MASTECTOMY MEETUP

Hi Nayda, I had a UMX on 11/9. Although the healing hasn't been a lot of fun it also hasn't been as bad as I anticipated. There have been many times that my thoughts go to thinking of having the good breast removed. One reason is of course to give cancer less of a chance to reoccur. However I think it would also be easier to be able to just go flat or put in matching foobs when I want too. Right now it is hard to get the sides to match.....and wearing a bra is still a bear. Good luck with your decision and wishing you good health in the new year.

~Heidi

Hi Nayda985,

My bilateral surgery was Dec 8th and I'm at home recovery now. I was originally diagnosed with IDC (.6 cm) in my right breast and ADH after two biopsies. The cancer was found after my annual 3D mammogram. My doctor recommended a lumpectomy with radiation as treatment. She also mentioned that I would need high risk management (every six months MRI or mammogram) for at least 10 years. I am a worrier and did not want to go through testing every 6 months. I also had this gut feeling that I needed to have a bilateral mastectomy. Now, after the surgery I am so relieved that I did choose to have both breasts removed. My final pathology report showed that there was two tumors (not one) in my right breast as well as DCIS in my supposedly healthy left breast. The cancer had also spread into one out of 13 lymph nodes taken. If I wouldn't have done the prophylactic surgery on my left breast I would have found cancer at my six month follow-up and ending up with another mastectomy and recovery. Tomorrow I meet with my oncologist to figure out the next steps in my treatment. Looks like chemo/radiation are in my near future but at least I know that the cancer in both breasts is gone. Thanking God for the gut feeling to be aggressive with the bilateral mastectomy. My BS called it a God wink! Go with your gut feeling! You know your body better than any doctor.

Oh my Kav. Thank goodness you listened to your gut feelings even if it's not always the easiest thing.

I used emu oil. It was a little messy, but soothing. If I'd known about it at the time, I might have asked to try Biafine.

Hi, I am the perfect person to write to you today! I had a Left mastectomy 2 days ago. I wanted no reconstruction because I want to keep it simple, no more bad surprises for me. Also, I did not want a surgery any longer duration than necessary as I prefer as little as possible drugs in my body.

It was pretty painless. I have a huge scar all the way across. I have drain bulb hanging out one corner and a pain killer local anesthetic "comfort ball" tube out of another, like angel hair spaghetti sized tube. That ball of pain killer sits in a little fanny pack thing and goes down slowly. I did not believe it was shrinking and dispensing medication so kept taking it out and weighing it on our postal scale and sure enough, it is getting lighter over time. Its about the size of a grapefruit. I had a script for by mouth Percoset pain killers but.... have not needed any of those pills at all since surgery which I'm happy about. I don't want to be loopy and on drugs. So the "On Q" ball is doing a great job..... it slowly feeds novacaine type local anesthetic to the surgury site (it actually starts with a b and is novacaine related). But anyway, some soreness near the arm there makes me take it easy but I am doing great!!

A little bored... feel like watching tv and getting extra sleep but, husband brought me ice, food, hot water bottle, water, etc. So I am really in good shape here.

The drain is actually a blessing because it catches the excess fluids from the surgery leftovers in a little grenade style clear plastic bulb that you can empty out. So in the olden days, all that bloody waste would have been dripping and need to be mopped up constantly. This keeps it really clean. You go dump it in the sink every 4 hours or as you prefer.

So.... any more questions? Happy to say more if it will help you prepare!

Hugs,

Fearless

Thats great to hear, Goincrzy8, I am glad it was all ok!!

I did not notice the date of your earlier post, had not been on here for quite a while!!

Hi ladies.... Just had mastectomy on January 9th, surgery went well, came home the next day. Adjusting to sleeping on my back(recliner is perfect) on day two I made the mistake of looking in the mirror, was not expecting such a long scar, had lympnodes removed as well. Needless to say I covered my mirror. Yes I understand the breast(cancer) had to be removed. But I don't think I canget use to the lopsided ness. I have radiation next so there will be no reconstruction in my near future. Anyone else ashamed of people looking at your chest after surgery?

Hello, Goincrzy8! I am new here, and it sounds like I am in the same boat you are. I did originally have a lumpectomy, but just found out that my cancer was more aggressive than what they thought, so I am scheduled for a mastectomy on the 24th of January, set to have one breast removed. This is very scary for me as I never dreamed in a million years I would have cancer. I have lots of questions myself, and hopefully by joining this forum we can get the help we need. I am hurting physically and emotionally, and want to get back to a normal life. I am definitely worried about what I am going to look like afterwards. My sister is a great support to me and found this website where they make knitted breast forms called Knitted Knockers. Don't know the rules well enough to know if I can give links or not, but if you are interested, feel free to PM me.

I know exactly what you're going through, and I am not really ready for this. I am getting support from family, friends, and coworkers, but it's still very hard. I know in time I will adjust, but it's getting there that I'm concerned about.

I hope and pray things work out well for you. Look forward to talking soon.

Thank you, Goincrzy8, for the info. Yes, this is a very scary time, but I'm very glad I found this site. I know it will be a great help to me, and eventually I would like to be a help to others.

Hi all, can't believe I missed this thread. I have been hanging out over on the January surgeries thread and my BMX is tomorrow. It's been a real relief to read all your messages in this thread about the pain not being too bad, because I have been really worried.

I am doing BMX in spite of only having DCIS (as far as I know), because I just want to get it over with, not have people monitoring my poor little boobs for the rest of my life. And if it turns out there's something else in there at pathology time, I will be even happier that they are gone.

I do not plan any reconstruction and have asked to be flat.

Thank you all, I'll check in again after surgery.

jinmo

in your pocket, jinmo

Lillady - I placed gauze under the drains and then held everything in place with Tagaderm. It kept them from swinging around when I moved. Also be sure to join the January 2017 surgery thread. You will get a lot of support from others who are going through this at the same time. Best wishes!

Molly50, thank you for your response.

I haven't met with a plastic surgeon, as I'm not sure if plastic surgery is covered by my insurance. My surgeon that is doing my mastectomy is going to leave a little flap so that reconstruction can be done later. She told me it could be done at the same time, but I'm opting to do it later. I know it's going to be a shock to see myself, but knowing that there are temporary things to work with like the Knitted Knockers is of some help. I do not sleep very well. Hoping that's going to change real soon.

Hi all, I dropped by a few days ago and now I am back, post-surgery. I had a BMX with sentinel node removal yesterday, and so far, so good. Not too much pain...I have some Percocet from them but don't seem to need it at every dosage time.

I get final pathology sometime before the end of the week.

Meanwhile, I have just declared myself a proud citizen of "Notataland".

Goincrazy8 and Molly, thanks for your support!

Rosa, as far as I understand it, insurance is required to provide you with symmetry. Good luck!