Is anyone going flat or living flat?

jo6359 (Happy Birthday, belatedly, by the way--I'm assuming!),

Thank you for the kind compliment, but I'll bet any money you are referring to Beesie (I'm Beesy) just because she truly is well informed and a bright light on this forum. This is the second time this week I've been mistaken for her, and I'm thinking I might need to add to the end of my name to avoid appearing as an imposter!

**From the other post where I was trying to clarify the Beesie/Beesy confusion: We both chose our usernames based on childhood nicknames--hers came from the meaning of her first name, mine came from my maiden name, which ends in BEE. When I hastily created my username, I never thought to look to see if there was someone else with the same name spelled differently so as not to cause confusion--or in my case, appear more intelligent than I am! Beesie has a cute Bee as her avatar with a cow crossed out (as in "I'm Beesie, not Bessie"). My avatar is Dash from the Incredibles because I've been told I bear a striking resemblance to him as my hair is growing back in, though I suspect Dash didn't color his hair 😉! I've had cowlicks along the front of my hairline all my life, but now that I don't have much to weigh it down, it sticks straight up, just like Dash's, despite all my efforts to use gel to stick it down.

Schweety

I recently had a BMX no reconstruction. I had it within the week my 65th birthday. And 44th wedding anniversary. What a way to celebrate.

Cancer was in my left breast, but I had the right removed as well, just to play it safe. I didn't want to live with only one breast. To me that would be more depressing.

It's a little hard to adjust to the New Me. It will take time. I have cancer in my bones. The surgery wasn't going to cure me, my drs and I said the mastectomy will just get out the primary tumors. At my age who needs breasts? Only real reason we have them is feed our babies...

With reconstruction, there are complications, who needs that? So many have the expanders removed.

Good luck to you.

christene- I have to respectfully disagree with you regarding our breasts. I didn't choose reconstruction and I have no regrets. I did not choose to have children but I did enjoy my breasts. Even for individuals who are not breastfeeding or sexually active breasts can still have meaning to that individual. I do miss not having sensation in my breast. Whenyou have a double mastectomy the sensation is gone. For some of us, we do miss having nipple sensation with sexual activity. Most of us adapt and compensate for the loss. I see nothing wrong with acknowledging the loss. I am very sorry to hear you're dealing with additional cancer in other parts of your body.

Schweety

The girls above all have great advice

Its such a personal issue, I struggled for months trying to decide on reconstruction

Ive been married 41 years , I usually wear small silicone prostethics in a coozy bra so my clothes hang nicely

But at home I sometimes go without, as for feeling sexy a nice bra during intimate times goes a long way..

At the time of my DX I had a tumor on my right side and lymph nodes involved. But I insisted on a double because I didnt want to be lopsided nor worry it may appear in the other

My plastic surgeon was very honest with me and explained because I would be doing radiation I may have expanders in for a long time as the tissue would take a long time to heal and may require several surgeries .I was 63 at the time

And for me it was just not wanting to waste time with surgeries that may or may not take

As it turned out there was a new tumor undetected in my left that the pathology from my surgery discovered so for me the BMX was the right choice

Life was more important. Now 2 years post surgery and my treatments Im still healing from the radiation and have develpoed more scar tissue , according to my phys therapist who works my right arm and chest to keep my lymph fluid flowing..I had 29 nodes removed 3 positive

Anyway ..Do I miss my boobs to be honest of course Id like to look like I once did

but on an everydy basis ..no I barely notice

And its two less things I need to worry about!

But I feel fortunate to be alive and getting on with the important things

As I said a good bra with pockets and inserts look very nice.. its become a part of the new me

Like 'oh man feels so good to take these boobs off 'or 'hang on need I to adjust my boobs..'

For me my main concern is surviving.. its only been 2 years.. I take arimidex and pray it keeps the cancer at bay..

Its a tough decision and a very personal one as the other girls said only you can decide what you are comfortable with

Get all the facts from your Drs thepros / cons of all your options etc

Best of luck

Mamaoz

hi Girls,

My topic is not exactly about our living flat

But I had one of the best oncology Surgeons.

Dr Manuel Torres-Saliche. In Miami

I had a 2 yr follow up appt scheduled which the office called to cancel a few weeks ago

He was so dedicated, skilled and compassionate

He also was an expert on nipple sparring (. Which not haveing recon I didnt need) but a friend of mine did

Anyway , he always took all my calls answered all my erratic frightened questions ,called me even after hoirs with test results. That kind of Dr

He was the Doctors doctor..a giant in his field..

He put in my port and hopefully got all the radical lymph nodes during my bmx

He unfortunately passed away Monday. He was 57 , he fought an aggresive bladder cancer that took him in 8 mo

Life can seem unjust at times. The man saved lives...

I just needed to take a moment to acknowledge him

He will be sorely missed in the fight againsr Breast Cancer community here

He touched my life and I was blessed I had the good fortune to have him on my team

Rest in Peace Dr Manny I will never forget you

💕💕💕

• thank you Jo. He was amazing. AllMy other Dr 's had such reverent respect for him..
• when I had made my appt recently ( after getting my reminder card) I asked the receptionist if I was still supposed to see him as it was now 2 years after my surgery. And she said oh yes you will see him every year.. thats the dedicated man he was..
• my heart goes out to not only his family but all his co workers...
• Hope you are doing well

ok for the most part. Arimidex is rough

And my arm is acting up the last few weeks. Ive been lucky so far with no swelling. (29 nodes) My lymph

Pt thinks now after 2 years the radiation scar tissue is causing some issues. And then this morning I was out gardening ( extremely hot) and used my sleeve which I never normally do, but thought it might help with my arm ache. Well after an hour I took off my garden gloves and my hand was swollen!! I freaked and called my pt. She was off today but gave me advise and told me it was the heat and not to panic. So I spent the rest of the day jiggeling my arm and hands ...the puffiness has gone down a bit

But my arm and hands have been tingly lately. So sometings going on.nerves or blockage

I had been told the recovery from radiation was slow but not sure how to alleviate the new scar tissue.its causing I see my PT once a month as I live in the keys so its a bit of a trek up to miami

So arent you glad you asked!? Lol

thanks Jo.

My hand is still a little swollen. Ill see my PT Wed

I couldnt get there sooner. But I did discuss what to do with her and its helped

Especially staying out of the heat and drinking more water. But im convinced it was the darn arm sleeve

That caused it. It was too tight and i hadnt worn it in quite some time.. thatwas the only different thing I did

As I garden often..

Wish you speedy recovery.. I had radical on one side and modified on the other 2.4 yrs ago w nodes removed. I turned 47 at that time.

P.S. please remember sleep is the best medicine there is.

Thank you both.

I am still not sleeping as well as I should, but it's getting better day by day. I'm not so tense all the time now that I have the first step scheduled. I'm at peace with my BMX decision and I'm grateful my husband is okay with it, too. He just wants me here as long as possible!

hey Jo

An update on lymphedemia

Saw my PT and she wrapped my hand for 24 hours it helped and thank goodness swelling went down!

lms. Hope your surgery went well and yoir on the mend

Hello all, flat since December 2015, no regrets. Completed last treatment radiation in March 2016, and just two weeks ago finally got tattoos to cover scars. I will always miss my breasts, but those cannot be replaced. Being in the summer heat it's wonderful to not have anything on your chest! Years ago I dealt with watermelon size breasts (I actually had a reduction10 years before my diagnosis) I still have a little bit of dog ears on my sides, but I'm not a fan of surgeries, I can just live with it. Gave away my prosthesis finally after holding onto them and never wearing them, LOL. Really no one looks at my chest but me, or my husband :-) here is a picture if anyone is interested what it looks like, lots of choices out there, keep living friends!

Looking fabulous, Brightside

Bright side, lovely tattoo art! Impressive.