December 2017 Surgery Group

Congratulations ps0705! Yes, being on the other side of surgery has been so much better than the other side. Happy New Year! X

Lexica - did they end up taking a node? How are you feeling? You are 2 days ahead of my on healing. I had a burst of energy today and actually did my hair then ended up taking a 3 hour power nap...so much for my fancy hair!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Sopho, I’m surprised they are making you wait until Tuesday! My PS has an on call doctor 24/7 for emergency issues. I hope you’re not in pain.

Thanks, everyone, for your concern. I already made a trip to the local ER at the request of the on call surgeon and they said it looked okay, the cultures for infection came back negative, so they said it would be ok to wait. They put me back on a round of antibiotics just in case. My surgeon offered to get me in earlier, but we asked to wait until the Tuesday appt because we would have had to leave right then and drive all night on already very little sleep (my medical team is 8.5 hrs away and I don't trust the Dr.s here). It freaks me out to have a hole in my chest, but every doctor who has seen it says that it is okay. Sorry to rile everyone up!

Sopho- so glad you got it checked out. Now you have peace of mind about waiting. 8.5 hours is a loooooong drive. Now you can rest up. thanks for updating us. We're rooting for you!!

Lexico - my MIL did rad tx with her lumpectomy and swore by tumeric. She read a lot of studies and it helped her continue working full time as an attorney. She is really a dynamo, so when she recommends something, I usually follow up. You may want to ask your dr about taking tumeric pills and see. She had no drop in energy and is 12 years post lumpectomy and rad and clear.

Good morning and happy new year! I just wanted to check in and let you all know how I’m doing. I’m three weeks after DIEP surgery and recovery is still going amazingly well! I’m walking more, I started OT last week and I am excited about my future. I still can’t lay down all the way but that’s OK. I tell myself every day I’m getting stronger and stronger.

Having said that, I still have every day concerns. The DIEP scars on the hip and boobs—My body has always held scars for a long time so I’m not sure if these will ever go away. My new boobs are smaller than my original ones and I miss my old girls. However I will not dwell on those things and let cancer take away my confidence and enthusiasm for a living life. If I do that, cancer wins.

I’m hoping I will begin regular exercise in a couple of weeks but until then I will continue doing my stretches and take time to love my new body!

Faithwalker your update posts are much appreciated. I'm also getting a considerable size reduction, from a DD to a B but I'm excited about it. I've hated having large boobs pretty much since they showed up! Of course I would have preferred to have no need to lose them in the first place but that's not happening.

45andafight, did you get an oncotype test score? I see my medical oncologist on Wednesday. I’m told (per general surgeon) I’m only having to get medication to take. Not looking forward to this appointment. Looks like we had surgery on same 12/4 date. Can’t believe it’s been 4 weeks ago!

Hi PrincessButtercup - that sucks that you'll have to have chemo.

Thanks, Moth. I had not prepared myself for the possibility of chemo, because everything else was so positive. But 17% chance of the disease returning in 10 years is enough to convince me that this is a good idea.

Moth, Thank you for your kind thoughts and I hope you hear good news soon!

I'm waiting right now for appointments to be set up for a session with a nurse practitioner prior to starting chemo, and then hopefully starting by the week of 1/22. Going to get Taxotere/Cytoxan, and Neulasta to go with.

Sopho I'm sorry about your job. These are the times when I miss living in Europe.

Sopho - I'm so sorry that sounds miserable. I'm sure there was a good reason but WHY did they NOT close you up at surgery? Did they give you a time line for when they expect everything to heal?

Glad you got good news too!

Hugs!

Hi all ! I've been reading all your blogs for weeks and thought I'd finally jump in. Hoping that my experience may help someone with a really hard decision, I'll try to keep it as short as I can.

Family background of all types of Cancers, mom with breast cancer, sister had renal cell carcinoma, fathers side of the family..1st cousin breast cancer, 2 uncles lung cancer. I hadbeen putting off having a mammogram way too long and decided it was finally time. Mammogram showed suspicious microcalcifications in the right breast, nothing in the left. Biopsy showed LCIS. My doctor felt a lumpectomy was warranted and ordered a MRI with contrast of both breasts just to be sure that nothing else was missed. MRI showed 3 masses in the left breast, biopsies were done and came back as negative but there was a papilloma under the nipple. I was ready to schedule surgery but found out that my doctor was leaving the practice and I would need to find a new surgeon. Found a new surgeon who recommended BRACA testing, which came back negative.

I put a lot of thought into my surgery options and decided for bilateral mastectomy, I didn't want to stress about it for the rest of my life, didn't trust mammograms anymore and certainly didn't want to go through all of the testing again. My BS completely agreed and supported my decision. I had my surgery on 12/15/17 and opted for immediate reconstruction with tissue expanders. Got my pathology report back and here's the kicker, the right breast showed no LCIS ( maybe they got it all out with the biopsy?) and DCIS in the left breast ( all the biopsies on that side were negative). I'm slightly confused by this but so happy that I made the decision that I did.

3 weeks post op, going this week for my 2nd fill up and starting back to work part time! Stay strong ladies we are so much stronger then any of us know