September 2016 Surgeries

Joining this thread as I am moving forward with a Bilateral Mastectomy and Ancillary Node Dissection with Tissue Expander placement Sept 14th. I am somewhat nervous about the surgery but I am traveling out of town to have it done. And I have been so busy prepping for my kids to be taken care of and all the other things that go into keeping things going while I am gone that I haven't had too much time to focus on it. I have already been through chemo (has been going since April) so at this point I am just ready to move to the next thing. Just getting through my shopping list of things I will need. And I did make an appointment today for my PT visit for 8 days post-surgery. I know I will also have radiation after surgery, so my breast surgeon mandates PT.

Thinking about those of you who who have already had their surgeries and posted! Hope you are recovering well!

Thinking healing, relaxing thoughts for all of you. I had presurg appointments today. I had 2 radioactive seeds inserted to mark 2 tumors. Not fun, but done. Tomorrow AM I had 2 more spots marked by wire localization, then surgery at 1:20. Can't wait to be on the other side of this.

Hi Javamama,

I am so sorry about your diagnosis. I totally understand how you are feeling right now. Shock, disbelief and sadness are so overwhelming at times. I pray for good results from your surgery and an easy recovery.

Hi ladies. I hope all of you did well in your surgeries. I know the feeling fight before be a bit overwealming. I'm having my 2nd surgery this Friday 9/16. My 1st was on 8/8/16 right breast masectomy but dcis margins came back unclear so this 2nd time to scrape any tissue thier might be left over and hopefully get clear margins. I'm nervous but want this over with. Wish me luck and all of you in my prayers.

Javamama, I'm so sorry about your diagnosis. Of course this is scary. I haven't been at this site very long myself, but the support has been great, very helpful. I completely understand, and shared, that feeling of wanting the cancer out of one's body. When I woke up in recovery, I was fully aware that more is to come, but it was still good to know that everything they could see, was gone. I hope you have that seem feeling of relief.

Best wishes to all. I'm scheduled for bilateral mastectomy/lymph dissection on the 19th, but have bloodwork to redo Friday as Tuesday's creatine level too high. So hope all goes forward. My chemo was not as successful as hoped, it is still 5.1cm with satelite masses biggest 1.3cm not to forget positive lymph biopsy axillary. The chemo left me weaker physically as well. Maybe it at least stopped it from spreading or that's my hope. I do the lymphedema clinic friday to get some pointers for exercise and coping skills. This is my battle and I have to keep going!!! Sometimes in between it all I take time to run away and have fun. I'm SOO scared but I don't want this to be all there is. I haven't posted regularly as didn't have an easy time with treatment. Did not have encouragement to share. If anyone else has been overwhelmed I had to share that, cause your not alone.

Pam

Hoping for excellent path results Shadowcat! I had my lumpectomy Wed PM. Just starting to need more than Tylenol. My BS is a sweetheart and said it all went wonderfully surgically and we await pathology. She did say only 1 of the 2 known + nodes still looked enlarged so maybe the chemo did a bit of work. I hope so!

I saw my surgeon today and she says I am doing very well. The most painful and swollen area is where the nodes were taken, but she reassured me that all is healing well. The tumor is still off undergoing genetic testing to evaluate my cancer to see if chemo might be indicated. I am pretty sure radiation is a given, and on the 28th I go back for a wide excision where the DCIS was(is?). But I am relieved to have a break.

Javamama, I hope you won't worry too much about stressing yourself. I did go into this pretty calmly, partly because I have so much liking for, and faith in, my doctor. I also have had much illness in my life so to some degree I'm tempered. But really, if you are upset or frightened, or at times depressed -- hey, you are human! This is scary and anyone can have emotions that are all over the place. Of course, I wasn't facing the prospect of plastic surgery and reconstruction. I had pretty much decided to go without if a BMX was recommended. That has to add a whole other dimension to this. Sending you lots of good wishes.

mimmom24, I'm so happy your lymphnodes came back negative! Wonderful news!!!!! I'm am having my bilateral mastectomy on Mon, 9/19. Getting through this last week at work has been torture.

I work in a hospital as a breast ultrasonographer. (Hence the name Irony, Lol.) I see things differently now. If I have a patient with a suspicious mass on ultrasound, I just want to cry. I'm looking forward to putting g this behind me, hoping my nodes are clear.

Best of luck to all.

Hi all, I'm sore but doing fine. I had a very large lumpectomy (hard to tell but looks like a quarter to a third of my right breast) and ALND--not sure how many nodes there were yet. I am so grateful I went to Dana Farber for a second opinion as prior to that mastectomy was my only option. I was so surprised that they could do lx for multifocal multicentric, I wasn't even thinking of it. But because my breasts are large, and DF does some super accurate radio seed and wire guidance, this was possible for me. (4 separate areas, 2 bc and 2 adh, had to be removed.) Just really hope margins are clear, I was so depressed by the recon options I decided to just to the uni and postpone any other decisions. Ironically I had just been researching breast reduction when I was diagnosed.

I am really hoping the nodes are clear, although I should expect at least one to be +. But less than 4 (I think) keeps me at stage II and that would make me very happy indeed. I feel very relieved that this bit is over--I'll deal with each next step as they come.

I just did something very uncharacteristic for me. I joined a plus sized clothing "subscription" service and received my first box of clothes when I got home from the hospital--and I'm keeping a boho top and distressed boyfriend jeans! Here's the thing: I do NOT shop and have never had much in the way of fashion sense and refuse to spend much money on clothes. AND I'm 58 years old. (boyfriend jeans?? distressed??) But it feels so good to do something positive for my self image and to have a bit of fun. Are any of you making changes like this? Not clothes necessarily, but any kind of fun changes?

minmom, I am so happy for your results. What a relief. Irony, I'll be thinking of you Monday. I wish everyone the best healing and results, and a great sense of new life going forward.

Whoa, HouseDivided, this sounds strange. I suggest a second opinion, including the initial biospy, by the best cancer center you can get to. I think it is unusual to do lumpectomy without having a dx of cancer (or ADH) and very unusual to schedule radiation without a dx. The information from the pathology (grade of tumor, ER/PR/HER results) is what guides the oncologist in treatment decisions.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks reflect. I called the surgeon to ask what was going on. No reply yet. The spot was 1 cm in the last mammogram so it is small. The first biopsy was a nightmare. It took an hour and a half and the radiologist kept looking at the ultrasound tech who would nod when she was in the right spot and then the radiologist would move the needle again. This went on forever. She even said she wasn't sure she got the spot and if not they would bring me back and do it again for free. I wouldn't go back there again, even if it was free.

The surgeon said her first recommendation was to do the lumpectomy after reviewing all the tests. But the second option was to do a second biopsy at a different facility. After the bad experience with the first biopsy I was fine going with the lumpectomy. Get it out and find out what it is and then create a plan. But the call for the radiation oncologist was surprising. She did say it was just to explain how radiation works but I still thought that was weird.

just wanted to weigh in. As a breast ultrasound tech, I will say we sometimes biopsy things that look very suspicious but come back benign. In that case, we call them discordant and recommend they get removed anyway.

No single test is a perfect science. Some things are vague and difficult to biopsy but are still to concerning to just leave. It is rare but not abnormal to recommend removal of an area that doesn't look right even if it came back ok.

Hi Tomcat, waiting is the hardest part. Once you know what you're dealing with, do the next step.

Hi Irony, the nodes are mysterious. You would think that there must be a sentinel node--it's just the first node lymph drains to, right? Did they remove any nodes at all?

I meet with the BS tomorrow. She called today with pathology, good and bad. Margins are good, chemo did some work. But 7/17 nodes were + and I am very sad and scared by that. My axilla is very swollen and painful, and will be drained tomorrow. Hope it helps.