Surgery June 2018

Hi June surgery group. I finally have a date for my surgery it is June 25 exactly 1 month from today. Will have a dmx with expanders placed. I just finished chemo and it did shrink my tumor from a 5cm to 0.9 cm size. still nervous though. I don't know if I have to have radiation until the surgery is done and pathology report is back. I am glad my surgery is not till the 25th of June. I wanted a little time to feel better from chemo and spend some time with my grandaughters and take a mini vacation before the next round of this BC fight. Good luck to everybody having surgery in June. Keep in touch and I will pray everybody gets through surgery just great.

Before undergoing ANY breast cancer surgery please read the information about Toradol's role in reducing breast cancer recurrence

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/73/topics...

I bought my power lift out chair a month ago off of kijijij. It was in brand new condition! Had my pre-op yesterday and blood pressure high but not unexpected. I discussed with the anesthetist whether I could take something prior to surgery. I have to go in at 6:00 am for the the dye injection prior to my surgery. He said absolutely. He told me Ativan. I had appointment with my family doc this morning to also get some sleeping pills as I am also having trouble sleeping. She suggested I go to the cancer clinic and ask for therapy. Unreal. I said I need this and please prescribe. She gave me 1 Ativan for day of which she didn't agree with and 10 sleeping pills. She literally made me cry in her office trying to explain to her what I have been through. She said then your surgeon should have directed me to therapy. Unreal....I literally got notice of my surgery 1 week ago. She has no clue.....oh well...Ativan on day of surgery thank goodness

Berniceb4 I agree with Teaberry 11 time to get a new pcp that is so wrong. Glad you have at least 1 ativan. My suggestion is to call your surgeon tomorrow for ativan especially faceing the weekend good luck with everything.

She gave me 10 sleeping pills which I only have been taking half to go to bed each night. They are tiny miracles right now. I have been sleeping7-8 hours straight thru. My anxiety has completely dropped. Sleep is the answer. My best friend is a nurse and has informed all people involved to take good care of me on Monday. From the OR nurse to the anthestesist to the recovery nurses! I am in good hands. I have my one Ativan for the day of the surgeryto get me thru the dye injections prior to my surgery.

My hubby and I are on our sailboat for the weekend. And today is the sailpast and social! Having a great weekend so far and forgetting about the surgery for the day!!

cindymb. I am sorry to hear of your anxiety. Is there missing information? Fear of pain? Fear of post surgery pathology? Other? I am in therapy and the therapist has been a godsend to vent to. These are the thoughts he had me review. The above are my touchpoints. Missing info is the one that I can act on. I make a phone call when I have a (reasonable) question.

Btw my DX was on may 8th. I have selected surgeon and MO. Had MRI on Thursday. Not sure why so I'm hoping I don't hear new news. I could have surgery on June but am thinking of postponing until after July 6th. Hubby and I have tickets to concert with another couple. But I hope you don't mind my joining the June surgery group. I could use the company

Berniceb. Sailing. Nice. So peaceful (especially with no wind😀 I am glad you are sleeping. So important

Kandyhunt. Sorry to hear about cancer in armpit. So many curveballs. And so difficult to manage other people emotions.. although they love us and have feTs and need comfort to. I also have a bad feeling about lymph nodes although doc is positive. So I'll trust her read, right?

I had genetic test done and results came back same day as my routine Mammo. I'm at risk for ovariAn cancer. I'm told I need to have ovaries out right after this and am advised to just take all reproductive orgAns out. I am 100 lbs overweight which is high risk etc etc. So I'm looking at another major surgery .. one step at a time. Financial impact is a concern. Alot to deal with

My emotions are all over the place. Lots of anger right now

But in a year I expect I will look back and say "What a year" hello 2019!!!

My surgery is scheduled for 19th June. I feel for the women here and I'm interested to hear how the women who have already had surgery this month are doing. I have been reading this forum in recent months and have found it really helpful. My identical twin sister was diagnosed with breast cancer that had already spread to her lymph nodes in October 2017 and then a few weeks later she was diagnosed with metastases to her liver as well, so that's really sad and difficult. She's having chemo, which we think is working. My Mum's mother died of breast cancer spread to her brain when she was 52 and my Mum has had breast cancer twice but she's okay now (apart from nonmalignant skin cancers on her leg that will be removed later this month). Since my identical twin sister is now the third generation to get breast cancer, my risk is also very high even though she was negative for BRCA genes. Since my family history of breast cancer is so strong, I decided to undergo preventive mastectomy so that I won't follow down the same path as she has. I decided against reconstruction because it's more painful and a longer process than just double mastectomy.

I last saw my surgeon in January and she won't let me see her again before my surgery, so I'm very frustrated with her and the hospital. I don't have health insurance, but because of my family history of breast cancer, Medicare (here in Australia) will pay for my surgery, which is great except that the hospital system is very inefficient and I can't get answers to some of my questions. I'm quite stressed about surgery and other things but I'm trying to be as organised as possible. The anaesthetist also told me to stop taking St John's wort 2 weeks before my surgery so the anticipation of that and now having stopped, has been making me even more anxious.

First post here as well. Diagnosed in April on routine mammogram. Those ones that aren't necessary.....

6mm ++- Having lumpectomy and sentinel nodes on 13th. Would have been earlier but we had a cruise plus 10 days in California at the end planned with friends. Surgeon said go, have fun and I'll do you on my first OR day after you return. So we did. It was a bittersweet vacation to be sure but gave us some time to process.

We were totally gobsmacked by diagnosis. Heart disease and diabetes I wouldn't have blinked an eye. But this....something else altogether. My husband is taking it all much worse than I. We celebrated our 38th anniversary while away.

I haven't slept more than 6 hours in 12 years. The day I got diagnosis, I figured I would never sleep again. Went right to sleep and woke 8 hours later. And continue to sleep. Am totally exhausted when awake. Getting very little done.

Oh and I signed up to cycle to raise funds for children's cancer before I knew I had cancer. Hadn't been on my bike in 4-5 years! Committed to 200k and $250. Figured if I didn't get any funds, I didn't want to write a bigger cheque. 🤔. Looks like I'm going to get the donation, maybe more. Have ridden 14k so far. 😱. Off this evening to see how far I can get. If I go in a straight line, I will have no choice but to ride back!

M

Gilta, I'm sorry about your family history of breast cancer (I can relate in some ways) and your current diagnosis. I can understand you deciding on double mastectomy. No wonder you're feeling overwhelmed.

Kidogo, I'm glad you got to go on a cruise before your surgery to give you time to process things. Well done for doing all that bike riding! I hope you can stop feeling so exhausted but keep getting enough sleep.

a3vee, I know what you mean about not knowing what to expect with the surgery. I think there will be a lot of adjustment for all of us.

Hey June Peeps! I am a May surgery person and just wanted to share two things that may help someone post-surgery. (I had a bmx, snb and prepectoral recon on 5/16)

1) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy if your tissue isn't healing: The tissue on my left side looked bad a week after surgery - very dark purple blotches in the nipple and surrounding tissue. The PS said there was a 50/50 chance of it becoming necrotic and if enough tissue became necrotic, he would do a 2nd surgery to clean it out. Someone on another forum mentioned hyperbaric oxygen therapy for tissue healing; I researched it and decided to try it. My PS wrote me a scrip (he was totally skeptical), my insurance approved it (shocker!), and after 8 treatments my tissue bounced back like a champ and looks very healthy! I avoided an unpleasant surgery and will get my first fill next week.

2) Nerve Pain: two weeks post-surgery my chest, sides, and armpits felt like a massive sunburn and were hypersensitive. I thought this was a normal part of post bmx recovery, and while it's not uncommon, it's not something everyone has. I have had to stay on half doses of Percocet, especially in the morning, because the nerve pain is really bad. I would prefer to take a med specifically for nerve pain but my PS declined to prescribe anything, saying that the one I mentioned can get people addicted. (as opposed to Percocet? *SMH*) . I wish I had known this was a possible issue before it happened because I would have spared myself several days of abject misery. Its arrival coincided with the days I tried to stop taking Percocet altogether and it was a disaster. It's getting better day-by-day, but wow...

Hopefully all of you have smooth sailing. Good luck!

kandyhunt, I'm sorry you're husband isn't handling things well. I'm so glad your daughter is there to help you and your body is coping fairly well. I'm sorry you had such a bad day and your pain meds are gone. It's bad when you can't get enough pain meds soon after surgery! I hope the pain lessens soon.

ReadyAbout, thanks for giving us more information. I'm glad the oxygen therapy helped you. I'm sorry you've had bad nerve pain and I hope the Percocet helps and it goes away very soon. Since I have fibromyalgia, I'm meant to be given nerve pain medication for a week or two after surgery to stop that being a problem, but everyone who has nerve pain should be able to get that.

Hi LivM, I'm so glad that you're doing well after your surgery on 1st June! It's great that you didn't need to take pain meds after 4 days even after having 2 lymph nodes removed as well as the lumpectomy. It's good that you got to go on vacation and your anxiety went down after surgery. Are you still on vacation and when do you go home? I hope you don't need to do chemo either. I'm glad you find praying helps greatly. I sometimes find praying helps too.

Thanks, LivM for your prayers and kind wishes. It would be lovely for you to be able to stay on vacation longer with your family, so I hope you get your wish.