No drains, yay! That feels so good. Staples must be a pain. I had dissolvable sutures and surgical glue. Happy to hear your recovery has been smooth. Keep it up.

Revelle,

Glad to hear you are healing up. I'm on deck again as my exchange is scheduled for 2/6. Looking forward to some improvement in aesthetics and losing the rock like feeling. I had my Zoladex injection last week and other than feeling a little headache for a day, otherwise haven't noticed anything. I won't complain if it continues this way as losing my hormones is on par with losing my breast. We will recheck estrogen level next month at next injection and when its dropped low enough add in AI. In the meantime I am really scrutinizing my diet, looking to eliminate sugar and processed carbs, and for our anniversary--which is today, 5 years--my husband and I purchased an Air Assault exercise bike, which I intend to make use of. In addition to restarting yoga and Pilates. I have to fold in some weights at some point, but I will wait until after I'm healed from exchange. What did Dylan Thomas say, "rage at the dying of the light"?

Rev, trust me that Frankenstein look does ease up. I pretty much just have 2 pink lines now and so much of that awful soreness is gone. Do those stretching exercises even though they hurt because they do help. At first it was painful to even wear a tee shirt but I feel so much better. Are you just gonna go flat or will you get prosthetics? I absolutely love mine, they are comfortable and easy to wear and I feel so "normal" when I wear them.

Good luck Four and Horsemom on your exchange. I still am a bit upset that I'm not there with you but apparently direct to implant is not a practice here so I'll be starting at square one. Argh!

The tamoxifen is starting to mess with me a little, been fighting a yeast infection and just as I was going to call my OB I woke up today feeling much better. I'm still so tired of doctors! That's lame I know, but how I feel. I won't complain about the tamoxifen, it is my only fighter and is my friend.

I lost 15 pounds from dx to now and am trying hard to keep it off. That and new boobs are something good that can come out of this. Not that I'm not grateful simply to be alive and well, but I know that YOU all know what I meam. I've been using my stepper and trying to eat better, smaller portions and such. I'm a petite person, like 5 foot 1 and not really overweight but certainly not fit, so I'm trying to change that.

I still check here often to see how you're all doing. You ladies made this crappy adventure so much more bearable, thank you and God bless each of you!

Good to hear from you, Lilith! Sounds like you're getting along pretty well, all things considered.

Re: scar massage - My husband had a minor procedure last month and is now massaging his scar daily. It's amazing what a difference that seems to make. I don't think it will be visible in a couple of months at the rate things are going. I find it quite encouraging. Of course, one can't exactly sit around the office massaging one's chest the way he can his scar

Fourminor, thank you for the video link! I was given almost no direction about exercises etc, and I know I could have looked for something online but that doesn't seem like a task that should be left to the patient. (And as I didn't seem to run into any difficulties, I continued on my own.)

Hey everyone!

Just checking in. Finished my 3rd chemo this past Friday and it has wiped me out. This whole thing is definitely cumulative and it's hard for me to believe that I still have 3 more treatments of TC and 9 more of herceptin. At least I'll finish the 'rough stuff' on the 20th of March and be able to start growing my hair again.

I have also been dealing with lymphedema, which really has me depressed. I really struggled allowing them to do a full AXLD completely because of the risk of LE...and yet I still got it. My BS said that in her 5 years at this location, she only has 4-5 patients with it. Even though I am slender and very physically fit, I cannot seem to escape all the nasty SEs of cancer. Cancer SUCKS!!!

Oh well, I guess I need to look at the positive - the 'fills' of my TEs are going quite well. I'll be ready for the exchange surgery in April and that should be my last surgery! I still have to make a decision on whether to do a full hysterectomy, then do AIs...or do I wait until I am 45 and until then, just do Tamoxifen. Any thoughts?

Glad to read up on how everyone is doing. I pray that everyone continues their healing journey and that we all get to the other bright side of this long tunnel.

Love,

Akitagirl

Julie - thank you always for your kind thoughts, prayers and encouragement! You are absolutely correct to be concerned, and if I could do it over again, I would have chosen NOT to do the AXLD and trust that since the other initial 3 nodes were negative, the sentinel node did it's job and chemo would get the rest. Stand firm in your decisions...I am so proud of what you are doing and even in the darkest times, please remember that you could be really carving out a new path for future cancer patients - reducing their pain and morbidity and increasing their quality of life (and yours!).

Your friend,

Robyn

So you're having problems with LE as well, SC Mom, or is this more of an educational session? (I really hope it's the latter.) I hope you get a good therapist that you can work well with and nip it in the bud and keep it at bay.

Robyn, thanks for your sweet words. I am very touched.

Oh, dear, Sandra. What can one say? I am praying hard for matches and for strength and many more years together for you two.

My thoughts are with you and Mike and your family; I can't imagine the pain. Thank you for sharing with us.

Caroline, that sounds bad. I'm so sorry.

Robyn

I am so sorry to hear this news. I will be praying for you. How bad is it and where do you have it? ...I just went to a Lymphodema Physician who wrote me a script for PT. I figured since no one talked to me except the morning of surgery to sign papers to maybe have alnd if needed, I had no clue and needed to start taking care of things ahead of time. It seems that all the swelling that I have under the arm area towards the back and in the tissue expander area may possibly be lymphodema starting. So I will now be going for PT for a few weeks. All this time the Plastic Surgeon has been saying its just swelling left over, fat tissue left over from the mastectomy...they have not a clue.. Robyn, I hope everything goes well and that its just a manageable case. Prayers are with you and thinking of you!!!

Love Karen

to sandra4611,

I am so sorry to learn about your husband. I looked up some info on line and found two things that could be helpful, just in case:

I see you live in Texas so maybe this could assist you in some way:

1. http://www.mdanderson.org/patient-and-cancer-infor...

Why Choose MD Anderson?

• Internationally known myelodysplastic syndrome program
• More experience with myelodysplastic syndrome than most centers
• Close collaboration with referring physicians
• Innovative myelodysplastic syndrome therapies, including access to new agents and "mini" stem cell transplants
• Clinical trials of new treatments for myelodysplastic syndrome that may not be available elsewhere
• Myelodysplastic syndrome is part of MD Anderson'sMoon Shots Program: an ambitious effort to reduce cancer deaths through the rapid discovery of new treatmen

Awe Sandra...so sorry. I'm praying for a speedy match.

Holy Hell. I'm up early and cranky because I've been getting sick since yesterday, my son insisted on sleeping in our bed last night, and the dog decided she needed to go out at 4:30 am, and i just sat down with a cup of coffee to wake up and first I'm shocked to hear about Robyn, and then Sandra has such terrible news.

Sandra I just can't believe the string of events you have been through. My mom had a brainstem stroke years ago and survived and was in a rehab hospital for 6 weeks -- although she eventually recovered about 95%, she had residual deficits and it was a devastating time for she and I, who was with her most of the time. That alone was enough for you. Breast cancer, like OK thanks, but 5-6 surgeries? Myelodysplastic syndrome is like--really? Could you just get struck by lightening ten times ? Could you have maybe had a year of mental and emotional peace to regroup?

I'm outraged at the unfairness of life.

Robyn--I'm pissed off about your having LE too. I will always suspect that my current breast cancer was the result of the RT I had for the DCIS in 2008, which I also went to like three MD's questioning why 8mm of DCIS needed so much treatment and here just 6 years later there are studies now that in fact, DCIS was being over treated in some cases. Now I have to deal with therapy for invasive breast cancer. I know that my doctors were following the standard of care and it is an uncommon event (though it concerns me that you cannot find a single study states the rate of new primary in radiated breasts), and it was even standard of care just 6-7 years ago not to give me Tamoxifen either, but what really pisses me off was I didn't listen to my intuition that I should not do it. Every time I doubt my intuition, I pay for it.

Of course there was no way to know the future and at the end of the day we all have to make some decision and its hard to go against the advice of competent and experienced professionals, as well as available medical research and statistics, and the risk of making the wrong call is so high, but man it sucks that cancer treatment is as unforgiving as the disease itself sometimes. From what I know about LE, early therapy can make a huge difference and I pray that it does for you because you also have been through ENOUGH. NOT FAIR.

i wish I could offer more than my own outrage right now. I will stay tuned to hear you out.

Four, your rant/vent hit the nail on the head, thank you!!  That has been the most frustrating part of this crappy journey.  You feel like you have no good choices and you have to weigh options where you have no idea what the short and/or long term ramifications are going to be!  Remember that old 8 ball toy that you used to shake and an answer would appear in the window "not today, try again, it is definite" well, that's how I feel sometimes.  You don't know what you don't know and we are at the mercy of the medical professionals.  I can't tell you how many times I said "what would you do if it was YOUR wife/daughter" etc.  At the end of the day, you have to follow your own gut or faith or intuition, or whatever it is that drives you and gives you strength and hope that you can find peace in your decisions and then, down the road, God willing it was the "right" decision and you go on to live a long, happy, cancer free life.