April 2019 Surgery Support Group

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited April 2019

    This might seem like a small thing, but today I bought pj's and 3 shirts that button down the front, and it was a relief to get that done. Almost all the other shirts I own are pullover of one type or another. I know not everyone has problems with range of motion, but I didn't want to find out that it would be a problem and not have anything to wear!!

    My surgery scheduled for 4/18. Just 9 more days and that much will be done. Things to look forward to...

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  • beep7bop
    beep7bop Member Posts: 130
    edited April 2019

    Hope your doing good. Had my surgery on the first of April double mx. Ran into problem on left breast and had to go back in for surgery this morning. I had a bleed. They fixed that, but turns out I also have cancer in right breast so I guess the double mx was a good thing. They tested left lymph nodes they were negative. But since they now found cancer in right, I will be having more surgery for the nodes on that side. But drains have to come out and I have to heal some from this weeks ordeal.. Yeah Me!! 

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  • spratt5
    spratt5 Member Posts: 33
    edited April 2019

    @lighteningblue - I agree with FrenchPorsche, don't be discouraged, you will be able to get reconstruction at a later date should you decide to do so. In the meantime, focus on you recovery from the surgery and getting through the chemo. It will all work out in the end. Best wishes and hugs to you. Keep us posted on your recovery

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  • FrenchPorsche
    FrenchPorsche Member Posts: 75
    edited April 2019

    @mountainmia I did the same yesterday. Hit the local charity shops as I’m not a buttoned shirt kind of person so prob won’t wear them again once I’ve healed.

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited April 2019

    FrenchPorsche, charity shops are a good idea. I'm 2000 miles from home right now in unfamiliar territory. Trying to make this as easy as I can for myself. :) Shopped yesterday at a JCPenney's, and everything I bought was on sale. The pajamas are winter weight, so they might work or not next week!! I live in Iowa, and ya never know how April in Iowa will be.

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  • purplestargazer
    purplestargazer Member Posts: 77
    edited April 2019

    Just reporting in fresh off of my double mastectomy with expander placement. I spent one night in the hospital (yesterday) and am home tonight. Pain is under control and I even took a peek at my chest. It was totally fine and not scary or upsetting.

    Sending strength to those of you with surgery on the horizon.

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  • Pommom1809
    Pommom1809 Member Posts: 176
    edited April 2019

    I received the date today for my surgery. I will be having a bilateral mastectomy without reconstruction. The oncologist asked if I wanted to do a lumpectomy in one & mastectomy in the other. No way I don’t want to be lopsided. Surgeon agreed with the bilateral, also I don’t have to have radiation. Oncologist stated I will be free of cancer after the surgery. BS will be taking a sentinel on one side & up to 20 on the other side. I told I was worried about lempidema & he said so was he & was going to take the absolute minimum.

    My surgery date is April 30. Almost made it to May, my DH wants this out of me before it spreads. The chemo did a good job against the cancer.

    I will be here until the end of April! We will be taking a trip before the surgery to get over all of the chemo stress.

    Doris

    Good luck to all having their surgery this month

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  • rrshannon
    rrshannon Member Posts: 117
    edited April 2019

    beep7bop sorry to hear they also found it on the other side. Glad you did the double.

    purplestargazer glad you are home and feeling good.

    Had my final pre-op today the surgeon did not want to keep the right nipple as the tumor was to close to the skin but I was going to ask for them not to save it as I have had many issues with it the past 6 months. Fingers crossed the lymph node mapping works so she doesn't have to search for the right nodes to check. She is going to be conservative on taking nodes if what she sees is good since I had chemo first and she isn't to worried about the nodes since none showed active disease in my scans. Looking forward to surgery April 15th and getting to say good bye to this tumor.

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  • Margot62
    Margot62 Member Posts: 31
    edited April 2019

    I made my decision today to have a left breast mastectomy with reconstruction. It took weeks to get there but I’m feeling pretty strong about it. I know it doesn’t guarantee anything but it just feels like the kind of stand I want to take.

    My daughter’s wedding is July 20th. Do you think three months is a good enough amount of time where I’ll be feeling more like myself!? The universe sure has interesting timing.

    Praying for all of you April surgery girls!

    IDC 7mm

    ER+ PR + Her2


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  • beep7bop
    beep7bop Member Posts: 130
    edited April 2019

    Hey Everybody,  Wishing everyone easy surgery and fast recovery. We are all going to get thru this because together we're strong..                              stomping on Cancer!!ThumbsUp

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited April 2019

    thank you to all of u who had surgery already letting us know how your doing, helps quell the nerves of us waiting. April 19th still seems so far for me, I really just wanna chop my own boob so I don’t have to wait anymore. I am thinking of doing prophylactic on left side after I heal on the right, kinda of the one at a time deal, I definitely don’t want to do this cancer thing again.

    Happy healing ladies! For those of us headed to the chop shop next week, good luck to us!!

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  • FrenchPorsche
    FrenchPorsche Member Posts: 75
    edited April 2019

    @purplestargazer. Glad it went well and you are comfortable! Xx

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  • purplestargazer
    purplestargazer Member Posts: 77
    edited April 2019

    I see a few of you struggling with the lumpx vs mx decision. I wanted to chime in that I chose lumpx for my fist go-round and even though I ended up with a reiccurance, I feel it was absolutely the right decision for me at the time. I was 37 with a young child and ran my own business. Mx on top of ACT chemo felt absolutely overwhelming.

    If I were to have done anything different it would have been too insist on more radiation. They feel the cancer simply grew back. A cell or two was missed. I wholeheartedly believe lumpx is a safe option for many women. Don't let anyone have you second- guess your decision, whatever that may be.

    XXX to each of you.

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  • el7277
    el7277 Member Posts: 64
    edited April 2019

    Glad all went well putplestar. I am sure it is nice to be on the other side 9f surgery. I think it is good to hear others' experiences and to see how everyone handles the surgery. I go on 4/25 for bmx with expanders and will be glad when it is behind me. Only issue right now is wbc count so here I am getting my finger stuck and waiting for herceptin.

    I hope you healing and everyone else's is as smooth sailing is possible.

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  • April0315
    April0315 Member Posts: 223
    edited April 2019

    I’m having my surgery tomorrow and I’m getting nervous.

    Pre op today went well. I’ll be having the SNB on both sides to go with the lumpectomies on both sides. At this point I’m just hoping nothing unexpected happens or shows up on the path reports.

    Heading out for a massage tonight as I am sure it’s gonna be a while before I can lay on my stomach again.

    Thanks to everyone for checking in. It really helps ease the nerves.

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  • Yiyagf287981
    Yiyagf287981 Member Posts: 9
    edited April 2019

    I had my ovaries removed yesterday and I am feeling a bit tender today. I finished chemo at the end of January and I have a double mastectomy on March 4th with expanders put in. Having a BRCA2 mutation, the recommendation was to also take my ovaries out, so I had the surgery yesterday. I am quite tender today, although this is not as big a surgery as the mastectomies. A bit tired of needles, but not far till exchange and hopefully I can say bye-bye to hospitals for a little while.

    All the luck to you ladies, and take it easy, especially if needing MX, it is bearable but puts a big strain in your body and you need your rest.

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  • beep7bop
    beep7bop Member Posts: 130
    edited April 2019

    I have a Question for all who have had MX and how they did with the drains. I had four drains to start . still have three left but one is still draining very dark. Is this normal?

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  • April0315
    April0315 Member Posts: 223
    edited April 2019

    I made it! Nauseous and groggy, but not bad pain wise. I used a plastic surgeon to even the boobs out. bS took a lot more tissue on left than the right. So I’m glad I used him for sure. And fingers crossed all that cancer has been removed. What a relief!

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  • Yiyagf287981
    Yiyagf287981 Member Posts: 9
    edited April 2019

    Hi beep7bop, drains are the necessary evil after MX. I also had 4. 2 of them came of a week after surgery but the other 2 were in for an extra 10 days. The colour was always on the dark side for me, not that yellow or pinkish colour that some people report. My PS was not especially concerned about it. My dad is a doctor and he was slightly more concerned, mostly because I am fine and not too tall and he thought that I could develop anemia or require a blood transfusion, which I didn't. It is not abnormal, but check it with your PS or BS to be on the safe side.

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  • purplestargazer
    purplestargazer Member Posts: 77
    edited April 2019

    How is everyone doing? I'm 4 days out and feeling pretty great. Tired and sleeping like a champ but I have bursts of energy and did a lot of walking today.

    My drains are producing way under 30 CC's/day so I'm hoping to get them out when I see the doc on Tuesday.

    My chest feels oddly heavy considering they swapped out my DD boobs for barely filled expanders.

    Hugs to all!

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  • EngJojo
    EngJojo Member Posts: 24
    edited April 2019

    I spoke with my surgeon again on Friday to answer my final questions. He will be taking a quarter of my left breast. He wants me to wear a sports bra. What brand of bras are you post-surgery ladies wearing? I'm not sure if I will have a drain or not.

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  • April0315
    April0315 Member Posts: 223
    edited April 2019

    @purplestargazer glad you are doing so well. I'm on day 2 post op (from bilateral lumpectomies, and SNB), and doing well so far as well. I'd like to get out for a short walk today, just around the block. My chest feels heavy too, maybe it's just a side effect of the anesthesia?

    I have 1 drain on the left side and i'm getting about 75cc/day.

    @engJojo I used a plastic surgeon for my surgery (as wells as the breast surgeon) for my lumpectomies (have the one spot of proven cancer on R side and 3 spots of ADH on the left side). They gave me a script to buy the surgical bras and 2 pretty cute camisoles with velcro front closure. They put the bra on me in the OR and I'm not to change anything till i go in for follow up on Tues. They were expensive, but my insurance covered it. It is a compression bra with a front zip and Velcro over the shoulder straps. I feel like a saw something similar at Walmart (AVIA?)just didn't have the Velcro on the shoulder (which I haven't used anyway).

    Wishing you all a restful weekend

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited April 2019

    Today was my pre-op appointment. It went much more easily than the first one and I left feeling like I had a lot of very good information, which is reassuring. Surgery is Thursday, lumpectomy left breast with SNB. Tomorrow I'll have radioactive seeds planted so the surgeon can find the margins including the calcifications. Wednesday is dye for the lymph nodes. Glad to be getting this underway, after spending the last 3 weeks 2,000 miles from home.

    I invited daughter and her 2 kids for Easter. We'll keep it simple and agree I can retreat if I need to. Also I told her to bring food she knows the kids will eat, if they don't like what I'm having! Ham, sweet potatoes, asparagus. Maybe my husband will make a rhubarb pie for dessert. It all sounds good to me! :)

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  • Motheroftwo36
    Motheroftwo36 Member Posts: 116
    edited April 2019

    mountainmia

    My pre op was today too. My dye will be given to me same day of surgery. Had bloodwork taken for anesthesia and EKG because I’ve been having chest pain (probably from stress). Rough day for me, I guess because it just seems extra real, I did Easter last weekend so I’ll just be hopefully home alone this coming weekend. Good luck. 2 more days

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited April 2019

    Ah, Mother, best to you. We'll get through this just fine. See you back here Friday!

    Hugs,

    mm

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  • FrenchPorsche
    FrenchPorsche Member Posts: 75
    edited April 2019

    hello. I met with my surgeon today. She said I might have my drain out on the same day as surgery and could possibly go home that evening. This seems rather too quick for me so will ask to stay over so they can keep an eye on me. I’m expecting to be a bit of a wreck after 3.5 hours of surgery. She seemed very laid back about it all, and I think that has helped my stress a bit. I think I’ve got everything ready - just need to get through work tomorrow. There are a few of us going in on Thursday. Hope it all goes smoothly

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  • TriMama
    TriMama Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2019

    Hi everyone! I'm scheduled for a bilateral mastectomy tomorrow. I feel ready for it, but I'm nervous that I'm forgetting to pack something. So I came here to look for suggestions. I'm encouraged to hear that you are doing well purplestargazer. I needed to read that. I'm nervous about the post op pain management. Also, I'm packing a hospital bag even though surgery is set to be out patient. I can stay overnight if I'd like to, and I think I want to. Has anyone gone home the same day after a bilateral mastectomy?


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  • Motheroftwo36
    Motheroftwo36 Member Posts: 116
    edited April 2019

    Trimama

    Good luck tomorrow! Mine is on 18th. Im only packing paperwork, slippers and socks! Only one night and they will give me everything else. I'll wear in what I'll wear out


    I am having BMX and definitely want to stay overnight. They say once u learn how to drain the drains then u can go

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  • Pommom1809
    Pommom1809 Member Posts: 176
    edited April 2019

    Mother of two that is all I was told to pack, just wear home what I wore there. My surgery is April 30. I’ve had so many tests lately that I won’t need the EKG, etc..

    I’m getting left modified radical mastectomy & right simple mastectomy with right sentinel lymph node biopsy with no reconstruction.

    Best wishes to all who are having surgery.

    Doris

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  • EngJojo
    EngJojo Member Posts: 24
    edited April 2019

    Hey ladies! I have my dye injections tomorrow for finding the sentinel node during surgery on Thursday (4/18). I am having a lumpectomy. A quadrantectomy to be exact. I am nervous about finding out the final pathology as my body has been really achy lately. Is everyone else convinced the cancer is everywhere?

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