January 2016 Surgeries

Kessa - good to hear that the lump was not something to worry about!


Jr114- I'm glad you were able to get your drains out!


DecisionFreak - I had to drive into Baltimore yesterday for my appointment and ouch! I think I felt every bump in the road! So I'm hoping you have a smooth ride to your post op appointment.


My shoulder still hurts from the fill yesterday. Not much pain in the muscle as I had expected. I also noticed the increase in volume seems to have gone into upper part of my TE and not much difference in the actual breast area. Is this normal? My next fill is next Thurs.

Please add me to this great group. My surgery was 1/15/2016. Lumpectomy w/ Sentinel Node Biopsy. I had a consult with the RO today but still waiting for OncoType results.

I am a week and one day out from surgery. I had a follow up with my surgeon today. My rash from the chloraprep is getting much better. I had one drain out of 3 pulled today. My surgeon is a little OCD and will only pull one drain a week. I have swelling in my armpit and upper arm and that is where most of my pain is. I did find out that he took 31 nodes, so I have a better understanding of my pain. Now we wait for the oncotype results! Glad to see posts about everyones progress! I would love to keep in touch on this thread!

He told us right after surgery that he took a lot because they looked abnormal and he didn't feel right leaving them in. He said they were rubbery. They also looked abnormal compared to the left axilla nodes when I had my MRI with contrast. I am just glad they all came back clear!

Jr114: my drains came out once output was less than 30 ml for two whole days. So that's about the same for you.

You had a mini-debridement. Onward and upward. Hope you're healing well.

hi everybody. Checking in and catching up on ll your posts.

I had skin sparing bilateral mastectomy with axillary dissection on the left side. They were able to go straight to implant and they removed my nipples and grafted them back on. My surgery was 1 week ago so I go in to meet with the breast surgeon today for follow up and meet with the PS tomorrow morning for follow up with him. Fingers crossed that everything is good.

I'm super nervous to get the results of the pathology report. I could use some prayers for NED. Scary.

So far recovery has been much more manageable than I expected. I have 2 drains, which are annoying, but truly no big deal. My drains are still putting out quite a bit of liquid. Like 50 cc's in the morning and again the evening on the right side. The drain on the left has been putting out about half of what the right side is putting out and the liquid is more clear.

Anyway. Gearing my nerves up for this next step. Really hope everything goes well.

I couldn't have gotten through all of this without you all. Thank you so much for your support

Week 3 - BMX no recon: is anyone having a worse time week 3 then week 2? For whatever reason I am both physically & emotionally. I felt like I had overdone it last week with visitors & being on computer a lot working from home but yesterday was week 3 since surgery and I still feel awful. My chests hurts, my armpits are so sore, I can't get comfortable, nothing feels comfortable to wear (no bra, soft bra, compression bra, camisole), still swollen in a spot benind my shoulder and in the middle of my chest like look like mini-boobs, drains have been out for a week but still slightly oozing daily, if I don't take percocet/valium/neurontin3x/day I really hurt & if I do, I get very tired. I practically fell asleep on a conference call yesterday & thankfully was on mute and no one asked me anything, I am afraid to drive. I am afraid to go back to work next week. I have no idea what to wear. I don't even feel like I can carry a purse and my tote bag that I take work to/from office with me. I have started my exercises but I feel so helpless. I am short (5'5") so hard to reach anything, Sorry for griping and I know no one here really knows. I guess maybe I need to ask some of the Nov or Dec women how long it took to feel ok. Sorry for griping but yesterday & today are bad days & I don't even know why. I went to sleep at 11, woke up at 1:30 & could not get back to sleep until almost 4, woke up at 7 and am exhausted again so going back to bed. If anyone has figured this out yet, help! Thanks.

Balthus - I'm so sorry you are feeling worse! I wonder if your doctor could try prescribing another pain med or sleeping med that would at least help you sleep better at night! I've been taking 2 Tylenol PM before bed and sleep like a rock. I think that getting a good night sleep has helped immensely with pain and with lowering my anxiety.

My armpit is also sore where they did the SN dissection. I've been putting a premie diaper between my skin and bra to keep it from rubbing and that seems to help.

I also have a kind of dog-eared look with a bulge over my incision under my arm. I have not asked the PS about it yet, but I plan to ask when I get my next fill. I think it's just normal swelling that should go away with time - maybe someone from last year's surgery group would be able to answer that?

Good morning, Balthus,

I am one of the November surgeries women, as well as January. I am 12 weeks out from BMX and 2.5 weeks out from my exchange.

It was mostly a gradual recovery from each surgery. The BMX was much harder than the exchange, but my exchange included a lot of pocket work and additional tissue removed. I had some set-backs, including a debridement at 3 weeks from BMX and a major infection at 10 days from exchange.

However, I was just thinking this morning, I feel pretty good! I'm getting over the infection. Nothing really hurts, and my range of motion is really improving. I am even shorter at 5' 2", so I have been stretching more. I was just wondering when I'll swap out these darn button-down tops and start wearing my usual over-the-head jerseys.

We all heal differently. But since you were improving steadily, and now feel more tired, you may have overdid it last week.

Hi Balthus, know how you feel. I had my bmx with no recon in Dec 2015 and felt worse on 3rd week. I was trying to fight the  sleep thing too. It started because I decided to wean myself off xanax and then, I think all the anxiety took over. I finally resolved to just accepting my plight and slept whenever my body would allow me to. It did get better but I am resigned to the fact that my treatments are still a long way out and I have still to deal with so much anxiety. 

On the bright side, my physical self has been steadily improving since, and it isn't a concern I have at this time. I am SHORT ( @ 5'), so you think that I should be an expert about reaching for things by now.  I did go see a PT and that has helped tremendously with cording  and range of motion. I even started doing walks and short runs since.

I think our mental health is more challenging. All the worrying makes us even more tired. We think we will sprint right back into the race. I am beginning to realize the reality of our situation. I try to tell myself that everyone of us heals differently and we just can only do what we can. 

One day, one step, one breath at a time. Well wishes to you and all.

Hi everyone. I had my lumpectomy almost 3 weeks ago. Only one node removed -- I asked my surgeon why only one and she said "that's all you gave me". Not sure what that means, maybe that only one node showed up strongly on the nuclear scan, and she didn't feel any suspicious ones. I get the feeling she did a super good job on my surgery. But she seems ultra conservative about resuming activities. She said not to do any range of motion exercises for three weeks, and begin the "spider crawl" at week 4. And not drive at all for 2 weeks even though I have no drains. Other literature I have read says to resume semi-normal activity after just a few days and start ROM exercises as soon as drains are removed or one week if no drains.

So far I haven't needed anything for pain. I feel very fortunate (so far).

The worst part of the experience was the wire insert and then the nuclear injections for the node scan. Ouch!! Since I had a marker implanted during the biopsy, why did they even need to put in a wire? I don't understand that part and didn't think to ask.

I admit to being very phobic about lymphedema even with just the one node taken. There is only one local specialist and her calendar is full for over 3 months. I was told that if I don't have it, don't even bother to try to get an appt with her. So I marked dots on both arms at 1.5 inch intervals and have been doing regular measurements. There is no sign of any swelling yet, and at least I've got a good set of baseline measurements. I am the most freaked out about how long after surgery lymphedema can appear, and no one seems to know why it acts that way.

So now I'm waiting for the OncoType score. If it is low enough, I'll have radiation and then AI pills. Otherwise, chemo first.

Moondust - I also had only 1 node removed. It bothered me a great deal that more were not taken (how can we be sure that 1 little node is representative of nodal status?) but there is nothing I can do about it, so I've decided to let it go. I couldn't feel any of the nodes before surgery and they didn't see anything abnormal by ultrasound or by MRI, so the BS was not willing to go in and pull more out.

Balthus, no need to be sorry! Sending gentle ((hugs)) and hope you feel better soon. In the mean time, feel free to gripe!

Virginia - I also have a lump just above my SN incision. I see the MO tomorrow and will be sure to ask about it.

I think every surgeon must have a different set of rules with respect to excercise. I was told to use my arm as I normally would, as long as it didn't hurt, and nothing over 5 lbs. I kind of babied it the first week or so - I had heard that the less you move it, the quicker the drains come out. Not sure if that's really true, though.

SVGsurvive - I am very down today. The breast clinic called and told me the surgery was rescheduled to March 24th. I feel like I have been kicked to the curb to rot.

SVGsurvive: This is strictly a scheduling issue. My first two surgeries have healed completely (last one was Dec. 2). I feel like reverting to a 2 year old right now and throwing one mother of a tantrum.