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The one piece of advice I can give you now is to ask your doctor when you can start exercising that arm. I had problems w/ mine and ended up in physical therapy. Exercising in a reasonable amount of time (the cancer society has a good book out on it) makes a huge difference.
I have my exchange surgery on Tuesday to finish reconstruction, I believe I'm more nervous about this than I was the mastectomy if you can believe it.
I believe it, all of this stuff is scary. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Please let us know how you are doing.
Sunnydee, I usually don't come in this forum because the cancer is still too raw for me. So I just noticed your post. I hope all is well with you. Did you need chemo or radiation? Are you on Tamoxifen or some other medication?
Sunnydee, I usually don't come in this forum because the cancer is still too raw for me. So I just noticed your post. I hope all is well with you. Did you need chemo or radiation? Are you on Tamoxifen or some other medication?
~Roma
Roma, I just had the mastectomy on the 23rd, so I'm still adjusting to my new reality. Due to my lupus and other health issues they didn't feel radiation or chemo would be viable options for me, so I went with the mastectomy. I still have my drainage tube in and my little collector bottle hooked up. I was so proud because I actually showered today, dressed myself, and looked halfway presentable. It took me over an hour, but I did it without help. I go to the breast surgeon tomorrow, so I'll find out what's next. Thank you for being willing to share with me. I never knew it'd be so painful,difficult, and change so much of my life, but I'm trying to go with the flow and retain my sense of humor.
Glad to hear you are doing well Sunnydee. I had my exchange surgery on Tuesday and am recovering myself. Let me say it went alot easier than the mastectomy. I am very sore but the pain is considerably less overall and I am getting mobile alot quicker. Actually, it is kind of a relief that the expander is gone (weird but true). I am supposed to check in w/ my surgeon tomorrow to have some of my bandages removed and maybe my drains but I don't think they are ready to go yet. I hope this encourages you a bit if you have chosen to do reconstruction with expanders.
PS I'm actually kind of getting excited to see the final product though I know it will take at least 3 weeks for the swelling to go down.
Roma, I just had the mastectomy on the 23rd, so I'm still adjusting to my new reality. Due to my lupus and other health issues they didn't feel radiation or chemo would be viable options for me, so I went with the mastectomy. I still have my drainage tube in and my little collector bottle hooked up. I was so proud because I actually showered today, dressed myself, and looked halfway presentable. It took me over an hour, but I did it without help. I go to the breast surgeon tomorrow, so I'll find out what's next. Thank you for being willing to share with me. I never knew it'd be so painful,difficult, and change so much of my life, but I'm trying to go with the flow and retain my sense of humor.
Sunnydee, I hear you. Those tubes were a pain in the keester. I had 2 tubes. I had a double mastectomy. I had one of the tubes removed within a week and the other one wasn't removed for a MONTH!. To think back now on everything I went through....wow. I hope you have help with your tubes and all.
I do want to tell you that it has been a little over a year and I feel normal again. At first I felt like my implants were foreign and I had implants before I had breast cancer and they never felt foreign to me before. But after my mastectomy and reconstruction they felt foreign. I can't explain the feeling but it didn't feel like before (I think it is the emotions of it all). But I want to tell you that I no longer feel that way. I have excepted everything. These are my breast and I am very protective of them. I feel normal again (if that makes any sense). I'm okay with it all. Of course I wish I never got breast cancer but I accept it now fully.
It sounds like you made the right choice. I choose a double mastectomy and I would choose that again if I had to start all over again. A lot of the decision making are the results of all the tests you have to take. Even if you would do chemo or not. I did not do chemo or radiation because I did not have lymph node involvement, I tested negative for the BRCA gene testing and my Onco type DX test score was low. But some doctors hit it with everything and would of choose for me to do chemo and radiation even with all the above test results....some say that is overkill. I choose not to but that is my choice. Whatever you decide to do is right for you. I am taking tamoxifen though (estrogen positive breast cancer).
The breast surgeon said I am now cancer free! The pathology report confirmed that there was more cancer than they anticipated, so the mastectomy was the best way to go. I don't see this surgeon for another six months.
I go back to the plastic surgeon Friday and hopefully will be able to get rid of the drainage tube at that point if the daily output is low enough. Thanks for the info on the expander. I am doing the reconstruction, so I was kind of wondering about how it would go/feel/look/etc. It sounds like I'll be seeing a lot of the plastic surgeon in the coming months and I'm hoping it's going to get easier.
The last three days have been pretty painful even with the meds which seems strange to me, but I guess it's all part of the process. Knowing that I should feel pretty normal again in a year really is a relief. You cannot imagine how much that one piece of information from you has eased my mind. I can't thank you enough for sharing with me and giving me the strength to battle on. Bless all of you for helping me through this.
The breast surgeon said I am now cancer free! The pathology report confirmed that there was more cancer than they anticipated, so the mastectomy was the best way to go. I don't see this surgeon for another six months.
I go back to the plastic surgeon Friday and hopefully will be able to get rid of the drainage tube at that point if the daily output is low enough. Thanks for the info on the expander. I am doing the reconstruction, so I was kind of wondering about how it would go/feel/look/etc. It sounds like I'll be seeing a lot of the plastic surgeon in the coming months and I'm hoping it's going to get easier.
The last three days have been pretty painful even with the meds which seems strange to me, but I guess it's all part of the process. Knowing that I should feel pretty normal again in a year really is a relief. You cannot imagine how much that one piece of information from you has eased my mind. I can't thank you enough for sharing with me and giving me the strength to battle on. Bless all of you for helping me through this.
Good luck Sunnydee, i had a mastectomy 35 yrs ago ..no choices then but i believe it saved my life ... it is quite a tramatic procedure to go through but think positive, have your reconstruction, you are cancer free now..just live.
Absolutely wonderful news! May you stay this way forever!
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