Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

I just got a note from the Moderators asking for permission to use my genetics story that I submitted back in the fall. They want to use it for their Spring fundraiser. I'm not sure exactly where this will be posted, maybe in the blog or something. I'll try to find out. But I'm pretty pumped.

I may be off my laptop for a few days. I'm headed out to San Diego tomorrow for my nursing conference. I'll check in with y'all, if I can. Fingers crossed that my stamina holds out. I had a 2 day conference last week and I was just exhausted at the end of it. At least I'll be staying at the hotel where the conference is being held. At the end of the day I can just go upstairs and crash. Or rather, have a mojito (or two) and crash!

Welcome Gami. I retired just before my lx, but I felt fine in just a few days as long as I kept the bandages tight and then wore a tight sports bra. It was the anesthesia that made me foggy. Give this site an hour and some other ladies will chime in!

Good news for me: The new suspicious site is just the biopsy site, so they just want a mammo in 6 mo. Now all I need are done good blood test results next Monday!

Hooray, Sloan! I know you were really sweating that suspicious area. Do you think we will ever come to a time when we *don't* worry about breast cancer?

Lovinggrouches, I really do sympathize with you. You're in that awful abyss between diagnosis and plan. I think once you talk to your doctor about YOUR EXACT cancer, you will better understand what needs to be done. And if you still don't feel right about his/her recommendations, get a second opinion. I did.

My first MO was a nut-job. I went to him twice, because I thought it was just me. Maybe *I* was the nut-job. Nope, it was him. He all but patted me on the head as he left the room. Gave me a prescription for Arimidex and said he'd see me in 6 months. Well, I had already done a lot of research (I'm a nurse) and everything I had read lead me to believe that my treatment would be much more involved than that. Sure enough, when I went to a 2nd MO, she immediately picked up on my terrible family cancer history and luminal B breast cancer, which is somewhat more aggressive. I went from LX and AIs, to LX, chemo, BMX, and AIs.

I had a prophylactic BMX Feb 4, 2016 due to having 2 gene mutations which cause breast cancer. Had I not had the gene mutations, I would have been happy with just having LX, AIs, and surveillance. My GYN also wants me to have a full hysterectomy because I have 2 sisters and a grandmother who had uterine cancer, plus another female relative who had "female cancer" (they didn't talk about anything below the waist back then.) There is no way to know if one of the gene mutations caused them to have uterine cancer, but they can. I'm hoping that the PBMX and hysterectomy will reduce my future risk of cancer to the lowest possible number.

Lovinggrouches - (Hugs)

Poodles - Seriously, I don't know how much more worrying I can take! Hey, congrats for being selected as a feature story. It's a terrible reason to be selected, but if you can help others navigate this mess and show them that you are doing well, it's a priceless story. Someday, I hope to calm someone's nerves having had all these stressful episodes. But since I'm not a writer, I'll have to be an empathetic sidekick.

Molly - I do have to admit that I thought about an mx rhis past week. Now that the site has been biopsied I am fine, but stress puts all these what if thoughts in your head. How is your boy?

Hi Gami, glad we can help! I didn't find this place until I was headed to radiation, and it would have been so helpful earlier on. My surgeon said that I should stay out of work a week, and two would even be better. I had surgery on a Friday, and was back in the office for most of the day the following Thursday. I was a bit tired, though not very much impaired. Good luck with your surgery!

You'll get a treatment plan, trust in it. I think the worst time is when you have a diagnosis but don't know what it means or what to do about it. I had much more anxiety during that time than I did even with chemo. I finally had to ask my doctor to prescribe something to help me with the anxiety. She prescribed me some Xanax to use on a short-term basis. I mostly needed it to help me sleep and it really did help.

My PALB2 mutation was deemed pathological, and with the added Chek2 mutation, well, it's just too big a risk to take. The breasts had to go. It hasn't been easy, but it just is what it is.

Gami, I had some complications after my lumpectomy, so I was out of work 3 weeks. Hematoma, re-excision to get clean margins, then a huge seroma, and finally a bad infection. Foo. Good thing I had some sick leave available. My recovery is not usual, however. Most women bounce back quickly and without complications. My sister had BC 3 years ago, had LX and rads. I think she missed only 3 days of work to recover from the LX and she didn't miss any work during the 35 rads. She pretty much breezed through everything. And she doesn't have any side effects from her AI, Arimidex, either!

Gosh SLoan...so happy you are getting good news just sorry you are having to get it bit by bit!

thanks everyone for the support and advice. Yal have no idea how much I appreciate yal!!!

Great news, Sloan!! I thought I posted this earlier, they don't always do HER2 testing on DCIS. Ask your MO if they did. HER2 testing on DCIS

Sloan that is such good news. I'm very happy for you. Onward and upward Gurl.

Lovinggrouches, we are all pulling for you tomorrow! Whatever the result, you'll get through this and be okay coming out the other side!!

iammags, I hope your onco score is very low. Friday will take forever to get here, I know.

Sloan, I'm sooo happy you don't need the other biopsy!! Just one more hurdle to get over now. My arm is not better but there are enough exercises I can do that don't aggravate it. What hurts is trying to raise the arm past horizontal in the front. Raising it on the side is okay. Today I did a couple of different rows, deadlifts, leg presses, chest presses, and some ab exercise variations. All good!

614, my son (and his wife) were surprised but took it fine. I was very reassuring. I told them I'll be bald when they come back to the States in August. They seemed to think that was cool.

Gami, I am a tough old bird-- surgery on a Friday and back to work on Tuesday. I had a McDonalds cone on the way home from surgery. (I was hungry and parched!) I only work a few hours a day. If I worked full time I would have maybe taken more time off. For me it is easier to sit in an office when I'm hurt or sick because if I'm home I want to get up and do things.

Sandy, how is the scrape doing? I hope it is getting better!

Poodles, great that you will be a featured genetic story! It's almost like being in a clinical trial, because it will help future bc patients to learn things! So far I have been like your sister. I hope I will be like her when I start taking the AI too!

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome.

I did not receive an Onco test and am going to ask my oncologist next week.  I have not talked with my surgeon since seeing him after surgery.  I had radiation for the first time yesterday and my boob is already swollen.  Is this normal?

I also didn't see HER results....should I ask about that?

yeah Sloan!!

Gami I arranged for two weeks off work, but I actually went back after one. As I had no complications.

I had my fifth chemo infusion yesterday, Taxotore, I feel OK today but I know tomorrow's going to suck and probably until into the weekend (steroid crash + bone pain). I'm supposed to go back to work Monday so cross your fingers I will be doing better. I got a bad cold right after chemo with my last two cycles, I'm really hoping to avoid it this time. I spoke to MOshe said the cold symptoms, except the runny nose are not related to the chemo however it could be from my immunity even though my white blood count has been good. That said, I am always prone to getting a lot of colds in early spring, it is my least favourite time of year because my body does not like the transition. So it's probably just a coincidence that sucks!

Those that did radiation, were you able to work through it? Also, how long afterwards that it take to get your energy back. I am reading that some people needed one or two months off work after radiation because they had no energy, is this typical? I'm considering taking my radiation month off work, so I don't have to deal with going during rush hour before and after work and have to go to work/daycare pickup. To be honest the main reason I'm working is to have somewhere to go every day, but if I have radiation in the middle of the day, I will have somewhere to go every day, and I won't have to deal with the stress of trying to do it before or after work. But I don't really want to take a lot of time off after radiation if I don't have to!!