April & May 2015 Surgery Sisters

Came home from the hospital today. Rob came to get me at 10:30. He practically picked me up in his arms and placed me in the car. It was so good to be in his arms again.

I had a restful 2nd night at the hospital but I'm glad to be home. I had bought a book on mastectomy and reconstruction and one paragraph said you as the patient are more knowledgeable about BC than the nurses. This is very true so ladies please do your homework and speak up when you need something or just be your own advocate. I had to tell each shift the best way to get me in and out of bed. It was a simple issue but handled incorrectly caused me some pain.

I am looking forward to the pain diminishing over the next few days and weeks. I saw my PS twice and BS once. PS said drains will come out next week. The pain I am experiencing is very deep pain. It's not constant but when it comes it takes my breath away. Then it eases up. I'm on Percocet at home. I am not experiencing the muscle spasms others have mentioned. My drains are also not bothering me. Just another lesson in not stressing over stuff that hasn't happened yet.

Well I hope I've eased some minds today about what to expect. Everyone's experience is going to be different.

limonelli, I love my pink pockets. I only have one drain on each side but they stuck on well and the drains are secure.

Blessings to all.

I'm so glad to hear you're home, Audrey. Rest well now that you're back in your own surroundings.

Hoping for good news on margins and nodes for those of us waiting on path reports. We've had enough bad news here for a while.

Just got back from my LX.

I was told I needed another blood test... not sure why, but I've been low on Potassium and anemic from the chemo, so maybe they were worried. I had to run in early to get it done before surgery. It made me worry that surgery might be delayed! But I was about to get wires put into my breast before they told me the test came back OK. I REALLY wouldn't have wanted to go through that and then have the surgery delayed!

Mammogram and Needle Localization took ages, it seemed. They had to do 3 wires because the mammo showed some calcifications closer to my nipple... bleh! I wonder what THAT means? Did they go in and take that out, too? They padded all the wires with gauze and took me back to the bays with the gurneys to wait for surgery. My surgeon came by to briefly mark me. It was kind of funny because with all those wires sticking out of one breast, I don't think marking was very necessary. Oh, they warned me that any part of my skin might look blue-ish due to the dye they used... I just picture myself looking like part of the Blue Men Group--or an escapee from Avatar...!

I got wheeled into the OR and last remember sliding over to the operating table and that was it. Then I heard "wake up, it's over!" and had to slide back on the gurney and got wheeled back to the bays to recover. Nurse in recovery said I seemed like I was doing well since I was alert and talking right away... But I felt pretty out of it, and was definitely feeling pain (and I have a decent pain threshold) under arm from the SNB and of course in my breast. But they gave me drugs through the IV and that helped. Automatically got prophylactic anti-nausea drugs, and pain drugs already, I think. I was wrapped up in a post-surgery bra that I have to wear for 3 days. Also given a prescription of pain pills to take home.

My surgeon got called into a meeting so he talked to me by phone before I left. Said there was no sign of anything in the nodes (but have to wait for the path to be sure, of course). Said everything went well. I was just happy to get some shortbread cookies and a soda, and to get the IV out and my clothes on.

Not dizzy or weak at all. Very conscious that my breast has been messed about with and that there's a wad of dressing under my arm from the SNB. Am looking forward to a nice long sleep after being up super-early and not getting enough sleep. I'll try and wake up again in time to take another pain pill because I'm pretty sure I'll need one.

Am eating a bit of late lunch/early dinner now... Not really hungry, but figure I should get some food in me.

Was told to ice breast for 48 hours. Anyone else do that?

Not looking forward with dealing with the next few days--but hopefully will only be feeling better from here, and here isn't too bad. Glad no delay in surgery! Glad surgeon seemed to think everything went well.

Hope no complications happen and that path report is good, but who knows? Worrying won't change anything, so I'll try not to do that. Have my post-surgical appt. set for next week already... Probably get the news then???

Thanks for being here and giving me support and insight into this whole process!!! It all happened so fast (one week and a half from end of chemo!), I didn't have much time to think or worry, aside from hoping my bloodwork and EKG came out OK so that I wouldn't have to delay surgery...) Whew!

Hope everyone who recently had surgery heals up nicely and quickly. My best to everyone!

Jackbirdie -- Got ice gel packs! --even frozen peas, but I think the gel packs will be just fine!

Thanks for the good wishes!

AudreyB - Thanks so much for the bed pan and vomiting story! Not so fun at the time - but so true to life and a great story afterward!

StillStanding66 - Thanks for sharing your Mother's day card from your son! I needed the chuckles

All others sharing your stories of inspiration and challenges - God Bless you all for sharing your experiences. You are an inspiration to us all! Thank you

thanks jack birdie and Charlotte! He truly is my ray of light and hope. The bf situation continues to crumble. I get absolutely nothing from him. He makes me cry by saying mean things. He doesn't want to hear about my pain. It's the hardest thing and most horribly mean treatment I've ever been through. I don't understand why he thinks this ok. I thank God every day for my son,

That is so sweet of your son Still!

Thank you ladies!!

Happy Mothers' Day to all!

StillStanding66 --- Thanks for the good wishes. I'm hoping it all goes smoothly. I'm achy, but pain pills totally do the job. So far, so good!

I am so sorry for your bf troubles. Stressful situations often bring out the worst in some people, unfortunately. It's tough because you always look to those people for support, not to make things worse. And to know that you can't really count on someone when the chips are down is awful. I hope things sort themselves out for you--or at least not get any worse!

At least you know your son is a wonderful, supportive person!

PMR53 --- They place wires-- little thin, flexible things-- I think they stick in hollow needles and the wire is left?-- using a mammogram in my case (sometimes an ultrasound is used?), in order to be more exact about the boundaries of the tumor and maybe other spots, so the surgeon knows he's in the right areas.

I was in the surgery-bays, after changing to the hospital gown and getting an IV placed, and they wheel-chaired me into a room with a mammogram machine. There was a big chair for me to sit in that they could position. The mammogram machine had special parts-- plastic with holes through the center, so the outside pressed and held the breast and they could go through the middle with their wires. They took a lot of regular mammograms first--in my case, they were magnified images so they could better see all the details. This meant they could see some calcifications that spread closer to my nipple area, which worried me a bit, but they were just concerned about being able to place a 3rd wire there so the surgeon could make sure to get that out, too. I think they usually only do one or two wires...

They DO give you a local pain-killer. The kind where the pain-killer feels like a pinch and slight burn and you usually feel that more than anything else! It wasn't bad-- pretty quick, anyway. I think I got one for each wire-- three in my case, but most people get less, I think! And I had no pain or feeling afterwards, though I knew they were poking around! They kept telling me to have my head turned away, so I really didn't see anything, which was fine by me! They'd shoot mammogram images now and then to make sure the wires were placed correctly. It took a while... maybe over an hour? But I was seated in the chair, so that wasn't bad. And they didn't do that thing where they pressed down super-tight... it seemed to be mostly so they could see the edges of the tumor and not move around.

The wires stuck out-- maybe four or five inches? But they were flexible and they rolled gauze to pad them at the base and taped gauze over them, bending them a bit so they didn't stick out too much. The hospital gown could go over it, so I looked decent as they wheeled me back to the waiting bays and where they allowed my sister to stay with me.

Not long after I was taken on the gurney-bed thing into the OR and told to shift over to the table--and I totally do NOT remember anything after that until it was all over!

So the wire-thing was weird... but not as horrible as it sounds (sticking wires into my breast did NOT sound good when I first heard about it!).

And I figure, it's better that the surgeon knows exactly where the tumor is! That thought was comforting. But after the wires were placed, it was all very quick, as far as I was concerned. The waiting around before was tougher!

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

StillStanding66 - I'm so sorry you are going through all of this without the support you need. I hope you plan on kicking that man to the curb after all this is said and done. You don't need a person in your life who is treating you so cruelly. It's sad when your only comfort is your small son. Just focus on his love to get you thorugh this and don't do any more for that man while you are tryig to heal. That only tells him that this treatment is okay. I had a similar experience with my husband and when I stopped doing the stuff he expected he finally had to start helping out. Until that point I think he really beieved I wasn't that bad off. He actually started asking me what I needed. What a switch up! You can try that and see if maybe that's his case. Men just can't accept that we are sick. I think that's how some are wired and if you say "I can't" but still do it sends the message that you're just exaggerating. You will loose your health in the end. I have a lot of other health issues so that's what ended happening to me by still meeting expectations. I kept getting sicker and sicker till I couldn't do anything. Don't let that happen to you! Hard lesson to learn

Sending you surgery mojo, Charlotte!! Keep us posted as things progress.

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers here.

To all April Surgery Sisters: I am a little late in Joinjng this group. Wish I joined in from the beginning! I had my Surgery on 4/21 Bmx, Diffuse DCIS on the right breast . Clean Nodes. I am very lucky all things considering. Have my spacers in. First fill on last Tues. Drains out that same day. Having discomfort feeling like my chest is being pulled apart but helped with 2 Extra Strength 8hr Tylenol duing day then the strong stuff for night. My biggest worry is that the drain site in my right is still draining heavily. So far my PS is not too concerned. Anyone else have this problem ?

Thanks. Sue

saugagirl, I started this journey with core needle biopsies on both breasts which came back benign. The radiologist insisted I get the lumps surgically removed as she felt Cancer was present. She was right. I had bilateral lumpectomies on 2/6. For the Left breast surgeon went in through side of breast. Right side she went in through nipple. I had a hollow look on each breast like each had a scoop taken out. I took a week off work for the lumpectomy surgery.

Not sure where you live but it sounds like you are not in control of insurance decisions. If I were you I would be happy about the earlier surgery date. I can tell you from experience the waiting for surgeries and test results is the hardest part of this journey.

Best wishes to you. Take this time to educate yourself but don't go crazy looking stuff up. I only researched what my next step would be.