Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

The whole area where my lymph nodes were removed on July 29th are sore. My radiated foob still gets hot as well. I am 4 months post rads.

Peachy, you have a great attitude. The time is now. Breast cancer is behind us. It's time to get on with life. It will probably never be exactly the same. We will always have cancer in the back of our minds, but we will make a conscious effort to keep it in the back and not in the foreground.

I'm happy to report that I had a burst of energy on Sat & Sun, so I cleaned up most of my back yard. We have about 25 big pine trees that have deposited hundreds of pine cones on the ground, so many that my poor little doggy had to pick his way around them to go to the potty place. I guess the pine cones were hurting his little tiny feet, poor thing. Anyway, I raked up about 1/2 the backyard on Sat, and another 1/3 on Sun. It has taken a total of 20 hours over the last 3 days to burn all of it down. DH even took a week whacker to the overgrown parts of the yard, so it looks pretty nice now. There are still some pine cones on the periphery of the yard, but I will have to wait on raking them up. We're expecting rain later today, not enough time to get my work finished and rake up the rest of the yard. We will have a burn ban in our community from May1 to Oct 1, so I have to get this done soon. It has been so cold or rainy or windy all winter that it's been impossible to burn anything. Don't want to set the house (or anybody else's house!) on fire.

Dear Sloan:  I forgot to mention in my previous post that my paternal great aunt had breast cancer and my paternal aunt had breast cancer plus a recurrence.  She is still alive and doing well at 80.  Her daughter, my paternal cousin, was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.  My maternal cousin was also diagnosed with breast cancer.  That is it for breast cancer in my family that I am aware of.  However, my father had lymphoma, and my paternal uncle had cancer but I forgot which kind.  (That would be my father, his brother, and his sister all having some type of cancer.)  My mother has lung cancer.  My maternal grandmother had melanoma and lung cancer.  (However, my grandmother spent years in the sun at Rockaway Beach in NY, hence the melanoma.)  My family is very small so every branch of my family is listed above and we have all been touched with cancer. 

I'm starting my count down - 8 more days until my surgery. My sister in-law gave me a wellness gift basket yesterday. It was so nice. It had essential oil for relaxation with a diffuser, lavender bath salts and ear-seeds for auriculontherapy. I used the bath salts last night and it was so relaxing!

It seems like I'm running in slow mode and fast mode all at the same time! It seems like only yesterday I was telling my DH that my surgery was three weeks away and now it's the final week. Lots of emotions.

Hello everyone,

I am scheduled for my lumpectomy this Thursday. I go in for the dye injection on Wednesday. I found out two weeks ago that I have IDC and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I've been reading a lot and getting overwhelmed and scared. I'm trying to stay positive and more often than not, I'm successful at it but there's been times were the sadness and despair just wash over me. I'm grateful to have found these discussion boards. No question, just wanted to reach out and say hello.

welcome PolkaDotPurse, It's a great place to just get information. I found a lot of my questions were answered by reading past post.

I was scared also. I'm still scared but people here listen and help you through a lot.

Welcome PolkaDotPurse, you'll find a lot of information and support here. If you have questions, you'll find answers or suggestions about where to get them. And if you just need to vent, that's fine, too. Wishing you all the best on Thursday.

Hi Polka-dot, my surgery is Wednesday. I was in denial at first, then all the waiting, thought I had a plan but then had to have another biopsy, more waiting. So now I'm here getting it done. I'm praying they get it all and I don't have to have more surgery.

Lovinggrouches I feel same way , radiation means I've reached the point where I hope I'm done wth the unknown, that they've got rid of it & am now taking care of business to keep it from coming back.

For those of you that didn't have much pain, were your incisions deep? I'm not sure how big mine is, but my bs said it is deep, at about the 9 o'clock position on right breast. Concerned that deep = more pain. Don't have to have any surgery on sentinel node s.

Went to my last zumba exercise class today for a while. They took me out for "stinky" drinks & dinner after class. Really going to miss it & them. How long before you all were able to do more exercise than walking?

Thanks for all the info, it really helps! Hugs to you all

PolkaDotPurse, welcome! I can't add much to what everyone has already said. I will be starting chemo soon and although I'm not looking forward to it I don't dread it like I did before. The wonderful ladies on this forum have made my journey with cancer so much better and easier than it would have been without them! You'll get through this, one step at a time. A month from now you'll have a different outlook and gain some confidence. It's a life-changer, that's for sure, but our lives can still be awesome!

Brandford, I'm sending white light and healing thoughts in your direction tomorrow!!!

Peachy, what a wonderful gift your co-workers gave you! I'm so happy you attended!

Poodles, you really did have a ton of energy! That's really a good sign.

Heathet, I hope you can do some things to enjoy your week. You'll sail thru surgery.

Tbalding, I think most surgeons give you an internal med which helps the pain for a few days. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think the depth will cause more pain. Most people find that the armpit area is more sore than the breast incision. I never even took one pain pill. I walked a lot the day after surgery. You'll be able to do a lot of walking as soon as you want, but you will probably be told to keep bouncing to a minimum. I waited eight weeks before trying pushups. Since you are not having SNB, you will recover even faster! It has been 3 months since my surgery and I feel I'm able to do what I could before, except I'm not quite as strong in the upper body yet. You'll be in my thoughts Wednesday!

I made an appointment for a short haircut on Wednesday afternoon. It will be my first haircut in over 20 years! I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I'm trying to view it as an adventure. The good thing is, if I hate it, it will fall out a few weeks later I see the MO in a week to find out my schedule.

Thank you 614, I was diagnosed with ADH which is Atypical Hyperplasia, The needle core biopsy I had done showed the ADH, So the breast Surgeon wants to do the Lumpectomy to look for Cancer in the area of my ADH, She said sometimes cancer can be found around ADH cells. I have several clusters of Microcalcifactions in my right breast where they did the core biopsy, that is what promoted them to, and that is how they discovered the ADH. I also have Microcalcifactions in the other breast,but they have not clustered yet.I just know that she said (my breast surgeon) that whenever you have ADH found they like to follow up with a Excisional Biopsy (lumpectomy) just to make sure there is no dcis in the surrounding area. Yet I have read that only about 15% of the time it is found to be dcis. This frustrates me, I just dont want to go thru a lumpectomy if its such a small chance. But I am scheduled May 13th 2016 (4 wks away 😔) Thanks for your reply, it took me a couple of days to find it. 😄

PolkaDotPurse, Welcome! You've found the best place to be. We're warm, comforting, informative and funny. Things have moved really fast for you. I waited about 6 weeks for my surgery (which I needed since I had to arrange for my sons to come into town to care for my hubby). You'll do fine. My dye injection was done right before surgery. One thing that would help us immensely is if you would enter all your information about your dx and treatments and proposed treatments in your profile and make it PUBLIC. Then we will be better able to answer your questions better. Also, we'd love to know where you are located. Often there are members in your area and, surprisingly, where you live can make a difference for your treatment path. Ask your questions - we're here for you. I'll be in your pocket tomorrow and Thursday, dancing away (rather badly).

Andy1205, You have to turn on NOTIFICATIONS for each forum you are in. Up at the top of this page on the left is FAVORITE TOPICS. Click on that and it should list the forums you are in. Click turn on email notifications. That will let you know when anyone posts in this forum. There doesn't seem to be a way to just get notices on posts/questions you ask. Private Messages are the only sure way for that.

I had my annual mammogram yesterday - a 3D one. Last year's was gentle and kind. This year's definitely did not fall into that category at all. In fact I've never had one so uncomfortable. Probably the tech makes the difference. I survived but my poor bad girl was tender sore for several hours afterwards. So I stayed home and pouted I've also decided that looking after a house long distance is rather difficult. I'm glad my son is there and able to check in on my new house. The lawn work hasn't been done apparently. The stupid realtor who sold me the house I bought still had his For Sale sign out front 10 days after closing. My son said I should tell him I'll charge him $500 a day rent and for advertising that the house is empty. If it isn't gone today, I may get nasty. End rant and pity party.

To all you new ladies, WELCOME. To those having surgery, starting rads or chemo, I'm with you. How lucky I am to have you all in my life.

HUGS!

Grazy, it has been a stressful 7 months. But I am so looking forward to living near my youngest son in Spokane, Washington. Just being in the same time zone with both sons will be wonderful! I'm glad you are finding Dr Love's book so helpful. I read it through in a weekend when first diagnosed. Between that book and the forums here, I was well prepared for my Lx, rads and AI. I also bought the new edition of her book as soon as it came out last fall. Dr Love pulls no punches which most of us appreciate most of the time.

Sorry for the crappy Oncotype score. I think that intermediate range is the worst. So hard to know what to do. If you are really low or really high then there's no doubt. It is wonderful that your DH can have 3 oncs review your case. Whatever you decide to do about chemo, move ahead with no looking back and revisiting your decision. That will drive you crazy really fast. As the ladies here will tell you, chemo sure isn't any fun but it IS doable. My DIL went to each chemo session telling the drugs to KILL CANCER (colon). And it did. Good luck Thursday! I'll be in your pocket. (I think I need to cut myself up into pieces to be with everyone this week - gross!).

HUGS!

Grazy, I can identify with your empty nest feelings. Its really a mixed bag, missing the kids but enjoying the freedom. We had all of ours out for about a year. Then, one moved out (again) and one moved back home (again.) He is set to graduate in May and he is dying to move out, as are we. Love him to death, but I'm ready to have our house back to ourselves.-

Heathet, Brandford,tbalding, and Polkadot, best of luck with your surgeries. Right niw, some of you are in that fresh hell of not knowing. IMO, having information but no plan was the worst part.