November 2015 Surgeries Thread?

The devotion for today is beautiful and may helps some. I will paraphrase a little for us:

Let thankfulness rule in your heart(remember to relax your shoulders and take deep breaths from from diaphragm to bring thankfulness to your heart). As you thank Me for blessings in your life (significant others, a beautiful flower, calls from friends, having a good BM, getting a good nights sleep etc), a marvelous thing happens. It is as if scales fall off your eyes, ( cancerous tissue is gone, itching stops, tubes are removed) enabling you to see more and more of My glorious riches. With your eyes thus opened, you can help yourself to whatever you need from My treasure house (see the love of friends on the discussion board, the love of friends from long ago, the ability to stretch your arms farther than you could yesterday). Each time you receive one of My golden gifts (loving kiss from your significant other, words of pride from grown children who see your strength through all of this, kindly neighbors bringing meals for you family) let your thankfulness sing out praises to My Name. (Sing or listen to songs that make you feel joyous and let them fill your heart-any kind of music works). Hallelujahs are the language of heaven and they can become the language of your heart!!!

A life of praise and thankfulness becomes a life filled with miracles. instead of trying to be in control (this is a big one for me, giving up all worries about what is wrong, what it means, how they should treat it, are they doing enough--control is one of things that makes it very hard to relax and causes me more pain and less happiness --don't forget to relax your shoulders when you stand straight and tall) focus on Me and what I am doing. This is the power of praise: centering your entire being in Me. This is how I created you to live, for I made you in My own image. Enjoy abundant life by overflowing with praise and thankfulness."

I don't know if this will touch everyone, but use meditation to think of what is right in your body and if you still feel tense and are allowed to shower, go stand there with warm water pouring over your shoulders and soft music playing in your bathroom until you feel more relaxed. Don't rush anything, just do things one at a time as you feel ready.

Love you all, TNT

don't you all think one of things we miss the most is those big full hugs from loved ones?? I look forward to the day when I can be hugged fully and completely without pain

Argghh, I'm very stressed about this.

At Tuesday's appointment, Plastic Surgeon cleaned up the skin that was sloughing off the black patches on both breasts. But there was still at lot of black on both, so he wants me to come to the Surgery Center on Monday morning to have a debridement procedure on the rest of the black patches. It will be done under local anesthetic.

So then I was to make arrangements with the surgical coordinator. She gives me some paperwork and tells me that the Surgery Center will call me on Friday with my arrival time.

The Surgery Center called. They don't have an arrival time for me. They just want to know how long it will take for me to get there. They will call me when it's time to come in. SC coordinator was not helpful at all. So I called back a few hours later, hoping that they will have gotten the schedule fixed by now. Nope. Another lady answered. All she could tell me was that the surgeon does all of the general anesthesia procedures first, then the local procedures. All she knows now is that I won't be first thing in the morning. I said I have young children. I can't be hanging by the phone all day. I would prefer it in the morning while the children are in school. She said, well, we will work with you.

So I'm just supposed to go about my day, except be ready to drop everything and drive 45 minutes each way to the Surgery Center and have a little procedure done. Sheesh! I have a conference called scheduled Monday morning with the intake coordinator for DDD for my son. Then we have an orthodontist appointment scheduled for 3:30 for one daughter, and Physical Therapy at 4:00 for the other. Of course, I will have my phone with me at all times, prepared to tell these other professionals, Ooops, we can't come in today because I have to go have a procedure done. That should go over well.

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

Just got back from appointment.

No more drains

Pathology was excellent. 5 nodes removed and all were clean. Cancer area was small.

Surgeon referring me to Oncologist and believes there will be no chemotherapy or radiation needed. Probably hormone treatment only.

Now I will pray for all others here. Wishing good reports for all. Thank you

Mominator, I am truly amazed at everything you have on your plate. I hope there are people who can help you as you continue down this path. It sounds like you need a couple of extra pairs of hands.
Tikkasmom, what a great result! I am so happy for you!
Lovingisliving, I am glad you enjoyed the devotion with my little edits. You may have already tried this but when I was struggling with lifting my arm I found that sometimes it was easier to move my head down to my hand. It seems like a small thing but it made a big difference- I could even sort of comb my own hair by tipping my head down. About the exercises, don't do anything that hurts, but try sitting down when you do them and play some music that motivates you. If you take it slow more like a dance than an exercise and only do what feels ok maybe that will help.

I'm a little nervous , tomorrow will be three weeks and although I feel like I'm inching forward I always feel like I'm taking two steps back . Last Wednesday I got 1 drain removed . Hopefully tomorrows appointment will releave me of drain 2!!! But now ever since Friday I've had increasing redness around left nipple ( which is also having blackish patches )and some oozing of junk . I called dr on call and he sent me some pretty strong antibiotic just in case it's an infection starting . I had a bad case of MRSA last August so as precaution I was tested and still shown to have mrsa positive before surgery .. So I took antibiotic right after surgery .. All looked good until last Friday .. I have an appointment tomorrow I'm so scared it's that I'm loosing my nipple ..

And what is he going to do to me tomorrow 😬 Please send me some positive JUJU

Did anyone's get real ugly and still turn out looking normal

new_me/Diane: I'm so glad to see you back! I hope you are recovering. I miss hugs as well.

TikkasMom: YEAH!! YEAH!! YEAH!!

TallnTerrific: thanks for your support. I asked my nurse last week about exercises and she said it was too soon. I'm going to ask when can I start. I'm thinking even if I do simple things very slowly that might help ease the tightness in my chest.

Welcome Portmana. I hope you find some information for your friend. There is a lot of information on this website.

Live4them: sending you lots of positive JuJu. We're in the same boat. My black patches looked worse to me this morning. Today is my debridement procedure, I hope I don't lose too much areole tissue.

Smurfette: I hope you are feeling much better.

Frill, I'm glad my observations made sense to you and DBF. Yeah!! This is what this thread is all about. Each of us can share and help the other. November is over, but our journey has just begun. It will be months before all of us are healed. We will travel this road together.

I joined a pregnancy board back in January 2001 when I was over 35 and pregnant with #3. Not only did we share that journey, but many of us are still friends more than 14 years later. Whenever any of us travel, we try to meet up with others.

Love to all,

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

Thanks for thinking of me ladies.

I have had a few days of feeling well but I'm just about to head off for chemo number two.

Hope it's a little more gentle on me than infusion number one. Getting a Neulasta shot tomorrow. I didn't have one with number one so hoping it will at least keep me out of hospital. Hugs all, Donna.

For everyone, by excercises I was talking about simple PT ones to loosen up slowly the muscles in the chest: start with sitting in a chair, do a couple a deep diaphragm breaths, move your head forward to your chin, breath in and out (with diaphragm), move head to back and then to center repeat 3 times. The same with head side to side, both with face forward and looking over my shoulder. These can be done three of four times each. It is like the start of yoga classes. Then the next thing is while sitting straight maintain good posture with the shoulders relaxed, with arms down at your sides, bring your hands (one at a time) up to the shoulder or as far as you can without pain (breathing in) and then straighten the elbow breathing out. Hold the elbow straight for 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times with each arm.

Then you can lift the arms straight in front by crawling your fingers up the wall until you feel a stretch but no pain. You can try to do the same lifting the arm up the sides crawling fingers up the wall. All of these excercises were recommended by the PT therapist in the hospital to be started the day I left the hospital. There were more to be added to my daily list three days later. In fact I was told to do the whole set three times a day. I guess everyone is different and each procedures is different, but this type of movement added to walking several times a day will keep everything loosening up and eventually has brought me close to normal. I have tightness from time to time still, but I don't want to go a day without these stretches to help me get back to normal. This should never be rigorous, just getting a good stretch each day. They told me to never do anything that hurt, Mominator, if you are doing dishes and laundry and driving kids to appointments, you are already active. I doubt any of these stretches would hurt.

Ok I know this is already the longest post in the history of our thread, but I do recognize that I just spent time trying to fix problems in contradiction to the devotion Frill so elegantly quoted above. once I put the whole devotion in this message you will see how it should have helped me more than it has - I am a little frustrated - pharmacy won't allow me to refill a prescription for lidocaine my PS told me to get. The MammoPrint tests that were supposed to be back today aren't here, and of course I told all of my family that they would know if I needed chemo today or tomorrow (when I meet the the MO.). Consequently they will all be calling me to ask what I learned and I will waste a lot of time and energy explaining the situation. I know this is nothing like the real problems others face, but it just frustrates me that we get told we will know something and then we don't get the information. Also I got another 100 cc of saline in one side and it is hurting a bit. Enough whining!!! So here is the real devotion from "Jesus Calling", you will all see why I should have taken this more to heart.

"Problems are part of life. They are inescapable: woven into the very fabric of this fallen world. You ( me, Tall Michelle) tend to go into problem-solving mode all too readily, acting as if you have the capacity to fix everything (see above). This is your habitual response, so automatic that it bypasses your conscious thinking. Not only does this habit frustrate you, it also distances you from Me.

Do not ever let fixing things, be your top priority. You are ever so limited in your capacity to correct all that is wrong in the world around you. Don't weigh yourself down with responsibilities that are not your own ( telling other people how to exercise), instead make your relationship with Me your primary concern. Talk with Me about what ever is on your mind, seeking My perspective on the situation. Rather than trying to fix everything that comes to your attention, ask Me to show you what is truly important. Remember that you are en route to heaven, and let your problems fade in the Light of eternity."

Hello Lovely Ladies, I hope you all had a great weekend and Monday has been good to you!!

katykids: My son is 20 years old with autism and a bunch of other Dx. DD#1 has Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and panic attacks. DD#2 has ADHD and fibromyalgia. Also, I had a big reduction when they did the BMX and expanders. Both the Breast Surgeon and the Plastic Surgeon noted that I had pendulous breasts. About 2 pounds of tissue was removed from each breast.

Smurfette/Donna: praying that round 2 of chemo goes much more smoothly for you.

TallnTerrific: thanks for the exercises. I'm nervous about the fills hurting, but I think I need to heal a lot more before he starts filling mine. He hasn't mentioned fills at all, as we had been working on those black patches. Also, thank you for the devotionals.

Live4them and anyone else who wants to know: The debridement procedure was weird, not painful, and was like having an out-of-body experience. I was in an OR, on a table, freezing cold, and covered in blankets. He used plenty of local anesthetic and I was draped. Before he started, we talked about how we had waited to let the areas come back, and both breasts had pinked up considerably, however, there were still areas that weren't coming back and now it was time to take care of them and prevent infection. I didn't watch the proceedings, but I knew what he was doing, between the equipment in his hands and what he was saying to me and the assistants. Rightie, which was the better looking of the two, squirted out a bunch of fluid right at him. He joked that it was out to get him. He removed the dead tissue from both breasts and used two layers of sutures to close, which means that the black areas went deep.

I'm glad that's behind me. I won't know how much was removed until I change the dressings tomorrow. I'm really not ready to look today. Nurse gave me some special bandages to use on the incisions over the next few days.

You ladies are going to laugh at me. Remember that I had not been given any bras and I was not wearing any bras for two weeks? Well, once I got my surgical bras last week, I have been wearing them 24 hours daily, even though I had asked if I could not wear them overnight!! I noticed that both breasts were better shaped after just 8 hours in the bras, so I kept them on that first night and every night since. However, some days my ribs feel so sore, I had been leaving the last few hooks undone overnight to give myself a breather.

I asked today's nurse if the bras were feeling a bit tight because I'm still swollen or are the bras are too small? She said it's hard to know. She gave me two bras of the next size bigger to let me try. She said that I could wear the new bigger size or the smaller bras with the last few hooks undone.

Love to all,

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

Mominator, like you, I had very large breasts 42 DDD and was glad to go much smaller to a small C cup. They took out 900cc from each breast and only filled 250 cc. But I did not keep the nipple or areole from either side. The relief of lifting that weight from my front has been great. I hope you will be able to enjoy it soon.

What is also odd is that I also have a 20 year old son with aspergers. He is finally doing well in college after trying three different institutions. There is still a lot of support he needs. We talk several times a week. In fact he called me the morning after my surgery with worry about me but also to tell me about some of his issues. I just had to ask him to discuss with his dad. My prayers go out to you. I know how hard and all consuming Just having one special needs child can be. My other three were are self motivated social kids.

Live4them,

The PHysical therapist at the hospital exactly told me that it would be my tendency to want protect my chest. She said posture was important to avoid another problem called frozen shoulder. she said to keep your back as straight as possible but to relax the shoulders. If you like imagery, it is like imagining there is a rope that runs from the top of your head down your spine and some one is pulling on it to keep you as straight and tall as possible, but your arms hang loose and relaxed.

I hope it does help you and your back feel better.

tall I wish every MX patient saw a PT in hospital. As I said my PS said no exercises for 6 weeks. I am in PT now. Shoulder, pec, weak arms. It's crazy. And pre-surgery I exercised 5 days a week. I also went back to work 9 days after surgery. I took it easy at work.

Even now, post exchange she wanted me to wait to do PT but I gave it two weeks and started. The PT has mastectomy training. She says I am gaining range. I just want to be able to put the dishes away! Whoever thought the'd say that? ;

And mominator I am glad that procedure is behind you and hope for smooth sailing here on out!!

thank you TallnTerrific I'll Try that . It's really bothering me and I asked my PS and he said PT wasn't necessary because I could lift my arms .. I want it I feel my motion is limited . I never saw PT in the hospital .

I see him again next Monday along with the oncologist . I'll be 4 weeks out and I'm going to get a little pushy 😜 Thanks ladies

Tikkasmom your diagnosis seems a lot like mine , I was told I would probably only get hormone therapy .. I'm going to request the oncotype dx test .. I want to know where I stand with all and if I need more treatment then just hormone therapy so I could understand your worries .. Keep us posted !

katykids that is a thought , if my PS doesn't listen to me I'm sure my PCP will lol .. Thank you !