Local Anesthesia for Lumpectomy

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Kar324
Kar324 Member Posts: 28
edited December 2015 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

Hi everyone,

New here, from NJ recently received dx of DCIS, stage 0,intermediate grade cribiform per pathology report. I am 47 years old and my mother did succumb to breast CA, however she was dx'd very late stage, and did pass away at the age of 70. She did not have any routine screenings, sadly. I'm due to meet with my breast surgeon to discuss the next phase, lumpectomy. I was wondering if anyone has ever had a lumpectomy with local anesthesia and sedation? As a registered nurse with ironically, a background in oncology, I know the stress general anesthesia can take on the body. I am very fit, always eat healthy, however I am all about reserving general anesthesia for the most dire cases, personally for me, I have some heart palpitations (NSVT) and am super anxious about the toll general anesthesia will have on me. Also, I am super sensitive to medications, etc. Please if anyone has had a lumpectomy or excisional bx with local and sedation, share your experiences. I am new and want to ascertain all of the pros and cons. Glad to be here, but sad to be here. Thank you in advance for your replies.

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  • ShetlandPony
    ShetlandPony Member Posts: 4,924
    edited December 2015

    You might want to read solfeo's posts about her not-the-usual anesthesia.

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  • chef127
    chef127 Member Posts: 891
    edited December 2015

    hey Car324,

    I had local and sedation for my LX and 25% of my breast was removed and 8 LN's. The surgery was over 2.5 hours and when I woke from the surgery I felt great. Went out to dinner a few hours later. I have had some awful side effects from anesthesia that lasted 24 hours+++ When I had my reduction on the opposite breast with anesthesia I told the anesthesiologist about the bad se's and he must have added a med to the mix. It was not so bad.

    Good Luck with your surgery

    xoxMaureen

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  • MrsGreenJeans
    MrsGreenJeans Member Posts: 95
    edited December 2015

    I had excisional biopsy in June with local sedation. It is normal for me to have side effects from anesthesia.

    My surgery was on a Friday. I felt nauseated and lightheaded through the weekend, and went back to work as a pharmacy technician the following Monday. I was feeling mostly normal by then.

    Last week I had BMX under general anesthesia. I told them that I react poorly and they gave me the scopalamine patch before surgery as well as some IV meds during. The patch was removed the following day, on Thursday. Although I was weak and somewhat lightheaded, I did not experience nausea until a day or two after that. By Monday I was miserable, and my PS wrote an rx for Zofran which has helped a great deal. I am still experiencing side effects 8 days after surgery, mostly a fuzzy brain and still some lightheadedness, as well as a lack of energy.

    I wish you well, and hope that you do not suffer serious side effects. Good luck.

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  • BethL
    BethL Member Posts: 286
    edited December 2015

    I had a ductal excision in august. I assumed it would be general anesthesia, which I do not do well with. When they told me it would be local sedation I freaked. But it was so much better. I woke up and felt pretty good. I usually get very nauseous, so much that when i went back for more survery the anesthesiogist remembered me. Hope you get through well. Best wishes for a complicated free procedure.


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  • nonetheless
    nonetheless Member Posts: 14
    edited December 2015

    I had my lumpectomy yesterday under general anesthesia. I requested conscious sedation but was talked out of it by the bs and anesthesiologist. I can't say I'm happy to have had the general because of the lingering ill effects but I also had a LOT of pain coming out of it so perhaps it was better than I agreed to the general. The bs said she had to go deep and didn't want me to move around at all during surgery. So perhaps you could discuss with your bs his/her preferences and find out if he lumpectomy will be easy to access.

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  • Kar324
    Kar324 Member Posts: 28
    edited December 2015

    Thank you all for the responses. I am working on my 3rd opinion. I am in NJ and presently seeing Dr. Dultz and am happy with her care, however my fiance' had to practically pry out other options other than a simple mastectomy as that was her first proffering. I was incredulous and actually asked, if I was in a time machine..and was this 1975? I am floored at this as the first recommendation. I do have multi-focal DCIS, however it is contained to one quadrant, left upper outer. She did indicate that they can do a quadrantectomy with reconstruction. I, frankly, could care less about cosmesis right now. I just want these nasty abberrant cells out!!!!!!!! Also, I would like recommendations on greater prognostic indicators and tools to immediately detect if the margins are clear. I am not against re-excision, I want to take this in a step-wise fashion and feel as though a mx would be too much to entail physically as I'm just grappling with the emotional toll this is taking on me. I feel out of myself, numb, weak, shaky, anxious and just plain disheartened at the LACK of less invasive, viable options for those of us with (thank goodness) early disease. I am slated for surgery the 3rd week of January. I will be consulting with UPENN as my next step especially if rads is warranted, due to their offering precision based radiotherapy. I am also having my pathology slides sent to a BREAST pathologist based out of Long Island for another opinion. I am leaving no stone un-turned, especially given the horrifying options of having body parts removed, either partially or wholly. Any and all comments welcomed. Glad to have found you all. Thanks for listening. What a wonderful community.

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