November 2015 Surgeries Thread?

Oh no, Frill! Thank goodness for your DBF.

Is your surgery or appointment next Thursday?

Please explain Lucy Lawless. You've mentioned her before, but I must have missed the original post along the way. I bet it's a great story.

Love, Mominator.

so sorry about the drains Frill!

Jblmom... That is awesome !!! Just went to my oncologist yesterday and he's sending it to be done .. He says 3-4 weeks for results . He said to call in two weeks to see if results are in .. But honestly would rather wait till the new year to know lol .. I dont want any bad news before the holidays ( just in case ) Although I probably will think about it every darn day .. Celebrate your awesome low score

Jblmom that's great news! I got an email from my oncologist's office that my oncotype results are in...but they didn't tell me the results, and that I would need to make an appointment to discuss the results. I asked them to either email or fax it to me because I am trying to get a second opinion (but I didn't tell them that part). I hope it's good news. Either way, this oncologist didn't seem to care whether the recurrence score was low or high, she wanted to do chemo regardless.

I'll keep you all posted. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Hi all! Good news today! My oncotype results are back and my score was 15! That puts me at low risk with an estimated recurrence rate of 11% with Tamoxifen and 12% (slightly worse) with chemo. I am so happy about this! I'm going to get an appointment with my current oncologist and also a second opinion. I hope and pray that all of us will move past this difficult time quickly and easily so we can get back to our normal lives! Thank you all for your support and well wishes, truly a blessing to be a part of this great community.

I saw the PS yesterday.

The incisions on both breasts are healing nicely from the debridement from last week (week 4) .

I'm at week 5 and the swelling has really gone down a lot this week. Rightie is still oozing a little bit, and he would like to give the incisions another week to heal fully. So, the stitches won't come out until next week (week 6).

Next week he will start fills. I was filled 420 ml during surgery.

I had so many questions about sections that still hurt, or are bruised, ribs that hurt, the tightness in my armpit, and I can't lie or sleep on either side. All are normal. I had a lot of swelling and bruising because so much tissue was removed (812 gm on the right, 666 gm on the left).

My antibiotic finally ends tomorrow. I don't have to put triple antibiotic cream on my incisions any more. I can use smaller gauze pads rather than the big ABD surgical bandages, as long as I have just a little something between me and the bra.

I can start slowly with some exercises, just walking my fingers up the wall. He said BS can give me more exercises when I see her. This is not his area.

I can also take my multivitamin (includes Vit E) and calcium/Vit D supplements again. Both were discontinued two weeks before surgery and had to stay off of the because of the debridement. I can stay on my supplements until two weeks before exchange surgery.

All in all, I'm healing and getting back to normal.

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

Oh no Marie711. Did your Dr or physiotherapist not warn you about hot tubs?

tall: I hated to sound like an addict wanting drugs. :-). Most doctors seem to think the pain should end after a week or two. I read somewhere that lidoderm patches helped. I asked about them and he said he never had prescribed them but would for me to try. I'll let you know. The pain was better last night. I may have to try the hot tub again to see if that was the cause. I hate to not use it if it's not the cause. We keep it cooler than most, about 100.

Brithael, congrats on your anniversary! I hope you had a great trip. I was there last year, so much to see!

My surgeon did not recommend a lymphedema specialist, is that something I should ask for? But I have pretty much the same symptoms as you. I have the weird numbness/sensitivity feeling almost all the way down to my elbow. Last night I tried sleeping on my side for a little and it worked! My biggest pain comes from not being able to lift my arm up. The surgeon seems to think it's normal, but it's been a month now. Sometimes I wish the surgeon didn't remove all of my lymph nodes and just stuck with the first 6 sentinel nodes. The oncologist seems to think that by removing all of them it eliminates the chance that there were cancer cells in the lymph channels that would have been missed (or at least that's how I understood it).

Wishing you the best of luck on your appointment, keep us posted!

Frill reporting in after lymph node surgery.

I behaved far better, no problems during surgery. Level 1 & 2 nodes removed and chemo port removed. My pain this time is like a BILLION times worse than the MX and the one node removal. I can barely move around, I have a 100 degree fever, I'm clawing at the side of the bed waiting for the next round of pain meds....which is comparable with what my dentist gives me.

Lucy is making me see the MO - who just can't seem to fit me in his schedule in any way that is convenient for me. My attitude towards that is, I don't know who you are or what you do, so screw you. She put her foot down with the fam on surgery day, though. What does the MO do/know that the surgeon doesn't know? It may just be in my imagination, but I thought I might have heard.....no chemo.....does that mean these lymph nodes that are removed get tested also?

Last time this combo worked when we kept on top of it - making sure that at least for several days, meds were taken exactly as prescribed. Now I am just in constant pain. That plus the fever issue....DBF isn't taking that too seriously. My argument is, my temp never reached 98.6 the whole two weeks before this surgery, the fact that it's now 100.5 is not attributable to me being under a blanket!

PLUS, my boss suddenly decided he wants me to go on disability at the beginning of the year. Ummm, I can't afford that and I'm not so sure *he* went on disability when he had cancer. The difference with my cancer is that I've had to have surgeries and he "got" to go straight to chemo then radiation. And he decided to tell me the night before surgery. Screw that. It sort of makes me want to work full time the whole way through. I mean, Lucy Lawless* has said that except for surgery recovery times, work shouldn't be a problem. I haven't been so specific as to say, "Hey, could *you* work during chemo, because that might be a comparable work week." Still, my requirement is to bill 40 hours and that's really nothing in lawyer terms. If I can do that from home (aka bed), that seems doable.... And to add insult to injury, I beat him in billables last year, and topped all other lawyers except him the last 5 years.

I need to make an appt with the lymphedema person at the hospital. I'm glad I have some nodes on that side, but I guess I still have to be careful.

*Lucy Lawless is my surgeon. She is a mini Lucy Lawless, I swear. The mini isn't as noticeable because she's always wearing 3" heels.

Frill, maybe he's projecting what he'd have felt like after surgery (had he undergone it) and thinks there's no way you could handle the demands of litigation (at least trials & motion practice). Men have no idea how much higher our pain thresholds are than are theirs. Any way you can convince him you could at least do research & drafting via telecommute...and then show up in the office strong and on the mend?

Brithael, just completed my first set of flights (7 hrs Chi-Schipol, then 2 hrs to Rome). On my bs' nurse's orders, I donned the sleeve & gauntlet in the airport lounge an hour ahead (and of course takeoff was delayed 20 min.); waited till I got to my Rome hotel about an hr. after landing to take them off; since I had >2 hrs. to kill at Schipol (included a very civilized bubbly-&-seafood break), I could probably have doffed them there before boarding the 2-hr flight to Rome. No swelling at all, though getting what feels like mild forearm cording. Will wait till I get to Schipol after our flight from Barcelona before I put it on for the return trip; we have 2 hrs. layover in Detroit, so will do the "striptease, part I" an hr. before boarding for the final leg to O'Hare. Fit could've been better (sleeve too long, gauntlet a bit too loose), so I will get remeasured for a custom set (w/ fingerless glove inst. of gauntlet). Happy 47th!

I had a double mastectomy November 19 and wondered if it's normal to feel tightness around chest at the incision line. Assuming it's the normal healing process. Didn't have in the beginning. Thanks in advance

Morning all !! I know my situation is a little different in that I never had drains ( think this was a big mistake) but wondering if anyone out here is dealing with seromas? I am at week 6 post op tomorrow and keep getting radiation postponed because my seroma is too big. I have it drained 6 times over 3000 ccs so far and frustrated !! I am wondering if anyone has been fiven tips or tricks to help get rid of them Hope everyone is well and other then this annoyance I can say I am finally feeling normal ( well the new normal) since surgery !!

Update - Just got a call going in to get drains in until radiation is over... frustrating to say the least !!

Surgeon's office called and they are giving me exercises for tightness. Keep you posted.

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