December 2015 Surgeries

Hello to my fellow December Surgery sisters,
I hope your surgeries & recoveries are going well, for all who've had them done!

My lumpectomy was Dec 11th...but I woke up with 1 of the Jackson Pratt drains (not expected.) The surgeon had to put one in bcuz she ended up removing all of my underarm/axillary lymph nodes. She said the nodes didn't look "good." I'll see her, and get the pathology report, on Tuesday Dec. 21st.

Underarm's still sore, as expected. But I must confess that I can't wait for the clear-colored surgical tape to be removed. It's been more painful & uncomfortable than the surgical stitches...but maybe my skin is too sensitive?

If you haven't had your surgery yet, I've had a few complications arise. The below info might be of some use, in case anyone else has similar problems:
Stayed w/my Mom (an RN) for a week. Had several days w/fevers over 101 degrees + nausea, despite being on the antibiotic. Used the nausea Rx, but it didn't do much good. Luckily, she had some very tiny, one-serving tubs of vanilla ice cream & that got rid of the nausea.
Mom got the fevers to go down by having me drink plenty of cool water and using "stick-on" gel cold packs on my forehead. (In case that info might help anyone else.) But we notified the Dr too, as instructed.
The Jackson Pratt drain clogged up a few times & I woke up drenched in that watery/bloody drainage. (It was caused by small blood clots in the tubing.) She was able to break up the blood clots, by using her fingers to "milk" the tube and clots inside it. (The instructions were sent home with us, but glad she was there bcuz she could reach the tubing a lot easier than me.)

Lots of love!

PS. Don't know my chemo start date yet.

so sorry queen that you're dealing with complications. 2 weeks after my ductal excision. In august I ended up with a pretty bad infection. So I know how miserable that makes you feel. I ended up in the hospital 4 days because of it. Thankfully you had your mom to help you. That makes all the difference.

So I went to lunch today with a friend and was feeling pretty good. Afterwards decided to visit the mall. Mistake. But I wanted to go to nordstrom and see if they had amoena garments. Turns out they have some, and they file with cigna. I had no idea.

Anyway....I discretely asked one of the sales ladies where the surgical garments were. She turns around and yells to the woman at the counter, who had a long line of customers "do we have surgical garments?" Seriously...I almost fell out. Now 20 people are starring at me. I hate that. Another lady shows me and refers to me to a boutique in town that carries everything I need. Shopping for falsies before the holidays! All I want for Christmas are my 2 front breasts:)

First post--yay me, joining the club none of us wanted to be in .... But y'all seem like such a fantastic group of ladies I really appreciate finding this board! I was diagnosed with IDC left breast and DCIS right breast on November 20. I had a bilateral mastectomy December 9 and am healing very nicely, drains to come out Tuesday. Tissue expanders are in but no preliminary fill yet. No path report yet. I had a sentinel node biopsy and the surgeon said it looked good, so fingers crossed. Chemo already a given per my MO (I'm 45) so I'm expecting that to kick off in a couple of weeks, once I'm basically totally on my feet.

Now for my question: my surgeon referred me to a radiation oncologist (frankly my MO was sending me anyway to get an opinion) but his reason is I am very thin (5'11" and 135.5 lbs going into surgery). He is not confortable with my lack of tissue and that there is as I understand it no real margin even though I had a mastectomy not lumpectomy. My breasts were roughly a big B cup. Has anyone else experienced this recommendation for this reason? Also, has anyone been told being underweight contributed to their diagnosis and/or treatment? My otherwise wonderful husband is really nagging me about my weight even though I am eating solid foods and my weight is stable (though down from the loss of my breasts). Any hints on weight gain? Any thoughts on this? (Preferably positive ones ). I have never been told by any dr I am medically underweight, not even the cancer team

Isn't it the truth that anxiety makes you hear all sorts of things that might not have been said? My parents and my husband (who's a PhD chemist) were all told by my surgeon this thing about the possible radiation due to lack of tissue and as I understand it, it seems it's more that he can't be sure of a clean margin than that there isn't one, if that makes sense. He's experienced and well recommended and I think he is very cautious. But my RO appointment is next Monday the 28th so I should be getting my answers, hopefully ones I want to hear! I just hadn't really seen much about weight or breast size playing a role in treatment and I figured if anyone had run across something it would be the ladies here. Y'all are so much better than Dr. Google!

Glad you had medical help during recovery too, JerseyGirl! (& yes, the drain feels like a heavy ball and chain! Lol)

So sorry I don't have any helpful info for you, Paxton29.

Grandma3x, Like your idea to record conversations w/Drs. All of those dr appts give a patient far too much info to absorb!

I've been feeling a bit "down" lately. So I just want to say I'm glad to be here w/all of you & am thankful for your support, advice, cheerfulness & all the important info you share.

Paxton29, yup. I'm in the same boat. I had a left-sided MX back in July and am headed back in for scar revision and a prophylactic MX on the right (12/30); after I've healed, I'll have six weeks of rads. Part of this is because I'm 5'10", 150-ish, and the margins were close on my first MX. Apparently being thin and premenopausal is itself a risk. . . . I wish you well!

hi everyone. This is my first post but I have been reading all over this site for the past month. From diagnosis to surgery was exactly one month. I did my logical research and made the best decisions for me. Despite my research I was completely unprepared for what I am going through. Thank God for my faith and for the support of my husband of 35 years. I made the decisions that led to such speed of treatment; it was what I needed for a variety of reasons. But I was not emotionally ready for so much of what has happened to me. Please know that each persons post that I have read has helped me. While I am barely 10 days post op, I'm not feeling well enough to yet post everything I feel the need to unload about....but I did feel compelled to reach out to this community of such obviously supportive sisters. I am grateful to be here and hopefully to soon have the strength to share.

Hanging on by my fingertips here...but I'm still hanging in there.

KateB, thanks, and good luck tomorrow! I met with the radiation oncologist yesterday and decided to do radiation both sides; technically I had a negative margin on the left but it was very thin. Weird to not have a negative margin on the right, because that side didn't even have a mass; it was reclassified as invasive after surgery, but is very slow growing and non-aggressive. The RO felt radiating the right side was within the standard of care but left side was more of a personal decision. I meet with the MO tomorrow and will discuss further. Like I said, they took all they could, there just wasn't anything else. SLNB on the left side was clean (yay!). CT scan pre-surgery also clean. Overall I think my age (46 in Jan) and being premenopausal are big factors