July 2017 Surgery

i am one week post op, wound vac removed yesterday. hopefully drains will be removed friday. can reach with both arms. still on pain meds because biggest issue is heaviness and tightness . i have asthma which make it hard to breathe and pain meds helps with that.dont wait too long for poop. if pills dont work,use suppository, dont wait too long. not much appetite too... toughcookie,maybe they use gauze and tegaderm for your drains instead of tape

Hi,

I have a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction on Friday (July 28th). I'm IDC, locally advanced, triple negative. I finished 6 cycles of Chemo less than two weeks ago. My surgery will be 17 days after my last infusion of carboplatin and taxotere. I'm too exhausted to be scared, but plenty nervous.

Based on physical exams, I've had a complete response to Chemo and my BS hopes to remove a dead tumor. She also thinks there's a good chance my lymph nodes are negative. One tested positive during biopsies last spring. But she continues to push for radiation. My tumor is roughly 7 cm, but complicating my diagnosis was my stupidly dense breast tissue. Neither a 3D mammogram or ultrasound could say much about the tumor. Actually, the mammogram couldn't find it. TG I found a lump? A breast MRI gave the only internal info (does that even make sense?). So what we know has been limited.

Given all that, a bilateral seemed like a no-brainer. I'm getting TEs. No skin or tissue grafts/harvesting.

And apparently I'm too tired right now to say anything else. If my post is gibberish, I place the blame on Chemo brain.

Shelabla- post mastectomy I slept in a recliner for 6 months. I did my revision yesterday and slept in a bed with lots of pillows. I get up a lot at night, thank you tamoxifen, and have triouble getting back to sleep in my back in a bed

Hi Redhead717,

I sympathize with you. It's scary and no matter how much you read about someone else's experience, you still have to get through it yourself. I shed a lot of tears before my surgery, but I think the stress of the unknown was worse than the actual procedure. Hopefully you'll feel the same way once you're on the other side of your surgery.

sleep better on recliner than on my bed shelabel

Changed the bandages over the drains today. A friend who is a nurse came over and helped. Tired me out. Took some pain meds and now to nap. Since 6:30 this morning there has only been savior 15 ml of fluid on each side.

She washed the area around my stitches they look great. No redness. Or draining, no bruising

Question for those who have drains- were you given bandages for replacing the drain sites? I was only given ointment and tonight I took off the tegaderm and put the ointment on. Ew! They are gross under the bandage. I didn't realize they were just tubes going into my sides under there. I replaced the tegaderm with sterile bandages that my husband picked up at cvs tonight.

do you get drains if you are just having lumpectomy and snb?

Good luck tomorrow Gigilala,

Things will go fine. Post when you can.

Sarah_r, I am not sure.

Pathology report is back, the 4 lymph nodes they took have no cancer in them!!!😆 yay. Some residual cancer left on the breast. Radiation is my next step

While I'm nervous about my surgery on Friday, I'm more nervous about when I'm back home. I live by myself with two cats, one of whom has asthma and needs daily meds including an inhaler. I read the thread about preparing for surgery (before, during, after) and have successfully kept myself crazy busy the last week or so. But there's more I feel like I should do. But my body has its limitations due to orthopedic issues, and I'm on antibiotics because I somehow got an infected hair follicle last week and the stress keeps triggering migraines and and and ....

Does it ever end? I know cancer is for life. But what about being scared? Frustrated? Preparing for worst case scenarios? Hiding my real feelings when people give unwanted advice or make asinine comments? Does Chemo brain really get better?

Is anyone else more scared about the future than surgery? I feel like I don't control my surgery's outcome. I trust my BS (a surgical oncologist, so I've been seeing her since March). I hope my lymph nodes are negative. I'm hoping for no complications or surprises when I wake up. But the road ahead is so long and being triple negative, I started this journey five months ago. If all goes as planned, I'll get my permanent implants in May 2018 - 15 months after my diagnosis.

How are you staying sane?

congrats shelabela!!! felinemum,had my surgery 10 days ago. my sister is staying with me. can someone come over? i,too think that sometimes its a neverending battle but i put my trust in God....Gigilala,God bless

shelabela- congrats on the lymph nodes! That's fantastic news.

felinemum- I was super worried before surgery and spent the week prior cleaning, cooking and preparing. the things they say about after surgery have proven to be true for the most part. I slept a lot in the first few days and I stil get tired easily. I'm very sore but don't have terrible pain unless I try to reach or bend too far or move too much. Do you have anyone to help you?

Hello Everybody.  I am having Surgery in August, and didn't see a Topic for this, so I hope you don't mind if I join yours. I'm having Bilateral Mastectomy, No Reconstruction on August 8,2017.  I cannot have radiation and may not be able to have Chemo due to my autoimmune disease. MO is going to wait and see how my body handles surgery. 

Thank you MsMisha and Toughcookie for your updates after surgery. Msmisha, you mentioned a new type of dye for the Sentinel lymph node biopsy that was pain free.  My surgeon warned me that it was going to be painful. Now I am worried that I'm not getting the latest and greatest Medical care.  Well, I'm just worried about everything.  

I live alone.  I have no one to help after surgery.  So, my question to post op's - if I did find someone to come over a few times, what would I need them the most for, and when should they be with me? I'm talking a few hours here and there at the most.  Thank you everyone - details please.  Sorry about the format - I find it confusing.  Not sure if my profile came thru, so I will post briefly :      Dx June 26, 2017, IDC Left, 3.7cm, Stage IIb (?) grade 2, ER+/PR+/HER2-   

Toughcookie, you are very brave. 

Thank you shebala, toughcookie, gigilala and kae.

RLJ: I'm in the same boat as you. I've found the suggestions on the thread "Topic: Shopping/packing/to-do list for surgery + recovery...." helpful in preparing for surgery. Some of the posters also seem to be women who live alone, so the tips on how to set things up in advance so it's easier to function on your own have really helped me. And there are so many things I never would've thought of.

In my case, the available support is very limited. My mother plans to stay over my first night home. Frankly, if it weren't for my cats, I'd ask her not to. My family is very dysfunctional. Being around my mother requires all the self-control I have to avoid saying things I'll regret or take the bait she throws out. My sister actually is helping an aunt who recently had surgery. My sister likely will be back in town by Friday, but she's an alcoholic and I have strict sanity (and personal property) preserving rules about not giving her access to my home without me present. Me out of it from pain and pain meds isn't 'present.' And I can't risk my meds running off without me. I could go on. I'll leave it at hopefully someone will be able to stop in most days for an hour or two.

New questions: I keep seeing references to dye injections a day or several hours before surgery, special soaps/showers and other preparations the night before surgery. I'm getting marked up by my plastic surgeon the afternoon before surgery and already have been told I can't bathe after that. My node injection is roughly an hour before my operation is scheduled to start. No one's mentioned special prep to me, although I've been told I'll get a call a day or two before surgery (this Friday) with instructions.

Is this different? My plastic surgeon's doing the marking/marker on my chest the day before because of how tight his schedule is the day of my surgery. He's trying to avoid delays. Long story short, my BS just got back from vacay. The plastic goes on vacay Monday. With Chemo first, 3 weeks is the ideal time frame between Chemo ending and surgery. Waiting for another vacay to end puts me well past that.

Hi All,

So glad to have found this community, trying to get out of my head worrying and spend more time here understanding.

I had surgery on 7/11- Lumpectomy and Sentinel Node removed. In the area where my sentinel node was removed I evidently have a build up of lymphatic fluid which has caused a painful lump unde\rneath the incision. I saw my surgeon yesterday and he says it will go down over time and wants to see me in 4 weeks. I'm not sure I can handle 4 weeks of this kind of pain. He's recommended I see a specific breast cancer physical therapist, which I am calling today. I'm also concerned about developing Lymphedema -which is incurable.

Anyone else having these same issues? Suggestions?