June 2016 Surgeries!

wow! I hope you feel better... It sounds like a painful thing. I am sending you gentle hugs on your way.

Funny that you mention that. I went to PS for another fill and he was ready for another 100cc to be added until I mentioned some uncomfortable stabbing pain on top of my ribcage ( right under my right breast). He immediately took another approach and add just 50cc on each. I am now 400cc. I feel I am almost there. I keep thinking of me running my next 5k with these new breasts, and the thoughts of having them too heavy scares me. I don't think I don't want to go too mug further into the 500 or 600cc. I am going with what I see...

Tomorrow I have another blood withdrawn ( my 2nd one) in preparation for my infusion on Monday. I hope I have all my counts where it should be.

Has anyone been turned down to receive another round of chemo because the blood count wasn't adequate? Any tips on how to get ready for the next chemo day?

Maya15, i am going to the hairdresser tomorrow. I need to get the final adjustments on my wig. I have lost 75% of my hair in 3 days. I think the remaining of my hair will fall by next week. By the way, I only had 1 chemo infusion so far.

Hope, I do have the AC on my chemo regimen and IV was the adm form suggested in order to avoid interference with the TEs. I will have 4 rounds of it and then taxol for 12 weeks. I am glad you are happy with the port. Good luck with everything !

Gentle sideway Hugs to all 😘

Hi girls,

I got my blood counts today for my 2nd chemo on MOnday, and I was told my White Blood cells are below the normal ( 2.8) and the minimum required is 3.8. The doctor didn't cancel my next chemo with hopes that the numbers will change during this weekend; however, when I asked if I could do anything to improve the numbers, the response was " nothing you can do to increase the numbers because these cells die too fast and regenerate too fast too!" ... I am so disappointed at the speed of my recovery! Any tips on what to do? I read that garlic is a natural booster for WBC. Also Zinc, Folic Acid, and selenium... but the doctor are not allowing me to take any vitamins ( other than D3 and calcium) because she is afraid that they will have conflicts with the chemo...

On top of that, my hair officially decided to fall off. I went to the hair dresser to fix my wig, and I had to leave her salon with the wig on.... I left the hair on her sink! Now I am using the chemo beanie at home ( and I sleep with it), and I will save the wig for my public appearances I will put a picture of my new wig next time when I have my cellphone nearby. xoxo

This is all for today. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Gentle hugs to all

Dear Maya15,

Thanks for coming to the rescue and for having a suggestion! I wasn't told to do anything even when I asked. I am doing the extra food and packing up the extra calories because I am under the impression that quantity was my problem; not quality of the food. I spoke with the doctor's assistant that said only time will help me to reach out to the right numbers. I looked at the initial numbers ( before chemo started ) and it dropped from 9.5 to 2.8.

The normal range is 3.8-11 for WBC

I know what I need to do to get my immune system to be higher. I just don't think that I will bounce back every time within 3 weeks to be able to receive another round of chemo - and this is just my second one!

Wish me luck!

Gentle hugs to all,

What a lovely picture of your both. Thanks for posting. Gentle hugs and well wishes to you.

Thank you, Specter55. I thought I was going to cry when I saw all the hair in the sink and all over the floor,and I still refuse to shave my head... Seeing the remaining of the hair still there gives me somehow a little control of the situation, and having my mom around me during this tough time is also part of my medicine to a positive thinking. Wish you all a great weekend!

Aw, Clauclau, your hair is indeed beautiful. I can totally understand why you feel the way you do. There is no correct way to handle the hair loss. Do whatever gives you control.

This site has been a lifeline for me during my mastectomy. My surgery was prophylactic so, I am not facing chemo or radiation. I don't feel I have much to offer when I read the posts about the difficulties with chemo and radiation. All I can offer is a listening ear, a few kind words, and a gentle hug from afar.

I will post a photo tomorrow. I don't have any pics of min my tablet.

ClauClau, we all know you'll look gorgeous without hair also :-) Lots of hugs to you and your mom. We know how much our mothers suffer seeing us injured. Mine left yesterday, crying...although I kept telling her I am fine. She will be back before my next surgery.

Thanks Mom2four...I don't have kids but I can only imagine what mothers feel when their kids hurts. Although my mother never broke down in front of me (until yesterday), I overheard her cry many times while speaking to my sister and telling her what was going on. This journey is very tough on those that love us :-(

I haven't posted for some time but I have been following our June group as everyone tries to recover from June surgeries. My thoughts and wishes for strength and healing have been with you all.

I am recovering well for the most part although I still have more fatigue than normal. My oncotype dx score was 17 so I won't need chemo but I will continue on arimidex and faslodex injections. I am also receiving Prolia injections to combat potential bone loss due to the hormone therapy. I was diagnosed with osteopenia in December. One concern right now is my low WBC. Throughout the 7 mos prior to surgery I generally was usually in 5-7 range. My WBC the week after surgery was 6.8 but a month after surgery my WBC dropped to 3. This seems strange since I was not taking any meds the month after surgery. Hopefully this does not mean there is some underlying issue causing the WBC drop.

On a positive note, my tissue expander has been filled to 250cc (the max for me) and the exchange surgery has been scheduled for September 29th. I am thankful it is an outpatient surgery. Somehow I missed the detail that this surgery will also result in the dreaded drains! I am definitely not looking forward to that experience again!

I returned to work part time at 4weeks post surgery and am now back to full time. Fortunately I have an understanding medical team and with their approval I was able to resume running (slowly) on my treadmill at 2 weeks and ran my first post surgery 5k at 6 weeks. It felt so great - even though it was much slower than my normal pace. I am also doing light weight lifting and incline pushups. The tissue expander is annoying and somewhat uncomfortable but doesn't impair my activities too much. I believe part of my fatigue issue is due to difficulty sleeping - for whatever reason the tissue expander bothers me most at night. I look forward to the future when I won't have to sleep on my back!

This group will continue to be in my thoughts.... you have given me so much support and I am so inspired by your courage and fortitude.

Hi Ladies,

Thank you all for the kind words.

Maya15, Thank you for letting me know about the insurance behind the scenes... I will definitely ask my MO if I can have any one of the drugs that increase WBC count for next time.

FUBC, I am sorry for your mom. I hope she sees you doing so well that she will have no more reason to cry over this issue. Let us all be thankful for the opportunity to be able to take care of the disease with advanced technology, and let's enjoy our family's company to the fullest: kids, siblings, parents, partner, etc.

I will keep you all posted when I get a chance ( assuming that I will have my chemo tomorrow and I will be back sleeping from it AGAIN) .

Have a blessed night!

question for everyone. I was diagnosed in May. Had my surgery June 30th. I saw my oncologist 2 1/2 weeks later and she said she wanted to redo the OncoDX test because it only tested one tumor and I have 4 tumors. All of them were small and as of right now she thinks I only need to take tamoxifen but we haven't started it yet. I am now 6 weeks out and I haven't had a call from the Dr and I haven't had any treatment at all. This is 3 months after finding the cancer. Is this normal?

Mom2fourplusmore, my MO waited also waited until the oncotype dx results were back and also delayed so the research team could determine whether I qualified for continuation on the clinical trial. I did not resume treatment or therapy for about six weeks post surgery. My medical team were very good about keeping in contact so I did not worry about lack of plan. I had met with the MO about 2 weeks post op and at that time the preliminary pathology reports were all still on track that the tumor was a grade 1 so I knew it was a slow growing tumor. I definitely would contact your MO and discuss the delay.

FUBC,

Thanks for checking in. Here's my update:

I finished filling. I am overfilled at 600ml/500ml TEs. Exchange surgery is scheduled for late Sept. Nerve pain is finally improving. Counting the days now. Initial surgery was preventative, so no further treatment for me. I too am sending love, hugs and positive thoughts to all the sisters going through treatments at this time. My guess is that they have moved on to boards specific to chemo and or radiation. I hope they know that we are thinking of them.

Hello June surgery friends!

It's been some time since I last posted. I am almost 3mos. post UMX and for the most part back to all normal activities. I am still fighting fatigue issues but believe that is due to continuing on (as part of a research study) anastrozole and fulvestrant injections. Although the tissue expander is uncomfortable at times (mainly at night) I generally don't notice it. I resumed my favorite stress relieving activity, running very soon after surgery, but it's been a battle to get back to the pace and training level I was pre surgery. Finally this weekend I ran one of my best 5k's of the year!!!! There is hope!

So just when it seems like my life is settling down to an almost normal feel , my exchange surgery is scheduled in two weeks. Not long ago I couldn't wait to get through the tissue expander phase and into reconstruction now I almost wish it was longer. Part of my anxiety is due to the PS decision to schedule surgery for the larger UTSW Clement hospital rather than the smaller Outpatient surgery in the building he offices. It is still planned as outpatient surgery but he prefers the hospital to allow for longer recovery time and any potential issues. That's a bit worrisome to me! In addition to the exchange I will have a small augmentation and lift to the native breast. I also dread having drains again. My PS is certain they help the healing and recovery process.

Have any of the June ladies had their exchanges yet? Was it out patient? Did you recover quicker than your MX? How long was your exchange surgery and were you able to have nerve block for the exchange? I totally depleted all of my vacation/PTO time for MX so need to return to work as quickly as possible. My hope is to only take 3 days off after surgery. Not sure if this is realistic. The PS just tells to be sure to follow all the lifting restrictions. Any experiences that you can share? You would think I would be less anxious going into this second surgery but I seem to be going through some of the same anxiety I had previously.

I have been thinking of all you dear ladies who are each dealing with these new and challenging issues and am awed by your bravery and fortitude! Thanks for understanding and listening!!!!

Laurie