November 2015 Surgeries Thread?

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all are doing fine. Haven't had the chance to get back here. Haven't read through this forum yet. You are all on my mind and sending you positive thoughts and courage to get through your surgeries and heal well.

This is my first post after my Bilateral mastectomies with TEs inserted was done on 11-12 (last Thursday). Here's my update. I spent two nights in hospital with low blood pressure and went home Saturday in early evening with 4 drains - 2 from each breast - or, more accurately, where breasts were . PS told me skin near chest wall is not strong enough to hold implants. Need to wait for capsules to develop (or grow?) there for her to insert implants into capsules. I'm concerned I won't get to have reconstruction given this chest wall skin status. However, PS did insert saline which gave me 2 small mounds now. Was large breasted. Now looks like what I remember having when I got a "training bra" in 4th grade.

Have developed a generalized body rash that's been very itchy. Still dealing with quite a bit of pain and am very clumsy, too. Need to sleep in recliner chair still. Can't take showers until drains removed because I'm unable to use the tegederm tape due to sensitivity to the adhesives in regular tape. Have follow-up with PS later this afternoon. Hopefully will determine to which med I'm allergic. I bet it's the antibiotic. Have a laundry list of meds to which I'm allergic. Time to add another one. Dealing with all this on my own is not easy. ACS didn't have any drivers available to take me to my appointment today. Other people who offered to help had other plans today. I'm exhausted from dealing with practical matters like transportation needs and haven't had time to think about the emotional aspect yet. Trying to remain positive. Thankful this website exists with all of you strong women to look up to.

Hi everyone, I hope you're all doing well. It's been 8 days since my surgery and I am ready to get these drains out! Yesterday, my total drainage was less than 10cc, and it's been decreasing by half pretty much daily. It wasn't painful in the beginning, probably because I was sore all over. But now I can feel the drain inside and it's starting to hurt. When I spoke to my surgeon on the phone, he said he will take them out on Friday. I'll be sure to take a pill before I go in to that appointment! Otherwise, my recovery has been better than what I expected. I'm still tired and not able to do everything that I used to, but I'm hoping by next week I will be closer to normal just in time for Thanksgiving (maybe some shopping?).

I had an appointment with my MO yesterday, and she seems to think I should do 4 rounds of chemo just as an "insurance policy". Personally, I want to wait for my oncotype results to come back and then make a decision then. I had to ask her to run the oncotype because she felt it wouldn't change her opinion either way. Anyway, I'll be seeing her again in 3 weeks and by then we should have a final decision. In the meantime, I'm going to seek a second opinion at the major breast cancer center here in San Diego.

Best wishes to all those recovering and good luck to those who still have surgeries in the coming weeks!

I have been pretty patient this week but the results of the surgery pathology are due in the morning so I'm getting anxious to find out. Googling pathology.. I had 3 Suspicious areas and they only biopsied one. Will they look for the others in pathology? I just wondered how thorough they are with the whole breast to look at. The gene testing won't be back for a couple of weeks, but if they find this is related to ovarian cancer I wonder if the insurance will pay for removal of those without a known problem.

I felt really good this week, part of me thinks this will be the end of it and I'll finally get healthy and thin. The other part of me thinks I'm going to die ! Trying to be grateful for each day because that's all we really have for sure anyway.

Also wondering since my last mastectomy was only five months ago ...will the new prosthesis have to match the old one or can I choose the size and get two new ones ? I guess that's up to the insurance company, i'm sure someone has had this come up ...having two primary cancers is five months apart.

Marie711: I'm sorry for two diagnoses, and two surgeries, for you.

As I understand it, pathology will be slicing and dicing the entire sample, no matter how big it is. Their job is to prove or disprove that all the cancer has been found, removed, and identified. They will be checking the areas and identifying the types of tissues found,and the margins on the cancer.

I've had 3 different biopsies this year, and everything has been sliced down to about 1 cm or so. They are very thorough.

I'm praying for a good pathology report for you.

Love,

Mominator

Hi Everyone,

PSA RE: Compression Bra Following Surgery

Just posting to have all women facing their upcoming surgery to verify with breast and plastic surgeons if they will supply you with a compression bra that you are to wear immediately after surgery and the time you should begin to wear it.

I had bilateral mastectomies with TEs. Saw my PS yesterday for my first follow-up and told her I had told the inpatient RN that surgeons wanted me to wear compression bra in hospital after surgery. However, RN adamantly refused to give me one, saying a compression bra was for women who did not get any amount of saline fill. (PS gave me a little amount of fill at surgery.) PS said that was NOT true and that the compression bra would have helped promote the drainage. Said she will speak with that RN. Too late to benefit me but hope it will help the women having surgery after me.

I had 2 of the 4 drains removed yesterday. Basically I had 4 drains hanging from breasts and pulling on them for 6 days after surgery without support of a bra. Now worried that lack of compression bra for a week may have negatively affected the reconstruction in progress. Also, worried I might be more likely to get seromas because I developed a painful seroma after the excisional biopsy.

In summary, please make sure your surgeon wants you to wear a compression bra, who will provide you with it, how soon after your surgery you should wear it, and definitely make sure you get it and wear it at the time prescribed.

Sending you all positive thoughts and prayers for successful surgery, healing, and quick recovery.

Mulligan, Sandib65, Citrineff, TikkasMom and Frill - Sending all of you great ladies lots of positive thoughts! Let us know how you're doing when you're able!

New_me, Diane - calming thoughts to you as you prepare for your surgeries tomorrow.

Stepmish - I'm so glad your surgery is over. Let's hear it for negative lymph nodes!! Let your body rest and check in when you're able.

Mominator - I hope you're recovering a bit now that your surgery is over.

Marie711 - I'm so sorry you're having to deal with the double whammy of two diagnoses and two surgeries - it really stinks. Hang in there - you can DO this!

Next Wednesday is my BMS with tissue expanders. Dye injection Tuesday afternoon. AS the big day gets closer, I feel like the emotional roller coaster I've been on for the last 6 weeks has moved into hyper speed with no predicabiity as to what/who may set me off. Hubby is wonderfully understanding. Aftrer reading through the posts of many of you, I took your advice and asked my doctor for something to help with the agitation/anxiety and lack of sleep. Skeptical though I was, I have to say it's making a positive improvement for me! I hate taking these medicines, but I realize they are for a situational experience and aren't forever. I have to say, though, the Effexor (antidepressant) was suggested to my by my OB-GYN as having strong ability to decrease night sweats. After just a few days of starting this medicine, last night was the first night in 6 weeks that I didn't have to change jammies at least once during the night - YAY!

Reading through these threads has been my support system since early October, when I was diagnosed. We are strong, funny, scared, motivated, intelligent and tremendously loving women. Most of all, I think we are fierce! Thanks for all of the support!

Catherine

TallnTerrific, I'm sorry that your pathology report wasn't what you were hoping for (mine wasn't either). They found a 4mm macromet in one lymph node, and an area of DCIS next to the tumor, but the doctors are just focused on the IDC part. My oncologist said that she recommends chemo, but it was ultimately my decision and that I should see it as an extra layer of security. I know from my pathology report that they looked at everything, it's all detailed out. I'm wondering why your surgeon didn't remove the rest of the lymph nodes at the same time, maybe they weren't tested during the surgery. When I was diagnosed, I was told my tumor was 1cm on ultrasound. Then they did an MRI 2 weeks later, and they told me it was 2.9cm, and in final pathology, it came back at 3.0cm by 2cm. In the MRI, they had found a "stable cyst." There is no mention of a cyst in pathology, which makes me think that what appeared as a cyst was actually DCIS...Does imaging even mean anything? Was yours caught on mammogram or did you feel something?

Best wishes to everyone! Stay strong!

mulligan, Sandib65, Citrinetiff, TikkasaMom, and Frill: looking forward to you all coming home and resting.

new_me/Diane: wishing you all the best tomorrow, smooth surgery and easy recovery.

BTW: new_me is Diane. I was using both her screen name and her name from her signature.

love to all my surgery sisters, sending lots of love, prayers, and strength,

Madelyn AKA Mominator
BRCA2+, wife, mom to 3 children of various special needs, musician, volunteer, 54 yrs young

Welcome back, TikkasMom! You rock. I hope you continue to amaze everyone, you certainly amaze me.

I can't even say how badly my surgery went. During it, my bp dropped to undetectable. They still aren't sure why, but they think it might have been a reaction to the blue dye for the lymph node part.

So only one boob got done, and no TEs inserted. I have to wait two weeks to find out pathology to determine next steps. Surgeon doesn't think the tumors are connected, but if they are - radiation and maybe chemo. If spread to lymph nodes, same. She doesn't think either has happened, but we have to wait for labs.

If I finally catch a break, then I get to do a reenactment. MX on other side, TEs put in on both, filled half. Surgery two weeks after that, prolly.

And for those of you talking to whippetmom about implant size, she hit the nail right on the head. PS said it was the first time she saw me smile, and I pulled out my notebook and showed her 700ccs written down.

Glad I made a box of cookies for the nurses. They certainly deserved it with my freaking out till Lucy Lawless came in to talk to me.And got a dose of gratitude from my sweet nurse - her husband had just been murdered and her mom had passed away recently also. Talk about God speaking through others.

Frill, I'm happy to have you back. I'm so sorry about your half surgery. I'm sorry only one boob was done. Was the other boob prophylactic? Once you get the other MX, what is the surgery two weeks after that?

Hey, look at it this way, you get to rest and recover before you experience the "joys" of TEs. I'm cursing my TEs "Every breath I take / and every move I make."

Modern medicine is an art and a science. My bp dropped very low during recovery. They think it was the nitroglycerin patches that they put on my nipples to encourage blood flow. My bp was down for 10 hours. I was so scared.

I hope your pathology is good news and that you will have a clear path from here.

Madelyn AKA Mominator
BRCA2+, wife, mom to 3 children of various special needs, musician, volunteer, 54 yrs young

Does anyone else feel like you start to feel good and somewhat normal and start doing more, then wham-- you feel sore, can't sleep and have places hurting that weren't bothering you before?

mominator - I loved your sentiments about TEs, hating them with every breath you take/ move you make!

I had the right side re-excised today to get closer to the skin and get clear margins. I'm worried about necrosis, but this surgery was much better than the first. My sister had BC diagnosed in January and said that my future self will be happy with this decision, but honestly, part of me is thinking I should have just skipped reconstruction. But, I'm going to stick with it.

My mom is going through radiation for a DCIS that she just had removed, so I'm not sure about thanksgiving either. I would be really happy just staying in my recliner all day