March 2017 Surgery

Hi, everyone! Glad to see everybody seems to be doing pretty well. I had a follow up with my BS yesterday and the ultrasounds showed everything looks great. Some fluid in the left breast, but she said not enough to aspirate and my body should absorb it. Today is exactly two weeks post-op and I got to take a BATH!!! I've been showering since the day after surgery, and I'm grateful for that opportunity...but I'm a bath person. I didn't have a marathon session or anything, but the 25 minutes or so I was in the tub were sublime! I'm off pain meds and I've driven a couple times with no issues. So grateful for the miracles of modern medicine!!

I had a pre pectoral TE. I don't have a valve. He just stuck a needle in.my chest and pumped a bunch of saline in.

I had nipple & skin sparing BMX & I have prepectoral TE's.. I think my PS filled one side during surgery w/100 cc of something but left the "thin skinned" side unfilled. Saw him for first post-op Tuesday, go back again tomorrow to hopefully get drains out. Yay!! He said he would do fills of around either 40 or 60 cc (can't remember) when he did fill, which I'm happy to hear since I've read so much about pain with larger fills. I have to say, both my PS and BS have been very good, kind drs.

sjsparks - Thinking of you this morning as you go for your BMX. Hugs and prayers.

I don't mind the subpectoral. I think if I were younger or played sports I would like it better. My sister had her implants under her pecs from her augmentation because her breasts were less than an A cup so with her pbmx she went direct to implants because she already had a pocket.

For those of you who had a BMX with expanders, how long would you say you needed to recuperate before going back to work? (job with no lifting etc)

My surgery will be April 17th...I am a HS teacher, I put in for 4 weeks off, with the ability to extend my leave if I need it...do you think 4 weeks is long enough? too long? I know everyone heals differently, and there could be things that come up etc...but "in a perfect scenario" LOL what would you think?

I am hoping that I feel pretty good, drains out by 3 weeks...and then week 4 to just rest, dr appts etc???

Thanks in advance!

So, if you're easily offended by bad language, here's your chance to keep scrolling and skip this post......

FUCK!!!!! Had 2 week f/up with PS today and he left in my EFFING drain. So going onto week three with Elphaba (yes, I've named it after the Wicked Witch of the West. I hate the bitch.) They did schedule me a "pity" appointment for Monday so that if the fluid goes down over the week-end they'll take it out, but I'm not holding my breath. If I have this bitch for 7 weeks again I'm going to be seriously pissed. I won't even bother going on Monday if the output doesn't go down. I've been at a consistent 25 cc per day for 6 days now and he won't even consider removing at that level. So mad.

He also only put in another 50 cc of saline in my TE. I'm now at 200 cc on my way to 750 in a 650 TE. I seriously hope he steps that up and does more each time or I won't even be considering exchange until probably June. I already had one summer ruined over that stupid infection; I'll be mad if I lose another one.

Thanks for letting me vent. Seriously not happy right now.

BG46. . .I was out for 6 weeks with BMx and TEs. I should have taken 2 more weeks. I planned on 3 weeks for EX, hoped for 2 and was out for 4 weeks. I have had difficult times with my recoveries however. I am out for 6 weeks this time anD plan to take the whole time. I have a mostly desk job but there is some reaching and lifting. Also I'll need PT again so going to take it easy and pray for no more surgeries. Good luck.

Raven. . .sorry about the £#$*$! £*$#!" drain. Drains have been the one thing I have lucked out on. I UT at 9 days for BMx and none for the other two. I still can't do anything with my arms without pain at two weeks. Trying to be patient but it's hard. Vent away. We are here to listen. Fingers crossed that yours come out on Monday.

Kudos to all the ladies who are back to driving. I hate immobility.

Scottie

Sitti

So glad all is working well and your surgery went well. I have been thinking about you while I prep for treatment decisions (rads or no rads)

Big HUG

Bebe

Hi everyone -

Seeing all the mastectomies here, I feel very lucky to have been able to do a lumpectomy! I hope all of you continue to do well with your recoveries! And get rid of your drains - I hated my drain.

I'm having my own pity-party today. Got my pathology report. I've been doing really well after ALND and lumpectomy, but my surgeon had told me that they had removed an 'extra' mass found just under the nipple during surgery. The pathology came back and the additional lump was more cancer, so now I need another surgery to remove my nipple/areola complex. This is scheduled for next week. Plus, cancer was found in 4 of the lymph nodes out of the 18 removed - which means Stage III cancer instead of Stage II. And on top of all that, the chemo treatments I went through apparently had no significant impact on my cancer - either the primary tumor(s) or the lymph nodes.

So, all in all, not a lot of good news today. Other than the additional surgery (which I'd been warned about as a possibility beforehand), none of it is that much of a big deal I suppose, but it was a lot of stuff all-together.

raven4mi, I like your style. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Sometimes the f bomb is the only effective word. Recently read an article that states that use of profanity is typical among people who are honest and intelligent. I liked that article. Very sorry to hear about your set back. I'm doing tons to research so your posts are an inspiration and I appreciate your perseverance. Wishing you the best.

Grendeldog, sending thoughts of comfort and hoping a good treatment plan is put in place quickly. We all face the same potential report of greater involvement than expected after surgery and it's scary. I hope at least having the information is at better than the anxiety of the unknown. Sending support and positive energy

ugh Raven I'm so sorry to hear about your drain!! don't feel bad for venting or not answering my question right away lol I would be pissed if I were you too!!

GrendelDog, sorry to hear about the additional tumor. Sounds like you have a good plan in place and are in a good place overall. I commend you for that; not sure I would be that way with all that news. Then again, look how whiny I am about one stupid little drain! LOL!

Molly50, good luck going back to work on Monday!

So I was originally scheduled for a post-op appointment with the surgeon for 2 weeks after my lumpectomy and SNB and I thought that appointment was when they would take the bandages off and look at everything. Now I just got a call that they have to move that appointment to April 4 instead of April 11 - a week earlier. So isn't that too soon to take off the bandages? Also I'm supposed to get a mammogram April 4 too - that is going to hurt!! Did anyone else have a mammogram or post-op appointment only a week after surgery?

The breast surgeon scheduled it apparently. I only spoke with her scheduler when she called to tell me that the doctor requested it. She said it is diagnostic and I asked about it being too soon, but she said that the doctor knows I just had surgery so it must be okay. She is leaving a note for the doctor that I was concerned so maybe I'll get another call back.

My boyfriend is convinced something went wrong during my surgery because it took 3 hours and we had been told 1-1.5 hours but nothing really seems to be wrong in terms of healing or anything.

Grendeldog. . .sending hugs. Sorry about the news but know that there are lots of great women here for support.

Scottie