DCIS Right Behind Nipple

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  • DagnyT
    DagnyT Member Posts: 135
    edited December 2017

    Lorrainenj - what wonderful news!! I am so happy for you. I had a rotten weekend because it seems like my pathology slides have gotten lost and now my Dr is saying they may have to cancel / postpone my surgery. Turns out getting cancer around the holidays has more crappy things in store....like FedEx backups. So all I can do is keep my fingers crossed..

    Keep recovering so well. You're like a beacon ahead of me :) You can hopefully go into the new year feeling strong and that this is behind you. Congratulations

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  • Lorrainenj
    Lorrainenj Member Posts: 39
    edited December 2017

    dagnyT I’ve been thinking of you all day! How did everything go? I was at the oncologists today. Three hours of waiting. Ugh. I am not a patient person. How was your surgery? I’ll bet you rocked it out! Praying for a swift recovery. You are also a tiger! When you put your cozy pjs on and get a good nights sleep I’m sure your relief that it is over will take you right to dreamland God bless and I am praying for a swift recovery for you girlfriend!!!

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  • DagnyT
    DagnyT Member Posts: 135
    edited December 2017

    hi there. Yesterday I had my seed implantation and then injections for node napping. Have to say it was the worst thing I’ve done through so far. I am still bleeds and bruised this morning....but in about 30 min I head to the hospital for my actual surgery. I figure it has to be better than what I went through yesterday....I’m supposed to be asleep for everything today!

    Let me know what the oncologist has to say and I will check back in tomorrow after my surgery. If things go as scheduled, I should be back in my own bed later tonight

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  • Lorrainenj
    Lorrainenj Member Posts: 39
    edited January 2018

    .

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  • DagnyT
    DagnyT Member Posts: 135
    edited December 2017

    oh dear Lorraine....yup, there is so much to all of this and it is so hard to keep it all together and move forward. I’m sorry you had a 3 hour wait, that doesn’t seem right and I applaud you for not leaving. I would have been out of there after 30 minutes! When is your radiation appointment? At this point do you know for sure if you will need radiation? Not having a definite plan is very stressful.

    My surgery went fine and I was able to get my ride home the same day so that I slept in my own bed! I am having a lot of pain at the sentinel node biopsy site...but my actual breast and nipple feel pretty good. If I didn’t have the other incision I think I would be ok on just Tylenol. I got to take a shower today and actually see myself....I have to say that my surgeon was excellent! I look terrible with all the black bruising and still some bleeding from the seed implantation...but you can hardly see her incision site from the actual surgery. My right side is now definitely smaller then my left side....but the shape is pretty much the same, since she took out tissue from right behind the aerola.

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  • Lorrainenj
    Lorrainenj Member Posts: 39
    edited January 2018

    thanks for the update!! You did it!!! What a great thing to have this behind you!!! Yes I was thinking the node issue might sideline you.... but look at you!!! Still have a breast and it looks pretty much the same. I’d call that a win win. Three weeks out for me and most of bruising gone. It takes a while. The surgeons at memorial sloan are fabulous. Before my surgery i told my surgeon “ don’t make my breast look like a pirate map!” Lol

    You totally nailed how I feel right now. Yes tough waiting on decisions. Radiologist Friday. I think my daughter may come with me this time. I hope so. I am taking the medication to inhibit hormones. It’s very doable. Small little pill. I pop it right after lunch. I’m calling it my bip. Breast insurance pill.

    Sorry about your pain. Take the pain pills. Give yourself time to recover. Don’t forget grubhub. They can bring you meals. Amazon restaurant too if you are in their area.

    Good luck with your recovery. Seriously the worst is behind you now.

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  • Staynshape
    Staynshape Member Posts: 2
    edited January 2018

    Hi, I actually had the Dcis located right on my nipple area. After three opinions of surgeons, two of them said they couldn’t save it. One surgeon very reputable one, said she would do with her best. After the margins did not come back clear I had to be re-incised and remove the nipple. It was devastating. Be prepared.

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  • DagnyT
    DagnyT Member Posts: 135
    edited January 2018

    Hi stayinshape. I'm sorry that you lost your nipple. I am preparing myself for this, but I know if that's the result I won't be happy. Did you elect to have a reconstruction? My plastic surgeon has said that between the "shape" he can make from skin and the tattooing that can be done, there is an outcome that won't be perfect, but won't be horrible.

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  • Lorrainenj
    Lorrainenj Member Posts: 39
    edited January 2018

    hi Dagny. Did you get your path report? Hoping everything went well!!

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  • DagnyT
    DagnyT Member Posts: 135
    edited January 2018

    hi lorrainenj,

    Thanks for checking in on me and my progress. So, I did get the path report back. The good news was that they didn’t find anything more invasive than they expected (I knew there was both DCIS and IDC in there from the original biopsies) and my nodes were clear! The not great news was that they didn’t get clean margins, so I was going to have to go back into surgery. I also wound up getting a bad infection and also a seroma at the SNB incision site.

    Because my two breasts were really different sizes, although about the same shape, after the lx, I had been planning on getting a reduction on the left side to make me more even. Finding out that they had to go back in and take out more on the right side made that decision easy. Since I couldn’t avoid a second surgery, they combined the re-excision on the r side with the reduction on the l side and I went back in this past Tuesday.

    Well, I have to say, this second experience was nothing like the first surgery unfortunately. They ran into complications on the re-excision site and basically had to take off my nipple completely and then try to put it back on with a “free skin graft”. The surgeon said there was about a 5% chance of that happening, but we didn’t really discuss the details because he thought it was unlikely. So now I am sitting without a lot of info and will need to wait until I see him next week to figure out if the skin graft seems to be taking and what this all means in terms of my treatment. My recovery has definitely been impacted, as I am experiencing an intense amount of pain on that side and have strict instructions that nothing can get wet for at least 10 days (by by showering after 48 hours like last time). The reduction on the l side hasn’t been too painful, although definitely more uncomfortable than the lx was. So I’m trying to rest and give my poor body time to heal.

    I won’t get my oncotype score for another couple of weeks. And I guess I need to meet with the MO to talk about meds....since I was ER/PR+. But that hasn’t been scheduled yet. And frankly, I think I am going to refuse to start those until after my radiation is done. I am finding it harder than I expected to take care of myself alone for this second round of surgery. I don’t want to be struggling with side effects of more than one treatment regimen at a time.

    How did your radiology appointment go this past week? Do you have plans in place?

    Let me know.

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