January 2015 Surgery Sisters

went to BS today hoping drains would come out. He said, "not yet, when do you go back to PS?" I said tomorrow he said, " don't get your hopes up you need at least another week." I just want to sleep on my side again. I'm trying to stay positive by thinking at least I should get another fill for the TE's tomorrow. Last week I got 60cc in each side hoping for more tomorrow.

MOmmyof2 glad you got your first fill

Ms.,

that is the one thing I missed while having the drains in, was the ability to sleep on my side.

Just,

Been in your situation before. Mine didn't come out til it got down below 30.

My PS wouldn't pull the drains until each side produced less than 25cc evey 24 hours for two days. It was the most wonderful thing once they were out though. I hope yours can come out soon.

PS gave me the okay yesterday to start doing light housework. I am still doing laundry with hubby's help if its too much to do or too heavy.

Justamy- I won't lie, to me the drains have been the worst part of the whole process. I had mine in for four weeks and the doctor only removed the last two out of fear of infection. He put 90 cc into the expanders in order to close up the pocket the fluid was building up in. I had a lot of leakage from the incisions for two days, but after that all has been good. I know they are miserable, but I promise it will get better soon.

Yesterday was five weeks post surgery and I had another 60 cc injected and now i have almost filled up my loose skin and I now look like I have something up top when I wear my clothes. I was given an option to go weekly or every other week for the saline injections.

I was able to find flexible bras at Macys- Bali Comfort Revolution 3488. They are seamless, wireless and stretch fabric with foam cups that will continue to fit with each expander fillings. Look for sales...Macys had buy one at $40 and the second at $10= $25 for each (about average I have found) and you will be able to keep wearing them after reconstruction. Love them!

Remember, it does get a little better each day!!! Take care- Lisa

I'm 5 weeks, 5 days from surgery and I started feeling normalish yesterday. I'm not in any pain and not uncomfortable all the time. In fact I only get an occasion pectoral cramp maybe 20 mins a day. I can sleep on my side and even tried laying on my stomach last night.

I can feel my armpits and upper breast area, the lower poles are still numb. My PS has me doing 2 mins of scar massage twice a day. I can lift up to 10lbs

I know my BMX, nipple sparing, one step implants, IMF incision, procedure isn't all that common but for those who are on that path I wanted to document where I turned the corner.

It's wonderful to hear that you ladies are healing well. Trailrose, the experience with the second fill for me so far was the best. I did not have much tightness or spasm. My expansion has been every week starting two weeks post-op. My first two fills were 40cc each and because I was feeling so good with my second fill, my PS put in 45cc at the third fill. I didn't think 5cc ( 1 tsp) would make a difference but it took me an additional day or two longer to recover. I am usually sore for 2-3 days. This past Thursday, I had my fourth at 40cc, so I am at 195cc (my TE is 250cc). I'm getting really tight and not sure if I am even able to make it to 250cc as my PS does overfill. I'm slender with very tight skin and chest muscles per PS...was/am an AA cup ( can't be any flatter lol). So now I am really lopsided. Thank God for paddings. As far as pain/discomfort relief, massage and icing (not mastectomy site of course) really help me. Most of the pain I have is in my shoulder, neck, and back.

Tealwarrior, it's good that you got to skip the expansion process. It's sounds like you are on the road to recovery.

I'm glad to hear that many of you with TEs are having some good fills and not too much discomfort. At some point I may do recon, but the thought of more surgery and possible TE complications doesn't make it very attractive right now. I have to get through radiation and then let everything heal up from that anyway, so there's no rush. I have a little bit of discomfort around my scar and the surrounding area, but it's hard to know if it's from surgery or radiation. Or maybe both. But I'm generally feeling pretty good there, all things considered. Surgery was 6 weeks ago.

Cassie,

I had delayed reconstruction because of various issues that popped up. Just take it one step at a time.

Dmarie,

I'm starting work tomorrow, so feeling better was just in time. I did start doing light exercises last week that seemed to help the tightness. I did light stretching, basic yoga poses and worked with a stretch band. The first day (10 mins), I had major cramping afterwards but after that it felt better everyday after working out and I did a bit more each day. I hope you start feeling better this week!

Thanks Cassie. I was just worried about infection but the attending doc who called back didn't seem too concerned. Love, Jean

Went to my MO yesterday and the plan is to start chemo March 9th. We are putting it off another week because of my drains. My PS says they will stay until I have two consecutive days with 30cc or less in each drain. My lowest so far has been 40cc. I was hoping for at least a week in between drain removal and chemo but not sure that will happen at this rate. On a positve note my daughter's path report came back saying the the mass was non cancerous and called PASH

MOmmyof2 did you already have your drains out

MsMath, it's good to hear that your daughter's result came back benign... what a relief! On the other hand, I am sorry you are not spared chemo, but I heard that TN responds well to chemo. Praying that the chemo will take care of all the rogue cells and you will have minimal side effects.

Mommyof2, were you draining where the dog ear was? I always worry about fluid coming from my dog ear

Hello to all! I had my 3rd saline fill today of 100 ccs each side. Felt a lot of pressure during the fill but it didn't hurt until about 1 hour later and oh my the cramping/spasms in my shoulder blade and chest hurt awful! I did take a muscle relaxer afterwards and then again 5 hours later but decided to take the full dose of Flexaril instead of half. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. My PS says I'm still not able to drive (because our vehicles are stick shift) That makes it 5 weeks of depending on my sweet husband to take me places!