July 2020 chemo club

Anna - Good luck on your surgery tomorrow. I hope it goes smoothly and with no need for a transfusion!

Iamloved, I’m so proud of you and happy for you! I amheaded to the hospital in about ten min. I’m excited to get this over with!

Thank you all for creating such a supportive community!

I wasn’t able to speak to my surgeon myself after surgery but he told my husband that the two sentinel nodes they took out were negative! One (at least) was positive upon biopsy prior to chemo. Great news! Glad to hear others are getting such good reports as well! I should get the full pathology next week. I’m mildly sore but nothing that ice and Tylenol can’t handle (and even they aren’t really necessary).Best wishes to all!

Evergreenman, Iamloved, Melbo and AnnaTheBrave, I am excited for all of you. Great news!

Such great news everyone!!!

I finally got my surgery date! I will be having my double mastectomy and expanders placed on the 18th! It was the last day they had available this year, so I guess I feel lucky I actually got a date. Still a little upset with my oncologist for waiting so long to refer me to the surgeon...but at least I’m scheduled!

I go on Monday for some testing and pre-op appointments. They said it would take a couple of hours. I know I’m meeting again with the surgeon who will be doing the mastectomy, but I’m not sure what else. Any advice on questions to ask??? I’m going to be making a list this time so I don’t forget anything!

This is pretty scary for me, I’ve never been admitted to a hospital, never stayed overnight in a hospital...and I’ll have to do it alone because of covid...I’ve never had a major surgery, except for when I had my port placed, and I doubt this will be as easy. My husband thinks I’m a whimp, but dang it I think it’s ok to be scared.

Mtspacekace, you are NOT a wimp! Ask that husband of yours how he’d feel about going to sleep and waking up with a certain pair of gender- or image-defining body parts missing! It’s a big deal!

Anesthesia can cause emotional lability and memory loss, so don’t be surprised if you feel more teary than you might expect, or if your emotional expression doesn’t match your brain. And don’t be surprised if, in retrospect, you forget some things. I don’t really remember the car ride home, even though I’d been out of anesthesia for hours, and I don’t remember much of the rest of that day very clearly, even though I was functioning normally. I still feel a little off emotionally.

The nurses will get you through with efficiency and kindness. You can do it. Take anti-anxiety meds the night before and morning of surgery, if your surgeon approves (my surgeon practically insisted), and speak up if something doesn’t feel right (physically or emotionally)

good morning everyone! I can share I am also part of the good news club! I had nipple sparing umx on Thursday. I had 3 lymph nodes that were negative so they did not need to take any more. That was really great news as it was positive at diagnosis! I will get final pathology early next week

It was really hard for me the day of surgery. I actually shed some tears while prepping for surgery.. I think it was more nerves than anything. I had some wonderful nurses who helped me through. My husband was allowed in the preop waiting area and I saw him briefly after surgery but that was it. Fortunately I had a very uneventful hospital stay and I am now back home. Pain has been very manageable so far, but my understanding is day 2 and 3 maybe more uncomfortable. One day at a time I guess!

Thinking and praying for you all as y ok u get ready for surgery or have had it and are recovering 💕

Congrats everyone on such great results! And good luck to you mtspacekace with your upcoming surgery. I agree you are most definitely NOT a whimp

So much great news! I’m so thankful everyone is moving “forward”!

Melbo, I haven’t experienced excessive dryness, but did during chemo. The only drops that gave me relief were thera tears. I hope you get some relief soon!

Today turned out to be a deeply scary, messed up day. The short version is that I have a blood clot in my jugular vein where the catheter from my port is. It took hours and many, many phone calls in the morning to get a same-day imaging appointment and then several more hours after the diagnosis to get the blood thinners I needed. All the while with a ticking time bomb in my jugular vein. Ugh. It's okay now. I have the medication and they said it would start working immediately. However, I had to push far harder than necessary to get the appointment because two different front desk people either screwed up their job or refused to do anything more than transfer my call to someone who wasn't answering.

Brittonkb, one more chemo infusion for you! I am excited for you that the end of chemo is in sight. Yay!

Melbo, sorry to hear that but glad it turned out ok.

I received my pathology report and achieved PCR. I couldn't believe it given my preop MRI shows there was still enhanced area remained. It turned out there was no cancer cell.

It's my day 8 post lumpectomy. My wound looks healing ok but the breast is still a bit discomfort and feels very firm in it. Is this normal?

Melbo how scary and I hope this is resolved quickly!

Evergreenman Congrats!

I received a call from my surgeon yesterday with my pathology report, I also achieved pCR! So happy about this. I’m almost a week out from UMX and tissue expander. Feeling pretty good, dull pain and irritating drain which will hopefully be removed next Monday