November 2015 Surgeries Thread?

My surgery is schedule for Nov 17, 2015.

Michelle

hey all just wanted to drop by to give a word of encouragement since I was such a negative nancy a few nights ago. Pain has gotten so much more tolerable . It's like a switch went off and boom I feel so much more in control. . Went to the doctor PS today he says all looks as it's supposed to ... I still think they are scary boobs but I will wait patiently at least I have something there .. He says the nipples are hanging in there one is looking a little more compromised then the other but he has faith they will both hang in there . . Now my anxiety is waiting for the final surgical pathology that I should have back next week. Praying I won't need chemo as they believed . Wondering when I would start tamoxifen or some medicine they told me about ... Hugs and positive vibes too all of you ❤️

Well so sorry to hear of all the problems and pain. For those of you still waiting for surgery I had terrible first night too and was scared to death of going home, but the next day I was out by noon. My surgery was 6-7 hours bilateral MX and TEs. I was much better on day two and and now on day three even more so, feeling pretty normal. I certainly have pain. If you have strong legs rely on them completely for getting out of bed. Rocking to move to the edge helps too. I put my toes under the edge of the hospital bed to lift my body forward. The other important thing is to stay on your pain meds day and night. In the hospital I was on morphine. Then switched to Percocet and now I am alternating the Percocet and ibuprofen. Valium really helps as well. It relaxes the muscles that are tightening up. I have been fortunate to have great help at home.

Really each day gets markedly better! The first week my PT said treat yourself like a baby--let everyone do everything for you! I do have a tight bra, and it does hurt to get on and off. But oh well.

I have lots of bruising too and the shape is a little odd, but I am withholding judgment till the swelling goes down, and the bruising goes away. I really wish for the best for all. Hang in there and we will keep you informed about what to expect. Now I am having questions about no bowel movements, but remember to take duculax and prune juice and colace to encourage that. I haven't had any pain yet, but I have had problems before with pain meds.

Had my follow up to my Oct 27 lumpectomy only to find out that the BS isn't happy with the margins so surgery #2 is scheduled for Nov 24th. Trying to keep it all in perspective knowing that it will be an overall easier surgery with none of the prep (guide wires and dye injection) - but definitely not the news I wanted. Port goes in on the 20th so I'll be ready for chemo - then radiation in 2016. Never in a million years did I think my first ever baseline mammogram would lead to all of this. Crazy to think prior to this I only visited my doctor once a year. It's so nice to have this forum of incredible women - this site has been a wealth of information!

Tallnterrific

do you feel a lot of tightness around the breast .. Mine are so tight .. I can move my arms pretty much all over as long as I don't strain I had a SNB so I'm not sure if I had to do excersise .. I could lift them and reach behind my back .. The tightness doesn't hurt but feels very restrictive

I guess I can join this group with my surprise surgery this week!!! Breast cancer in right with surgery last June. I had a mastectomy so I skipped radiation, and oncotype testing said I was low risk for reoccurrence so no chemo. I had a couple of infections in the left breast so I had another Mamo and then biopsy last week. Found out Monday it was cancer and had a second mastectomy Wednesdsy!! What a week. I also am having genetic testing now for 25 different genes. I thought I was safe because no one in the family had breast cancer... But there are a lot with other cancers. I have not even had time to panic yet! :-). My husband also had a stroke 8 weeks before they found my first cancer. I feel like we are old, even though we are in our 50's.

Apparently the "low risk" oncotype score did not apply to me. It will be a couple of weeks before I find out the treatment.

Hi Marie, I'm sorry for your problems. I wonder why they are giving you genetic testing now? 50 is still young. Hope you both feel good again as soon as possible

thanks chisandy, you are right about the oncotype I guess. The genetic testing im having now is for other types of cancer. Ovarian, colon... I need to read the paperwork, things happened so fast this week. I guess having two cancers plus a lot of relatives with cancer may mean I have a genetic risk. I know it was not nessasary to have surgery as quick as I did but I want to get back to work and have as much done as possible this year since we met our out of pocket for insurance.

I'm still not sure I trust the oncotype. For my cancer and having one positive lymph node the study the results are based on is only a couple hundred people.

Just feeling up to posting for the first time since BMX and BSO on 11/11/15.

Surgery was 5 hours and I spent another 10 hours in recovery because my blood pressure was too low, frequently lower than 80/40. They think it was a combination of anesthesia, pain meds, and nitroglycerin patches they put on my nipples. They bolused 3 units of saline to get my blood pressure about 80. I was sent to a cardiac unit for continued monitoring. They switched pain meds to address the blood pressure

The day after surgery, the nurse started me on one Percoset, but it wasn't enough when I stood up for the first time. I was crying. The Breast Surgeon saw me soon after and insisted that I start walking. I thought she was nuts until I remembered that the nurse said that I could have 1 or 2. So I asked for 2 Percosets and that has made all the difference. The nurse was 15 minutes late for the next dose, and I could feel it wearing off. Throughout the day I did laps around the ward. I did a total of 0.99 miles according to my phone health app. They want me to keep walking and to keep doing the breathing exercises. The foley catheter was removed and I had "good output" so I was on my own for the bathroom that night. I was in the bathroom a lot exchanging those three units of saline.

I have been running a fever of 100.1 but that doesn't seem to bother anyone. I also have been having strange visual disturbance of seeing wavy squiggles when I look at bright contrasts. This also is not bothering anyone.

Yesterday I was really tired. It was a day of hurry up and wait. All three surgeons wanted to see me before I was discharged. I have just 4 small BSO incisions, which all look good. I had to go over BMX and drain care with the nurse yesterday. Until then, I had only seen little peeks of my breasts. Wow, what a mess it looks like now! The upper part of my breasts are hard and swollen. I'm sure that's where the TE's are. There is one big incision on each breast, with keyholes for the nipples (the batman marks were where the skin was removed). The lower part of the breasts are swollen and floppy. Both breasts look purple and swollen, with angry incisions, lots of bruising. The nipples are starting to pink up, but may still be in danger. Plastic Surgeon says that if we save them, it will be a major coup, since they had been hanging so low pre-surgery. Breast surgeon says it ain't over until the fat lady sings, they are pinking up. I really want to keep my nipples, but I'm too emotionally drained to worry about them.

Today I feel so tired and I was nauseous. I was able to take a Zofran tablet, but I don't feel like eating.

I so much want to be past all this. I don't want my two daughters to see me like this, but I can't hide it from them. One daughter was asking about the drains.

The fluid in the J-drains went from mostly red in color to mostly yellow. Is that normal? I just put a call in to the doctor's office.

Mominator

Mominator, I'm so sorry you've had to endure all that! I had that surgery in July and the first few days are rough. The drains sound like they are exactly where they should be though! That's how mine were.

I found that Zofran did NOTHING for my nausea and they switched me to phenergan which helped immensely but pretty much knocks you out. I didn't have a problem with being knocked out the first few days though!

I, too had fever. Mine runs normally about 96.5 so 99 is high for me. The nurses blamed it on the fact that they had forgotten to have me do the deep breathing into that plastic thingy- I was thinking- yeah, right, how could that possibly make you have fever...BUT the fever went away as soon as I did the deep breathing and stayed away as long as I did it on a regular basis for a couple of days. Weird.

It is difficult for our children to see us like this- WE are supposed to be the caregivers! But I would just tell them that the drains are yucky but they help you get better faster! How our kids feel about a situation has everything to do with how we spin it! ) You know, when you don't feel good, everything seems dark and insurmountable- but hang on, things are gonna get so much better! I quickly got to the point that I preferred a low level of pain over the groggy feeling of the pain meds (but maybe bc I have to take anti-nausea meds with them!). After a few days the pain was very bearable and just felt like a horrible sunburn. Also, I just really avoided looking in the mirror for a long while! There is just no sense "rubbing it in" and making yourself feel worse about it all. Just make sure someone (my DH did) checks the breasts for sign of irritation etc.

I promise you will get through this! Blessings and hugs and prayers to you! Lovingisliving and all you ladies, prayers and hugs to you as well!

Freeland

I have been following all the posts and looks like everyone is doing fairly well. I had a fabulous first 5 days and since then not so good. My surgeon doesn't do drains and convinced me that this was actually a good thing I have had to go in to ER twice due to pain/swelling/leaking to have my side drained ( over 800 ccs of fluid) and I feel like I am in a lot more pain now then I was. My biggest concern is ROM. Since my surgery was a day surgery I have a book with exercises but i don't feel like i am as far as i should be. I had all nodes removed and the pain in my underarm and side hurts so much i cannot manage through the exercises. Not sure if I am over tired but just feeling a little down for the first time since this crap started. I will keep moving forward but just need to vent somewhere

lovingisliving and Freeland thank you so much for the information and support!!

I was nauseous this morning and took a Zofran tablet, which took away the nausea but made me dizzy. I was nauseous again this afternoon, and couldn't eat much for supper. Then I remembered the nurse had me eat some crackers the first time I took the Percocet. She said it's better than taking it on an empty stomach. I had totally forgotten that little tip until now, and there's no warning on the Percocet to take with food. I had two graham crackers and a banana, and then I felt much better.

I had a benefit from being in the cardiac unit: my nurse put each of my drains in a telemetry bag. We hung the bags from my shoulders when I was walking. I hang the bags from my waistband now that I'm home. When I pull down my pants to pee, I hang the bags from my knees.

brithael: I'm glad to see you back. I hope you had a nice nap today.

Goodnight lovely ladies, I hope we all have a restful night.

Hi November ladies, so glad to hear many of you are recovering nicely! I had my surgery on October 21. I was diagnosed over Labor Day with IDC on my left side. I am a 4th generation on my moms side with my mom and her 2 sisters being diagnosed in their 60's. I am however am 39 and a mom to 3 kids under the age of 9. This has been like a bad dream. My family is BRCA neg. just an odd family cluster. I feel blessed to be alive and they caught it early but I hate that I am going through this. I have been trying to stay positive but my healing has been going very slow.

Live for them: I had the same surgery as you bi lat with direct to implant skin/nipple sparing. My pain was out of control. I still have 2 drains in 3.5 weeks post op. I too think the Tatas are ugly. My left side was really bruised and had a lot of blood pooling. The nipples have survived and my right is starting to look better, but my left developed necrotic tissue under the nipple. I might be having surgery on Wednesday to remove the dead tissue/ skin. I find that with the direct to implant the swelling and muscle contractions have been very bad. My new foobs feel like hard boulders that hurt.

I now have nerves regenerating and that is not fun. This has been a long process that is not over. I know one day it will be and I will be able to enjoy the rest of my life. My docs are fabulous and I am humbled by the outpouring of encouragement I have received. I find that I have says that I am just sad. It's hard to look in the mirror and feel alien things in your body. I really want these last 2 drains out and want the hardness to ease up. But for now I know I'm not alone. But ppl who haven't gone through this don't understand what we feel.

To those of you who haven't had surgery. Good luck and you will get though it!

Klmorales76

I agree so many friends I know tell

Oh your so lucky you woke up with implants and bypassed the TE .. Not sure what's worse .. I feel like I have a metal strapless bra on ..and the hardness and stiffness is indescribable . I try to stay positive and try to convince myself they will loosen up but can not ever imagine them feeling like breast .. And then to be so uncomfortable and still think they are ugly lol it's hard to see the rainbow .. So I only concentrate on the fact the cancer is gone my lymph nodes arE clean and I shouldn't need chemo ...at this point I prefer the tatas not to be so beautiful if they would only stop hurting

Just to make you giggle

Don't you hate it when you wake up and just for a moment have forgotten you've had surgery until you try to move then BAM REMINDER..

livefortthem them

I completely agree it's the hardness and discomfort for me that is driving me nuts. I see my ps tomorrow I am hoping the last drains come out and I am going to talk to him about the hardness. I coached a soccer game for my 8 yr old she plays travel and I couldn't wait to get home I feel like I was being dug into and tight. I'm having a hard time with the inner part by my sternum. I keep hearing it will get better so trying to hang in there. I'll also find out tomorrow if I need surgery on Wednesday to remove the dead skin.