UCSD or San Diego Reconstruction Girls?

LauraSD Kurtzhals is my doc too I think shes hilarious.

Ispy - Good luck tomorrow *gentle hugs* itll be over before you know it

Hi ladies! I just wanted to jump in this thread and introduce myself. Technically I'm in Temecula (north of San Diego), but I moved here after living in San Diego for a really long time. Temecula has a great breast care center called Breastlink, but they do not have a local oncologist so I've opted to see a breast oncologist in the UCSD system who sees patients out of Vista. It's about a 40 minute drive for me but worth it to see a doctor who specializes in breast only. I see her for the first time on Thursday.

Ipsy - I know you from the surgery threads and I'm glad you're doing well. It still amazes me to hear when women get a prophylactic mastectomy only to find cancer in the other breast. I'm glad you made the choice!

Ispy - I'm seeing Dr. Rupa Subramanian for the first time this week.

I was in NYC and didnt go online there. needed to save battery so we had google maps to make back to the hotel Your left path seems like what I have. and yep..sisters..:p Im glad you are feeling well enough to be posting i had the calcifications too , those were removed on the first lx. I am thinking of doing the same as you ...just not sure when. next mammo is aug 3rd then doc again sept ( i swear she said nov) If they want to cut me open again.. i might flip. I have a very busy schedule ( comic con, aulani, half marathons, etc) I dont have time to keep getting cut open. so if i were to do the pbmx, Id either need to set it up now , for next year before things fill up and while im out of work. and as far as studying..well.. Ive read 3 pages .. on the plane back form nyc. hehe aug my cal is empty so ill have more time. starting tomorrow i have: skating pride, roller derby convention sun-mon, derby disney day, 3 day interpreter conference. and then poof its august .

Im glad the drain is out ( assuming you have more?) and hope things are going well and you are binge watching something awesome is it as bad as you thought it would be?

Im a coffee addict try getting some Glide. its anti chaffing... runners use it. has no smell to it. its so common now that it can be found at sports authority vs only at a running store. painfully bored.. I get it. I broke my ankle and was couch bound for 2 1/2 months (work wouldnt let me come back) as far as netflixs... time to try new things or watch old favorites I recommend Supernatural.. cause .. well they are HOT I have split screen on my computer so I usually have netflix up while im doing other things.. quite the multi-tasker I am. and yes compression bra will help. just as in any other injury you use compression to keep the swelling down which in turn relives pressure and pain. once that drain is out it will feel better. I have the front zip under armour bra.. pricey but Im active enough to justify the cost. plus Im just an A cup so it doesnt take much to strap mine in. the cute soft ones wont have suffienct compression to them. once you are healed enough and get the ok.. the softer ones are more comfy to wear but really dont serve much of a purpose

Hi Girls:

Glad to hear you are doing so well Ispy! You are one tough lady to be handling the double Mx so well so soon, and by yourself! Are you getting reconstruction and did you have expanders placed? I have an expander and am having a lot of problems with lack of support and pain. The localized pain started after my first fill. My skin is very sensitive under the expander and normal bras irritate it a lot and they don't seem to get under the expander and lift it. Instead, they push on the bottom edge of the expander which causes it to hit the deeper tissues in a spot that causes a lot of pain. The pain is bad enough that I have to address it by lifting the expander slightly with my hand to move it off the spot. I have tried numerous bras (sports, underwire, mastectomy) and numerous sizes (I'm normally a 36B and have used 38-44 to stop the rubbing on the skin but at the same time try increasing the support). The only thing I have found that works is if I wrap an Ace bandage under the breast and then over my shoulder to lift it slightly to take the pressure off that one spot. My PS didn't really have any helpful suggestions. He said it is probably because the expander is heavier now with more saline in it. Does that mean it is only going to get worse as he keeps on filling it???? I'm supposed to go back to work in a week. I am very active at work and do a lot of physical bending, lifting and movement. I don't know how all this is going to work. I have to say I have many moments where I regret that I chose reconstruction and I am really wondering if I want to have anything done with my other normal breast (the PS wants to do a lift because it is a saggy, almost 50 year old mommy boob and he said it may need an implant as well to match the new one). This road is a long, arduous one. I can't imagine having the expander be so uncomfortable for the approximately 6 months I have to wait before I get the implant. I feel like I live in the Victorian era where I have to put my corset on every morning!!!

Hi Laura, I'm a little over 4 weeks out from surgery and I have the same exact issues as you do - bras rubbing oddly causing a weird burning sensation and also pain underneath the tissue expander. Throughout the fill process I always thought my pec muscle would be the most sore, but for me it's underneath the TE near the chest wall. I feel like the TE is sitting on a nerve and I've also tried to "lift" it off and move it but it doesn't quite budge. I usually don't wear a bra, to be honest. The only time I put something on is if I'm wearing something that is see through or if my shirt could dip slightly too low if I bent over. When I do wear something it's a very loose sports bra that would offer me zero support if I still had boobs. I've decided that this week will be my last fill. I can't take the nerve pain any longer and I'm already slightly bigger than where I was before all of this (B cup.) Hopefully with no more fills, things will settle down.

Edited to add that this is similar to what I have been wearing: Fruit of the Loom Sports Bra

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. I was searching for BARD1 on the site and I found this thread. I noticed ispy and Laura having the BARD1 mutation, I do too! (Also from San Diego). I don't know if it's coincidence or bias, but all the people I've found who had the BARD1 mutation have breast cancer. My genetic counselor acknowledged there isn't enough information on it but said that it could increase risk by 3x (up to ~36%). What are your specific variances? Mine is p.H36R, or c.107A>G.

Hope you're all doing well.

Hi, ladies. I'm in SD as well. I wanted to ask if anyone has found a good PT group who specializes in post-reconstruction PT.

I am a year out from uni lat flap, and although I am making progress, I am still miserably tight and uncomfortable 24/7. I wasted 8 months going to a PT place who claimed they handled my sort of case, but as it turned out, they were clueless. I'm with a chiro right now who is helping me with myofascia release and scar tissue, but I feel like I could also benefit from a good PT.

I had my lumpectomy in 2007 and my mx/lat flap in 2015 done with Dr Wallace at UCSD. She was great for my lumpectomy, so I didn't think twice about going to her for the mx/lat flap. Well, she is not so great if you end up with issues post-op. I don't know if my tightness issues have anything to do with how she performed the surgery or not, but as far as suggesting resources for help, her office was useless other than sending me to Pain Clinic, who was equally useless. I had to find help on my own, and the whole office staff is quite defensive about the poor QOL issues I now have post-op, even though I have not raised much of a fuss.

I had a bc friend who had lat flap done with Dr Wallace as well and who also had post-op issues. My friend also found Dr W to be unsupportive and in my friend's words, "a b-tch". So it isn't just me apparently, and I should have headed her story pre-lat flap. Anyhow, just a word of warning. Sounds like I might have been better off with the Blair/Gosman duo at UCSD.

ispy, thank you sooo much for your reply. Yes, the lat flap was my main option b/c of prior rads. I suppose I could have had DIEP or SGAP done somewhere, but I am a competitive adult figure skater, and I was so afraid of compromising any body parts south of the boobs. Honestly, I went into my mx appt with Dr W not wanting reconstruction and she talked me into it, presenting it as an easy 8 week recovery b/c of her expertise. Sheesh.

I actually was at CPT in SV for the wasted 8 months, but didn't have Elizabeth Leeds. I had April and Maureen and they were completely useless. I left when April suggested I see their psychologist when she couldn't help me. I was making progress with a PhD candidate intern they had working there--Elizabeth Delozier--but she left, and April and Maureen couldn't/wouldn't replicate what she was doing. I will see about Elizabeth Leeds (and won't take your appt slots, lol), b/c right now I am paying through the nose for my chiro and a scar release lady, neither of whom are covered by my insurance.

And I will investigate the yoga place in OB--thank you so much again for the help!