March 2015 Surgery Sisters

Emma and sunflower : I wasn't sure I wanted to be rubbing my incision either. But it was very gentle. More of a light stroking and over the dressing to begin. Than in the shower with soap . I find it soothing and can feel the puffy swelling and the hardness of the incision line both settle down. I do it over my clothes during the day now and find myself doing in public, so I really did lol when I saw the comment about the vibrater

Hope all are healing well and anyone still waiting for results (as I am ) have good ones.

Getting ready to head to the PS for my first fill. I'm hoping it will ease the movement of the TE's especially on that right side. Sleep has been hard to come by.

Question for the ladies, has anyone else's skin on the new girls felt like mild sunburn? Mine has felt like that for days and it's just odd. There is no redness or anything and I haven't started any lotions or scar ointments yet not changed soap. I use Dove sensitive unscented. Maybe it's just the nerves reconstructing.

Have a good day! I'm going to take my Flexeril!!!

I decided to get 30 cc's each side. Felt a pinch on each side with the needle and felt pressure as saline went in on right side. When I sat up could feel the gravity a bit more than before so we'll see how the day progresses.

Make it a good one!

What is flexeril for

FePrincess - All I can say is that I totally understand. We don't have much choice except to plow through this!

glad you are here Fe princess. I can't believe the extra stress of having to figure out timelines and work. It must be very worrying. You've been through a lot. Some days I need to take it an hour at a time to get through. I hate thinking I am spending this time recovering, only to have to go in again for another surgery. I hope in a year's time, I forget a lot about the worry and pain day to day. If your pain is not under control, get help, ask about a steroid shot for nerve pain, if that's what they think it is. Or neurontin for nerve pain. I'm taking it the last few days and it has decreased my symptoms by about 40% so far

Hello My Sunshine48, I am two weeks out and still take pain meds. The body does not like the TE expander. I was really strict about my pain med schedule the first week 1/2 but now take one every six hours except at night. There is no way around recovery only through it. It is uncomfortable. I have only one night that I slept through. Do you have someone or people who are taking care of you? Everybody heals at different speeds. One thing I can say that everyone has resonated-DO NOT OVER DO ANYTHING-!

Gotomal, I had to let go of control. I have to put my recovery first so I practice letting go.

How are you doing after the exchange on April 2nd? I know this sounds silly, but are you happy with how they look? Filled to what and what size implants? Thanks!

Thanks for that Divecat! Good to know like Valentine99 wrote.

It is so sensitive which is strange because for the most part I'm fairly numb along the skin but it's like the material of clothing, even the thinnest of fabric, feels like a burn. It's bizarre.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

I haven't posted an update in a while. I had BMx w/o recontruction on March 23rd. I return to work yesterday. I do housecleaning part time, so I was a little concerned whether I would be able to make it through the day yesterday since it is my longest day. I'm happy to report that I worked 8 hours without any problems and no pain. I rode my bike today to see whether I would be able to ride to work tomorrow (I work on the other side of the water on Thursdays and don't like to pay to take the car on the ferry if I can help it) and that also went fine. So, physically, everything is going great.

Unfortunately I'm still waiting for my written pathology report. I did learn over the phone yesterday that there were 6 of 12 nodes involved. So it seems that I will probably have to do chemo and radiation as well. Kind of bummed about that. It will be at least 2 weeks before I get to speak with an oncologist, so I'm trying not to jump to any conclusions. It's so hard to wait.

AndreaC; I'm in BC as well and also still waiting for my path report. My surgery was on March 23rd and my surgeon expected results by April 7th, but they still were not in by the 10th. I finally got a little tidbit verbally over the phone. Unfortunately not what I was hoping to hear either; 6 of 12 nodes involved. I don't know how extensive the cancer in the nodes was and no info on hormone or Her2 status yet. We hope to have the final path report within the week. The waiting is always so hard.

Mysunshine48; my surgeon also took the lymph nodes from the main MX incision. I was so happy to see I had just the 2 horizontal scars from the BMx and not an extra one from the SNB. He did call the MX on the right a "modified radical mastectomy" indicating that lymph nodes would be removed as well. I still had more pain on the right than on the left, but I think that's to be expected because the lymph nodes were removed.

PhillyEmma, angmom41, and others who asked about the sunburn like pain; I had a bit of a sunburn like pain in the numb area at the back of my arm. By the end of the day it would feel like I had rubbed it raw with sandpaper. It was the worst at about 2 to 2-1/2 weeks. I'm now just over 3 weeks out and no longer have the pain at all.

Wishing you all continued healing and favourable test results.

Andrea, may I ask what exercises you are doing? I am afraid of doing something that could cause lymphadema. Also, I will pray that your PET scan comes out clean

mysunshine - great news that your nodes weren't involved!

Hey CaliRN, I ended up calling my PS yesterday because the pain in my TE was getting worse exponentially. I was prompted to call from your post of being two weeks out for your first fill. Was told it would get better and its first fill which is two weeks out and I said I already am! They apologized because I was scheduled for April 28th for the first one. I feel so relieved today. I have been given no excersizes. I get confused when people are talking about them. I guess not everyone get TE's? How was your first fill? Was it painful? Did you take a relaxing medication? Thanks!

DiveCat; I am so sorry about your mom. Thanks for letting us know about her. I also often have a harder time dealing with others' health problems than with my own. I know a couple other people close by me here who have BC right now and their situations seemed worse than mine. I almost felt guilty that I was having such a relatively smooth, uneventful recovery from my surgery. I feel so sad for others and so powerless to help.

It's especially hard when family are far away. My parents lived in TX when my mom was first dx w/ ovarian cancer in '87. When she had her first recurrence in '89, they had moved to SC and they are still there. Mom was in remission for over 20 years! and then had another recurrence in late 2010. Her surgery in Januady 2011 was really hard and I felt helpless to do anything for her or my dad. All I could do was send prayers, positive thoughts and call often and visit when possible. My mom luckily bounced back from the last operation, although it has been a long hard road. She's doing amazingly well for all she has to deal with and she has energy again and her spirits are up like her normal self. She's my hero and I continually draw strength from her example of how she's dealt with her cancer over the years. I have to keep reminding myself that the odds are just numbers and they can be beat. I was having a bit of a down day today and my parents just called. It helped. Also, one of my clients sent a very nice supportive email. I'm trying my best to remain positive, but it can be hard when I don't know what to expect.I'm so thankful that I'm feeling well enough to work again. It gets me out and about and talking with people and getting exercise.

I will say an extra prayer for your mom, Divecat. Thank you for your continued support to all of us here. I really appreciate you!