times. We are all different. Even with the same diagnosis and the same information, we are going to come to different conclusions. No one is right, no one is wrong. We are just different and that's ok. Here you don't have to try to convince the rest of us why you did what you did, or why you have decided to do something out of the ordinary. I might have made a different decision based on the same facts, but it's not my place to tell you you've made a mistake because you didn't. You made the best decision for YOU. We are here to support you, no matter the path you have chosen.

We will, however, offer you information about what worked for each of us, what we would never do again, or what we wished we'd done differently. Please don't take offense if, for instance, we ask why you have chosen to do or not do something. Perhaps we are just trying to learn. Or perhaps we are worried that your plans to do something might lead to a complication or "scenic detour" you haven't even thought about.

Regarding supplies to bring to the hospital: Since I had to sleep on my back and I wear a retainer at night, my mouth became so dry! I had my husband bring in lip balm to the hospital. 

At home, I needed towels to sleep on in case the drains leaked. The first night home they leaked from the holes in my skin all over my camisole. A nurse was coming in the morning so I just wrapped some clean cloths over the spot and waited till I had some help. It was too much for me. I knew it had stopped and could wait. There was a lot of clear tape on the skin around the drains; I just had no idea how to deal with it and it was in such an awkward place. (The Visiting Nurse was a huge help!)

My PS sent me to a bra shop to buy a step in camisole. Mine has velcroed pockets to hold drains, too. This will be my new underwear for a long time to come.

My nurse navigator suggested I bring pj bottoms to the hospital. I felt comfortable wearing them under my hospital gown as I practiced walking around the halls. I also had a wrap to wear home. Sleeves can be a problem.

Good luck!

Sharpei