January 2015 Surgery Sisters

Hi All, I had my surgery on the 6th and I figured I'd share my experience, it may help someone. I had nipple and skin sparing mastectomy with infra-mammary incision. Expanders were placed with only 100cc for now. My surgery took 5 1/2 hours starting at 11am and went well. I woke up to a nurse moving me around taking the stickers off my back and chest and it was extremely painful. I was actually crying. As I complained of pain they gave my morphine in the IV and it made me so nauseous that I couldn't even open my eyes, every movement made me so dizzy. Both surgeons breast/plastic came by to talk to me and said that the initial path report so far is negative but the final one takes a few days but it is a good start. They transferred me to a bed and wheeled me to my room. The elevator ride was the worst, I was gaging but since I had nothing to eat the nurse was safe from me throwing up on her. Once I was transferred to my room, my family was allowed to see me. By that time I was so loopy and sleepy from the morphine that I could barely keep my eyes open. Finally the 4th nurse who saw me told me that the morphine is what causes the nausea. I made them switch me to percocet and that was great, no nausea and kept me sleeping throughout the night without feeling loopy. I was awake on and off though because they checked my blood pressure every hour, my temperature needed to be taken every 2 hours, my catheter had to come out at midnight, my breathing exercise device arrived at 2 am which needs to be done hourly, the monitor started beeping, called the nurse "oh it was low on battery) what a joy! I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night but you are not allowed to get up alone so I had to wait for the nurse. They told me I can have percocet every 4-6 hours as needed. No one comes to give it to you unless you ask for it so I had to call a nurse every time. I may sound like a complainer but it has its advantages. I was not going to wait until pain was unbarable, I saw the time was up and I called them right away. 6 am the team was changing so they all came in to see me, shortly after the attending doc on the floor came in, at 7am my surgery team came in to check on me, I learned that my left nipple was turning black and the skin under it all the way to the incision site was turning purple with red blisters and I developed ischemia. They gave me a cream but no changes so far. I am terrified of loosing my nipple but I am keeping my fingers crossed. While they were visiting I complained that even with percocet I feel like a train hit my chest an its very tight so the PA suggested Valium. After my next dose of percocet and valium I actually was pain free for two hours, I felt great, wondering why isn't valium a part of my treatment anyway?? Make sure you ask for it, it's a muscle relaxer and wont hurt a thing. At 8am they disconnected my IV and my family was back in to see me. I was able to get out of bed and use the bathroom alone, brushed my hair, and teeth, yay. At 11 they said I am ready to be discharged and gave us all my prescriptions. They said I can wait until 1 or 2pm if I want and order lunch and take my time. I did, my room is 10K a day, I deserve lunch lol and it allowed my family to go down the lobby and fill my meds before we leave. The first night at home I had fever, highest was 101.3 so next dat we were back at the hospital. They told me, everything looks good, do the breathing exercise hourly ( have to admit I didn't use it more than every 4 hours) No fever since, pain is tolerable, as of yesterday I have been taking Tylenol for pain during the day and percoset for night, only so I could sleep. I'm a side sleeper on a flat pillow and sleeping sitting up is not easy to do. I've been walking around the house, trying to be up and about, I'm going nuts being in bed for hours. The tubes are annoying as hell, I have 4 of them, my apm is tomorrow, I hope 2 comes out. Draining them is a piece of cake, I've been doing it myself since day 3. They told me to do it every morning and every night unless it fills up fully, mine never did. Supposedly the less you open them the less chance it has to get bacteria getting in them. Most importantly for ladies deciding lumpectomy versus mastectomy; My surgeon suggested lumpectomy because my lump was just under my skin, stage 1 rare kind that stays within. We discovered 2 aditional tiny lumps 2 inches away that biopsy showed benign. Knowing myself I didn't ever wanted to worry about further tests, possible surgeries etc... I elected having double mastectomies against her advice. Day 3 I received a phone call from my surgeon that I was very lucky that I decided on mastectomy because they received the final path report and I actually had DCIS in all 4 quadrant of my breast and a total of 5 tumors all very small less than 1 cm that mammogram would not pick up and if I had lumpectomy I would've ended up with more and more surgeries due to not getting a clear margin and would've ended up with mastectomy anyway so truly, my only option was a mastectomy. One more reason not to always follow doctors recommendations and go with your best instincts. Ask as many questions as possible and do your research on line. When I first got the phone call that my biopsy was positive for cancer and I should see a breast surgeon, I immediately went on line and researched all options, pros and cons, spent hours and hours reading. By the time I had my appointment with the surgeon I was set on what I wanted, the incision location, the type of surgery etc...The surgeon said he wouldn't do it so I kept on searching until I found the person I liked, and had the training to do what I asked for. Aside from the necrosis I am very happy with the choices I've made. I did want direct to implant surgery but my plastic surgeon was strongly against it, I almost ditched him but I loved the breast surgeon working with him so I went home and read more and more on the internet of pros and cons and realized that even though with direct to implant you can just move on and not have to worry about more surgeries, tissue expanders are actually better because you can adjust size as you go, having little inflation at the beginning helps healing faster and the pain level is a lot less. I've read too many women having direct to implant surgery not being happy with their size and wishing they could be bigger/smaller. Sorry this got a little longer than I intended:-) Good luck to all.

Good morning, everyone. I am two days post MX and feeling really good. I took some Tramadol and an Ativan at bedtime last night, but am just taking ibuprofen so far today. I don't know if this will help anyone else, but I've found through various surgeries that for me, toridol in the IV is an excellent way to manage pain and inflammation. It's essentially an NSAID and not a narcotic, so it doesn't make you loopy or sick like morphine can.

I have just the one drain and it's been easy to care for. I empty it twice a day and so far it hasn't had more than 10-15 ml in it, so I'm hoping it will come out by this Friday, along with some of the staples.

I was very nervous going into surgery, and worried about how I'd feel coming out of anesthesia, but it went really well and I feel lucky. I hope everyone else having surgery this month will be equally fortunate. I'll be here to cheer you on.

ttrailrose, up to 20km trail run... now that is impressive. I miss running, so good for my head, I could use it about now. I might test the hips out again when I'm over the op. I'm trying to walk 5km a day To Keep Me active.

Today I have the mapping done and this time tomorrow I will be in surgery. I'm OK when I don't think about it, I have butterflies when I do! I'm sure it will go well. Everyone else on here has had positive outcomes, so I don't want to break the Goodluck.

Goodluck with your pre op, if I don't remember to post later. I'm sure with your fitness level you will be a model patient.

Thank you everyone for posting your stories. They are so helpful.

CassieCat-Good to hear your recovery is going well! I am happy to hear that Ibuprofen can be taken as I think it is effective for me in managing pain vs. Tylenol. Also, I was going to ask my breast surgeon about Toridol! I had it for my fibroid tumor removal and liked that I could tolerate it and not feel totally doped up. And my sister said to ask for Ativan as well. Great advice!

Shaz101-Thank you for the encouraging words. I too get the butterflies in my stomach as the thoughts of surgery come into my mind from time to time. Very soon you will be giving your experience/advice on surgery and recovery. I will be thinking of you and sending positive thoughts. And soon you'll be back to your walking/running/being active!

Cassie: So glad you are doing well and are at home resting!

I am a bit concerned about the whole pain med thing. They always want to give percocet at my hospital and it makes me feel terrible....loopy and edgy and sick to my stomach...I hope they can give me something else or I may have to do Ibuprofen. I already take Klonopin (another benzo sister of ativan) but I may have to take an extra on the day of surgery. I will feel better after the 16th when I know something... Right now, I'm not even sure of my surgery type...he usually schedules surgery within a week after that meeting so I should be in the right group here. We shall see....

Hello ladies, it makes me feel good to see the positive out comes of your surgeries. I am now 5 days out from surgery, I have been on my own every night since surgery and everything has went well. After reading postings for the last 2 months I felt prepared but still scared.WhenI go to the surgeon tomorrow I am hoping for the drains to come out, having very little output now. I haven't been able to look at my chest, not sure when I will be ready to take that step. Time seems to resolve a lot so everyday I feel better. My thoughts and prayers will be with all of you sisters through the surgery and those getting ready to have surgery. Sending out positive thoughts and energy works to help others, I am sure the positive thoughts helped me.  You have my positive thoughts in spades!!

On my way to hospital. Will check in when able. Best wishes Monday Surgery Sisters

shelleym1 -- It's our lumpectomy day! I'm in the hospital now, waiting to go up to the breastcare center. I've got my port accessed and I'm wearing my attractive surgical gown.

Glad to hear everyone else is doing well and getting good path results!

Good luck, Loveroflife, shelleym, and ElaineTherese! I will be thinking of you today and hoping for smooth sailing!

Good luck today ladies!!!!! Prayers are being sent for you all.

Best wishes, Shaz101. You'll do great

Shaz, good luck to you as well! I'll be looking forward to hearing from you again when it's all done. You can do it!

Hi ladies, another Michigander here. I finished chemo July of last year, had a BMX in August and a prophylactic BSO/hysterectomy just last month (I'm BRCA2+). My exchange is scheduled for January 20. They'll probably remove my port at that time as well, so hopefully this will mark the end of my treatment. I'm so grateful to be at this point, but a little anxious too. Wishing you all the very best with your upcoming surgeries.

Wow Alicia, I am from Fenton! We are neighbors. I am having a BPMX this Wednesday at U of M.

I have to work a really busy day tomorrow, the day before surgery. Not sure if its a good idea or not. On one hand, I will not even have time to stress, on the other hand, I wish I had a little more time to prep mentally. Oh well, it is what it is.

1.5 days!!!!!!

Allydp- Welcome. I will be thinking of you on January 20th! My BMX is scheduled for that day.