Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

Fitbitters - can you message me if you are interested in adding another friend ? I can not remember who all has a fitbit. Warning: I'm still new and figuring out how to do the challenges, etc.

Gemma! My PCP is 2.5 years out from her BC dx. We actually go to the same MO now (she referred me to her MO). I am sorry she had to go through a BC dx, but I feel like she can relate to me on a different level than another PCP who has not gone through this journey. Just read your update about your PC. Sending positive wishes that it turns out to be nothing to worry about when she has her biopsy. Keep us updated!

Welcome to all who are new!

Sharon I am so sorry you are having these troubles with your (ex)partner. You are not being a big baby at all...and if you were, that would be okay because cancer sucks! Break-ups are never easy even when they are right (((hugs))). I hope you can see your surgeon tomorrow...if not get it seen somewhere!

Angela...on Fitbit- I am mtwowood@gmail.com

QueenSharon, I hate taking antibiotics, but during this process, it has gotten to where random antibiotic courses have become a given. If there is any doubt that there may be an infection, then in my mind there is no doubt. So be prepared, they may have you take an antibiotic just in case. I got a bee sting during this process, and the doctors immediately made me take an antibiotic. In fact, they freaked out about it. I didn't, but I did what they said anyways. It was on my surgery side, which is probably why they reacted so strongly. A second time, I scratched a blood blister thing that is close to my surgical site (had been there forever), and when the breast Doctor saw a scab there, it was another round of antibiotics.

So sorry about your relationship going sour. There is no such thing as being a big baby, you need what you need, and if the person who is supposed to be by your side through everything can't see that, drop kick her ass to the curb and move on. If my husband said something like that to me, I wouldprobably smack him in the head.

Thanks MustLovepoo - knowledge is power. That's what's great about this site is that we can all share what we know with others who have questions. Thanks for your kind words.

Stellamaris - I have been wearing one off and on. Maybe that could be part of the problem. My aftercare instructions were vague. I don't think they mentioned for me to wear a bra at all, much less for how long.

Thanks ladies. I feel so much better.

Hugs to you all for your compassion, patience and kindness. I will let you know what the doc says.

Hope your pain is minimal. Hope your heart is peaceful. And hope you rest well.

Take Care,

Shar

Praline - Thanks! I just put on a bra and will start wearing it 24/7.....FINE TIME! lol

Italychick - You are a riot! I felt the same way! I had to tell her that she was the ONLY negative in my life for the past 3 weeks and that I did not want her negativity infecting my recovery. She said I was making my cancer the center of my life. I told her that I was making my RECOVERY the focus of my life. It helps to hear other people perspective. Thanks for making me laugh!!!!

Dear Queen Sharon:

I did miss you because I missed reading the last page.  Sorry.

I was treated at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX.  The doctors are ALL phenomenal and outstanding in the Mays Clinic.  (The Main Clinic too.) The doctors really go out of their way to help and support their patients.  At least, all of my doctors at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center did that for me. The schedulers will fit you in for an appointment with your doctor(s) immediately.  Please set up your patient portal because with the portal, you can send messages to your doctors as well as receiving your pathology reports online.  Your doctors will answer your questions quickly. 

Please have the area checked because it sounds to me as if you may have an infection.

Thank you for serving our country. I am sorry that your tx at the VA Hospital was not good.

I am so sorry for what you are going through with your ex-partner.  If she is not supportive of you through this difficult time in your life then she may not be the right person for you. You deserve to be with someone who has your feelings and best interests at heart.  Break-ups are difficult, especially when you are enduring a bc dx.  Good luck.  You are in my prayers.  You will find support here.  I am glad that you discovered this site.  Hugs to you. 

And, I guess wine and chocolate too.  Also, caffeine!

Queen Sharon - You said your breast is warm and discolored. Those are signs of cellulitis. Google images of breast cellulitis, and if it looks ANYTHING like that or if the "rash area" is getting bigger, you need to go to the ER. I hate to sound like an alarmist, but bacterial infections need attention right away if that is what it is. Hopefully, it is nothing! I just called my doctor's office this AM wondering if I had it near my incision spot. But, the spot is not growing. They think mine is either dermatitis or a fungus from night sweats. Oh joy. Good luck!

HH, sorry you're feeling so down. You can take Claritin forever. I don't take Alleve so can't comment on it. But do take the Claritin. BC does suck. And you're entitled to feeling pissy about it. BTW, my breast will feel heavy at times too. Strange, isn't it? I figure it's just life. Hope you sleep good tonight without waking up and hot flashes. Snuggle good with DH.

HUGS!

Hey everyone I have a hard time keeping up but read the posts and comment if someone has not already. I also pray for each of you individually as you come to mind. BC is tough and we all need each others support. I appreciate it.

Sloan, been thinking of you and hoping your second opinion is helpful and peace-restoring.

HH, definitely hug your hubby and rest.

Queen, welcome and I echo the advice given.

Rest well warrior friends.

Sharon, my breast began to swell as the tumor-cavity seroma began to fill up. (Nature abhors a vacuum.....as does my skittish cat). It’s been warmer than the other one ever since surgery in Sept. As a seroma forms, the skin begins to stretch--both outer and between the skin and scar tissue. Stretched skin can be thinner and what you may be perceiving as dark pink may actually be the color of the scar tissue forming beneath the surface over the seroma. Darkish pink is not necessarily infection--bright red (especially streaky) and hot, not just warm to the touch, are the things that should send you rushing to the ER ASAP. Besides hot and bright red, the other red flags (sorry, it was there) are fever over 100F and elevated white cell count. You can take your temperature, and your doctor (or the lab) can take a WBC with fast results. But do get it checked out--if it turns out NOT to be infected, that’ll set your mind at ease and give you one less thing to worry about.

Your partner sounds like a real piece of work--that she’s calling YOU a baby is pretty indicative of her own immaturity. An emotionally mature individual would not be incensed about suddenly having things no longer being all about her--in fact, the cancer one-upmanship game she’s playing is selfish and juvenile. My husband, a couple of months before my bc adventures began, had a rare and life-threatening complication from a routine diagnostic imaging procedure (a complication that if not promptly and properly treated with emergency surgery is fatal nearly half the time). Then he was mismanaged nearly into irreversible heart failure. He finally got the right surgeon and was operated on in the nick of time, only to get an incarcerated hernia a couple of weeks later. But never once did he trivialize my own experiences--not even at the very beginning when I told him I was worried because my annual screening mammo revealed an anomaly. He was supportive throughout, even putting me in touch with female colleagues who had gone through breast cancer themselves. But had he ever said, “you just have something that might kill you when you get old--but I almost died, twice,” at the very least I’d be channeling Lysistrata; and perhaps calling a lawyer. Life is too short to stay with someone who puts her own feelings ahead of your very, very real and legitimate fears. As the Roches sang over 30 years ago: “You work too hard to take this abuse. Be on your guard for jerks on the loose.”

Mags, before my lx I got my swimsuits at Intimacy (now Rigby & Peller) and then online from Bare Necessities. I buy them according to bra size--Freya and Panache make them. I can’t fit into that 36FF maillot since radiation turned my boob into Teenage Mutant Ninja Tit; so I bought “tankini” separates in my new cup and band size (which can easily be mistaken for really shitty arena-concert seats). I also--anticipating more problems during radiation than I ended up having--bought some built-in shelf-bra camisoles made by Amoena, in various colors. (The style is called Valetta). Not cheap, but they do (and are intended to do) triple duty as bra substitutes, layering pieces, and when paired with swim briefs or shorts, swimsuit tops. I only had the area over the tumor bed irradiated, so none of that skin is ever exposed to the sun (unless I find myself abducted, stripped and deposited in the midst of a nudist colony).

I was told from the get-go to wear a bra 24/7. Because of the location of the scars and radiation field, I had no problems with skin-to-skin contact (and wasn’t warned against it). I also was able to get back into my underwire bras a month after surgery, and though I found soft-cup bras more comfortable they weren’t as supportive so I continued to wear underwires. At night (because I still have that mammary seroma and probably will for at least a year), I wear front-close leisure bras (Leading Lady, various colors in sizes from 28 A up to 48 F/G/H, from HerRoom.com or Roaman's) under my nighties or those Amoena tanks instead of PJ tops. I stuff a pad called a Solaris Swell Spot (given to me by my lymphedema therapist) into the sleep bra over the radiation-fibrosed area over the seroma--it, scar massage, and triamcinolone ointment prescribed by my dermatologist are doing a great job of fading the darker pink and softening the fibrosis.

My lumpectomy size was 5cm x 3cm x 2.5cm, incision at 6 o'clock from just below my nipple down about 1-1/2". I am a very small A cup. My BS was able to plump up the top part of my breast (which it certainly wasn't before) so it looks very nice. I have no trouble with bathing suits (and it didn't occur to me that I might have). Like ItalyChick, I really don't care what I look like out of clothes - I doubt that I'll get kidnapped, dropped into a nudist colony and stripped as ChiSandy mentioned, so naked just isn't a problem.

I stick by my recommendation of LandsEnd bathing suits. I had my suit before my Lx and don't notice that there's any difference in fit afterwards. It has a bit of padding. I think it looks good. If you're one of our well-endowed, curvy gals then LandsEnd may work for you, though they do have suits in DD.

I wasn't told to stay out of the sun after rads. But since I finished in October and this IS Michigan, I wasn't out sunning anyway. Last summer was so awful (personally and weather-wise) that I rarely sat out. I did buy this Top last spring as a coverup. I love it. I don't usually burn so don't need the 50SPF. But it's a great shirt on its own.

Hope everyone has a good, positive, smooth day! HH, hope today is vastly better.

HUGS!

HH- We all have our days and the greatest thing about this group is that we hear you, all know EXACTLY what you're going through and we support you. Hopefully you wake up today and say "fu cancer. You're not getting to me today!"

Sloan- maybe Mark your redness with a sharpie just in case. Makes it easy to see if it travels. Let me know when you make the avocado "Alfredo";) would make a great dip with cukes and grape tomatoes too!

Queen- please update us on your status with that suspect boob. And I'm not sure if you're still in a solid relationship with your partner, but Chisandy is spot on. You need positive energy around you throughout this process. I'm a firm believer in mind over matter and if your mind isn't in this strong and ready to fight, it will affect everything, everyday, every treatment. If you skim through the posts here, we have all given up on negative people in our lives. Life is too short as it is. Why compromise it anymore with someone who's selfish? And a bit immature...? And besides... You have all of us😘

Chisandy- amen on the advice to Queen👊🏻

brightsocks- I bought some powdered foundation/spf last summer and it was wonderful! It's a brush and powder all-in-one unit and it's spf50, evens skin tone and keeps the shinies away.

Peggy- have you tried Lands End spf rash guard shirts? They are soooo cute! Pair them with their many bottoms and you have an outfit! We sailed the BVI's two summers ago on a big Catamaran for two weeks and I bought the girls and I some of the shirts from Jcrew and Lands End. I found the Lands End just a nice and half the price of jcrew. They look great and work so well.

I had the nicest day with my mom yesterday! We went into Boston to have my wig cut and styled. They pampered her more than me I think... Made her coffee, offered her snacks, offered a consult for her hair because she's so mad at what her stylist did... It was fun to watch her soak it all in. Then we walked Newbury St in Boston which is Bostons answer to Rodeo Drive or Worth Ave, but older brown stones and lots of character. Had a lovely lunch at a chi chi little spot and had a blast counting all of the Canada Goose jackets on men and women! The jackets start at $600-700 and EVERYONE had one on. And they also had the attitudes to go with the jacket price😷

Dreary, rainy day here just north of Boston. I'm think I'm going to turn it into a cooking day! I found a great recipe for pnut butter cookies with only 4 ingredients. I'm not much of a baker or into sweets, but the picture of these just screamed out to me...

Good news after visit to the LE therapist. I'm pushing it to be labeled stage 0 LE. I just knew I was really headed down the slippery slope, but although I am about 1% larger in my affected arm, still no cause for alarm. I was so worried because it felt so different - like a cuff on my upper arm, but she thinks it is nerve problems. She is going to do some LE massage on me tomorrow, and of course, keep up with me during rads (see the RO tomorrow.) Big worry off the mind.

Queen - hang in there, so sorry about your VA problems. My DH is 100% service connected disabled, and we've been to VA's all over the country. They do vary, but overall, he's had good care. We settled here in Chicagoland primarily because of the excellent care he has received at the James Lovell Federal Health Care Center. I was seen by them before I turned 65, and they were top notch. I even had my right knee replaced there, and it was such a great experience. I don't know if you have another VA option where you live, but I can highly recommend trying different ones.

Poodles - keep vacuuming out the bad stuff, so you can heal!

cookie recipe please? I love avocado pasta (I think I'll make it tonight).

I still have a cold. No fever jury a cold but it's annoying to be feeling gross when I should be feeling better! Adam (dh) has a fever which is freaking me out.