March 2017 Surgery

I am not sure if this is the correct thread. March 6 2017 I had a preventative bilateral mastectomy. I was discharged from the hospital the next day with 4 drains (2 per side). On Tuesday 8 days after surgery the surgeon removed the lower drains on each side. The left side did not hurt I just felt a tug. The right side on the other hand hurt and burned as it was being removed. I am suppose to call my output in next week. So far my remaining two drains are still having 40 - 50 output daily. Today I notice a funky smell when I drain them. Is this normal? I am not in a rush for the drains to be removed if they are doing their job and I am scarred about the pain during the removal process. Is there anything I can do to lessen the pain when they are going to be removed? My surgeon said it will hurt.

mommajensen, if you think th ed drainage smells funky I would call.dr ASAP. It's probably nothing. But if it is something, you don't want to wait. Re:pain. I have not been in your shoes, but check with your dr/nurse. Sometimes they will tell people to take pain meds before a proceedure. I know this will happen at dentist offices. Check with Dr b/c some pain meds might be ok,and others not.

Raven4mi - Thinking about you this morning as you head in for your Re-insertion of your TE.

Plantchild, does TSX stand for TE's or actual implant? Just wondering as my PS has proposed pre-pectoral, straight to implant if possible but won't know until surgery. I keep reading the pre-pec is much easier recovery though. Irwells50 - The nail belt thing, good idea. Bareclaws - You sound like you are doing amazing, love your enthusiasm. LasiSS - So glad your nodes were all negative, and you got a cancer free report! Praying for your rads treatment to be trouble free. MariH, NervousGal, GrendelDog - Hope you are all recovering well. 2FUN - The Benedryl, yikes, hopefully you caught that b4 you started brushing. Hope you are healing well. jrow7 - I don't think anyone here thinks you were being whinny, you had a lot of unexpected to process and take in. This is safe place to share. lifeb4me - glad your nodes were negative. Goldie63 - Nov invasive cancer, good news, happy for you! Hope your swelling under your arm is better. Amandab1234, Yvonne_M, cdv4251992, wallan and anyone else I may have missed, prayers for your continued recoveries.

To all you wonderful ladies, your amazing, hugs to each of you.

Glad everything is going well for you bareclaws. Scars will become less obvious, and it's not like you had major surgery!

Had my vacation dressing removed and they couldn't belive the hives and blisters I had under the dressing. I can't believe how well healed I am in 4 days. No additional dressing needed, just drains. Now let the blisters and hives to heal. Maybe drain removal on monday?

scottie. I am picturing you chill-axing with your pillow. Try to relax and take your time getting prepared. Hopefully you have someone to help you when you get home from surgery. It's nice to be officially off of work so you can focus on you.

Hi, I had my surgery Friday, March 10th. I'm feeling rather depressed, every time I talk to anyone I feel like I sound like Eyore so sorry in advance. I'm still having trouble managing my pain. My PS filled one of my TEs with 400cc which is way more then they said they would. They filled the other TE with 100 or 200cc, not sure because I was in such shock when he said 400cc. Also the pain really only gets real bad when I stand up. I knew the pain with the TEs would be significantly more than my first MX which was very manageable painwise, but hadn't expected this much pain.

I hesitate to write this as I don't want to scare anyone, but I really think the pain is because of how much fill he did so no one should worry as I believe it is unusual.

I'm going to ask for another muscle relaxant. My friend had the same surgery a couple months ago and said the oxy and Valium weren't enough, so they gave her another muscle relaxant called Robaxin, which really helped her tremendously. I would like to be able to reduce my oxy as it's giving me headaches and the Valium which is a mild muscle relaxant seems to help the most. But my doctor is of the attitude that this surgery only causes mild discomfort. Grrrrr. So not sure I'll get far with him helping me with my pain. Anyone have a muscle relaxant other than Valium

Does anyone know how much they filled you with at surgery time and if 400cc seems like a lot?

Gotta go read your posts now.

Thanks ladies!

LisbethS, hang in there. Thus is the place to complain. We all get it, in our own way, and there is no.judgement here! Hugs to you! I had MX with pre pectoral TE on March 13. I had the dressing removed today, and my skin is happier. But now that my chest isn't squeezed together with tegaderm (the dressing that looks like saran wrap) I am having a lot more pain/discomfort/altered sensation. I am 90% sure it is from.the expander. Mine has air in it, and they will put saline in it in a week or so. Yippee! (Sarcasm )

Don't be too hard on yourself.see if you can get a more effective method of pain control from your doctor. I am trying to go back to my meditative deep breathing when I start gething uncomfortable. I had not mastered that b4 surgery, so i am working at it. That might help take the edge off. Google yoga or meditation breathing

I swear I am having Phantom nipple sensation. I used to work with people with leg amputations, and we would teach them that the sensations they feel will keep changing as tissue and nerves heal, and don't let that be worrysome. I suspect that is true for all amputations.

I do not know how you all have deaLt with BMX.

Molly50. . .I remember wishing that I had a recliner for BMx. Dh had to help me in and out of bed for the first 2-3 days home after that surgery. I had at least 6 pillows around me plus one of those dorm type back rests. About 4 days in, Dh found the total body pillow at Sam's Club. More than 2 years later I still have to sleep with one for support so got the new one from Amazon. If you have a recliner with pillows for each arm, I would use that.

Lisbeth. . .I only had 100 on each side on the table and I did slow fills. Can you have PS draw that one down to give you some relief? As for pain, I was on pain meds and a muscle relaxer after BMx wit TEs. All meds were round the clock and PS insisted that I take them to stay comfortable and rest. I just filled my scripts for this surgery and Robaxin is one of them. If moving around is painful try to stay immobile as much as possible until you get some relief. That's the best advice I got. . .hence the short T-Rex arms. Hope you get some relief.

Scottie

Also, tip that has helped me. I know some surgeons do not recommend ice/warm but I have been using a heating pad on LOWEST setting with comforter in between (so safe) and just having it against the side of body to throw my mind off pain, if this makes sense. Be careful due to losing feeling and not understanding true warmth and ice not good for nipple-sparing but try to send the mind to another part of the body. And it's comforted me when I was weaning off pain meds or adjusting to new bed.

2FUN:

Well, I'm positive about the infection because God blessed me with a good path. report!!! The rest is BS-reconstruction issues. I'd HATE to lose the TE, trust me, but I can deal if it comes to that.

LisabethS...oh my, that is terrible that your PS spoke to you like that, I just can't even imagine why he would think that is acceptable, EVER. He acknowledged that he filled the TE at least twice to 3X's fuller than the other one, it seems it would be obvious to him the painfulness. Please don't let him intimidate you from getting the relief you need. Hugs.

Siti - I am doing okay. Thanks for asking. I ended up getting a unilateral MX, axillary LND, and a tissue expander placement under the muscle with 150 ccs on the right side. The pain has been mostly manageable - less than a 2. I had quite a bit of energy after the surgery. My sister was visiting to take care of me and I even got a chance to go to the beach - which is about an hour away.

Honestly, the hardest part of the recovery, for me has been the emotional part. Under my arm is numb - kinda. It almost constanantly feels like it is coming out of being numb, - not the pins and needles feeling, but the burning feeling you get after that. Nipple/skin sparing was not an option for me with the placement of my tumor. My whole chest is numb. When I look in the mirror and touch the skin I feel a little nauseated, like my brain can't reconcile what is happening because it sees it is being touched, but can't feel it.

I also hate the tissue expander. It feels heavy on my chest. Part of me wishes I had just gone flat. It does not help that every time I see my PS he tries to convince me to put in implants, although I plan to get an eventual DIEP. I was very small before all of this and I am happy to stay small after. He keeps talking about how it is a free boob job. I couldn't care less about getting a boob job. I liked my boobs just the way they were. Stupid.

I had one drain post op and getting it out wasn't too bad. I took a pain pill before and it was pretty easy. It took 10 days.

I have to wear a compression bra for 3 weeks which I find incredibly uncomfortable. I rarely wore a bra prior to this so I have one more week and I can't wait! . My PS also said no arm exercises for 3 weeks. Is this normal? I find that I am told almost 2 different things from my general surgeon and my PS. SO FRUSTRATING.

I met with The nurse about a week after the surgery and she said I am at a 20% risk of developing lymphadema so I should wear the sleeve as a preventative for the first 3 months. It only aggravates the feeling I have in the inside of my arm.

I got my pathology back. Good and bad news. Both areas have shrunk quite significantly to 9 and 7 mm with only scant cancer cells left! But they both showed IDC not IDC and DCIS like the original biopsy said. 0/9 lymph nodes were negative! All the margins were clear! But the deep margin was less than 1 mm so I am on the borderline for radiation. My Rad Onc is going to present me at tumor board, but is pretty convinced the vote will be 60/40. I know that radiation is not that bad compared to chemo, but I was looking forward to being done. Any feedback from those who have gone through it would be appreciated.

Also does anyone have a hard recommendation for how long you are supposed to sleep on your back ata 45 degree angle? I can't remember and I miss sleeping on my side.

I am sending out lots of positive thoughts and healing both physically and emotionally to everyone on the board. We will get through this. Thank you for all of your posts. They have been really helpful and I am sorry I haven't been able to be as supportive as I would have liked.

Okay my rant is over.

I am scheduled for a left Mastectomy with SNB on 3/21. I just realized no one has mentioned if I need a bra in the hospital postop. My reconstruction will be delayed. Thanks in advance.

Had my TE insertion and salpingo-oophorectemy on Friday morning. Have more pain in the breast this time than I've ever had before, even after the infection. I'm assuming that's residual from the infection overall. Usually my PS inflates the TE with air but he didn't do that this time. Again, I'm assuming that he wants to take it nice and slow to counteract any residual damage. Still, overall, doing really well. Have taken more pain meds this time because of the additional pain and they make me pretty loopy so that's fun. (/sarcasm) The pain from having the ovaries and tubes removed is virtually nothing compared to the breast - kind of like a mildly crampy period and nothing more so that's a relief. Getting better day by day!

To those asking about sleeping, I personally prefer to sleep in my La-Z-Boy but only because of the drains. Once the drains were out after my original bmx I was able to sleep on my side no problem but, then again, you have to remember that I had drains for seven weeks (I even ended up naming them!) By that time pretty much everything else was healed up.

For anyone dealing with rude surgeons, I realize it's easier said than done, but please try to remember that YOU are the patient. It's absolutely uncalled for that any health professional tries to pull that kind of crap and I've fired more than one doctor in my day. They may have an unlimited supply of "customers" but I also have the choice, as the customer, to go elsewhere. I realize that I'm lucky in that I'm in a large urban area so I have lots of choices but it might even be worth having to drive a bit further to get the respect you especially deserve through this shit storm of breast cancer we're going through.

lidabit, PS's can be so freaking stupid about "boobs", can't they? My PS keeps telling me I'll be "beautiful" when he's finished and I keep telling him to shut it - nothing was more beautiful than my own lovely breasts, thank you very much.

I feel your fatigue wallen, I just woke up from my second nap of the dat, and it's not even 5pm, and I didn't go for a walk! I'm 6 days post and I am really tired. Still check with Dr. , but what u r experiencing isn't unusual to me.

Raven4mi, glad you are done pretty well just a few days post surgery. I had complete hysterectomy in jan due to endometrial cancer and I was surprised how it wasnt too bad.