April & May 2015 Surgery Sisters

downing thank you for your encouraging words. I will differently check out the other thread I never thought about.

Good luck to all this week😊

Hello ladies! I'm ten days away from my surgery. 4/23 I will have bilateral mastectomy and Diepflap reconstruction. Absolutely terrified!! This will be the first time I've ever been under anesthesia other than port installation. The thought of being under for eight hours is extremely scary for me! My fiancé thinks I'm being silly. That's easy for him to say!

Thanks mysunshine for the encouraging words!!! Will be so happy to be on the other side of surgery like you

Labhusky, I had my surgery last Tuesday also. I don't go back to the doctor until April 29th but I did get my pathology report last Friday. I had 20 lymph nodes out and I started taking my prescription pain Meds again today because my arm hurts. I have swelling under my arm and feel like I cannot put my arm down all the way. The flappy part of my arm is super sensitive and other parts are numb. I am really tired and have been sleeping a lot. I think it could be another week before we start feeling normal. :-(.

stillstanding66: You're not being silly about the anesthesia. It was my only real concern too. I asked the Anesthesiologist if he guaranteed I would wake up. He had an awkward laugh and said there are no guarantees but did say he had never had someone not wake up. So I felt better. I did wake up and you will too. Drink plenty of water once you are able to clean out the anesthesia. Don't push your self, tell your fiance to pamper you. Good Luck, MJ

I apologize for sounding so down but sometimes Im so slow to process in my mind b4 it really happens.  After my biopsy the surgeon said it was stage 2-a.  Because rudolphs nose didnt light up for him (my sentinel), he told me he had to take more out.  I guess Im grieving in a way.  Oh, and get this.  Now I had my surgery like around 2 in the afternoon and I never felt so groggy in waking up.  Then I kind of had a hard time sleeping in the hospital because my roomie had visitors.  I fell asleep and the nurse said I was talking to her at 6:30 in the morning but then at 7 or 7:30, my lips turned a little purple and I was bubbling.  They wheeled me in surgical ICU and I was scared because I didnt remember anything.  I had a couple of scans plus an MRI later that night and nothing was conclusive.  

It was funny because I guess theirs a part of the brain where you are allowed to have one spot for every decade you have lived.  I should have had 5 but I had only one so we were joking around that that makes me 10.  But back to what happened was I remember havibg to cough stuff up after that for awile and I sounded horse.  They said I had no stroke, mini stroke, or pulmonery embolism.  I have a habit of breathing shallow.  I told my regular dr what happened when she called me  b4 leaving her office on Thursday after I got sprung.  She thought it could have been the anesthesia.

The last night I was in ICU, they made me sleep with a c-pap machine.  Yuk I hated that.

Littletatas. My hospital was 2 hours from my home. My surgery ended up later in the day, so I spent the first night in the hospital. Next day hubby picked me up, we stopped off to grab a pillow (hadn't seen that recommendation!), then we drove 2 hours straight home. I did spend time flexing leg muscles and moving slightly in the car, but we didn't stop until we reached the house. I spent the first few days just walking around the house and negotiating the stairs and finally grabbed a shower 5 days post surgery. It's what felt right for me and I think that's the message from all the wonderful folks here. Read, listen to your body, and decide what works for you. This past weekend we took the train into the city and I did keep a teddy bear under my right arm. My current struggle is figuring out what bra will work. Best wishes to all.

best wishes for Outdoorswoman, Shelly and puppy4ever today, think of you

mysunshine48 - sorry you are not feeling well.  I actually got an anti-nausea med from my doctor before I came home.  I used one that they had prescribed while I was on chemo that worked really well.  You put it under your tongue to dissolve it.  Also, they should give you stool softerner's before you leave the hospital, I was given 3 but  I also started taking Mryalax (2 capfuls) in some tea every morning for the first 5 days until I started to have normal bowel movements.  Remember with any surgery when you are put under your bowels fall asleep too so it takes a few days to come alive.  I went 5 days without a movement  but was not in pain because of the pain meds!  Good luck and hopefully you start to feel better. 

I feel you, mysunshine48. I felt great the day or two after surgery (it was last Wed). But my pain meds also make me sick, so I have Zofran to take along with them. But the combo makes me so lightheaded and loopy I decided to go with Tylenol only as of Saturday afternoon. Yesterday I was absolutely miserable, it's not so much pain but just incredible discomfort...and twinges of pain. Most of my pain is from underarm (2x SNB). So I am back on the Oxy/Zofran combo. I feel like it's one step forward/two steps back.

And yes, you have to have someone to strip the drains for you! There is NO WAY I could do it by myself.

Good luck to all!

mysunshine48 - I had several anti-nausea meds that I tried during chemo but the Zofran (Orndansetron) was the best and did the trick.  I also am on Tramadol because I cannot take some of the stronger meds they like to prescribe first.  Also during the night at the hospital they used alternate medicine and I was given a massage therapy with pressure points on my hands and knee area while breathing in Ginger Essential oils.  I have Ginger tea and ginger candy that I used during chemo that also has helped keep the nausea at bay.  If your cancer clinic offers a mentor take advantage of it because I have had a pink ribbon mentor since October and she was matched to me as far as the type of breast cancer and age.  Plus it is great to have a survivor giving you tips on all the side effects because they know how you feel. 

dtorrent - I agree it is just plain discomfort and when I do try to use that arm I just feel like it doesn't want to move!  I read someone was using their husband's dress shirts so that is what I am wearing because the flabby part of my arm is so sensitive.  I do notice the drain fluid is half of what it was last week and getting lighter colored every day.  I could not do the stripping myself either.  Today is change the dressing day around the tubes so that will wear me out!  :-)

Each day brings us one day closer to feeling normal. 

Can anyone lay sort of flat at all? I have to be propped up to a sitting position with many pillows, and, a pillow behing my head. It is so uncomfortable and my back hurts! Let't fast forward to 2016!

where do you get shirts w pockets on the inside?

Just bought pink pockets. 25.95 for 5 pockets. They stick on inside of your shirts easily removeable

Thank you to all the April Surgery Sisters that have shared what your surgery and recovery has been like.  It is important for us to hear the good and bad parts so that we can have a realistic expectation for our upcoming surgery.  Hope I can return that help to others.

I saw my PS for the pre-surgery appointment today.  I had a whole paper of typed questions ready for her.  Glad I wrote them down as I would have forgotten half of them.  I made sure to let her know about my motion sickness issue so that she could add something in my IV as well as an Rx for Zofran to take for the car ride home.  She also gave me an Rx for the patch to put behind my ear the night before surgery.  I was surprised to hear that I would be staying two nights in the hospital.  Two more weeks before surgery!