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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.
That's great that you are cancer free! Especially since you can't do chemo or radiation.
My pathology report confirmed additional spots of cancer too, including a spot of DCIS. My unaffected breast was "clean" but I'm not sorry I had it removed. I have 4 nodes affected so I'll be doing chemo. I'm having my portacath installed tomarrow.
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.
Yeah!!! That is the outcome we all want and the one I got too. Get it early and get it out.
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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.
It's gonna take at least 2 weeks for the pain to really ease off. I'm told the pain is really worse when you have the expanders put in at the same time because muscles are being rerouted. It does ease off though. As for your future visits to the PS, my advise is to start slow with your fills. There is absolutely no reason to hurry. The amount to start with varies greatly on your body proportions. I started out w/ 35 ml, then 50 ml, but stopped at 60 ml per visit, some folks do 100ml per visit. The expanders are stiff and there will be a constant low-level discomfort but no pain from them and the discomfort actually gets less as they are filled but does not entirely leave at least in my experience. Each time you get a fill, you will be a bit sore for a day or two afterward. Remember you will be stretching muscles, so think of it as having a pulled muscle once a week. Talk to your doctor about managing the discomfort from that.
Last edited by Poltracker; 12-06-2009 at 07:30 AM..
1.No rush- get a second opinion from another MD, not us folks here who have only anecdotal stories to offer. Perhaps speaking with another breast Cancer surviver and seeing if they have a MD that they would recommend.
Sunnydee is cancer free!!!!!! Yeah!!!!! Wonderful news!!!! They got it!!!
That was the best news I ever got. When after 6 surgeries and hearing after each one of those surgeries that I would need another surgery because the margins were not clean...To hear them finally say "they believe that they got it all" "CLEAN/CLEAR MARGINS".....best news ever!!!! Now I was in a lot of pain from all my surgeries and then all the emotional pain from what goes along with being told you have breast cancer and you need a mastectomy. I wasn't in a celebratory mode (relief yes) celebratory.....not yet but I did get there (time). It seems the pain and the emotions of it all is what held me back. It's understandable after everything we go through.
Time will heal the pain and the emotions. That pain will eventually be gone. You will have your breast reconstructed or not if you choose. The scars will fade. And you will forever be a breast cancer survivor. You will get strength from all you went through. I feel so strong now. You probably wont see it now (I didn't) while you are going through this horrible experience but you will in the near future. You are a survivor. You fought and you are fighting a long, hard and scary battle that you did not ask to be in.
The reconstructive part was the start of the emotional healing for me. The scary part was behind me at this point and this is where they started to put me back together again. Reconstructive wise you will pretty much get to choose anything you want or don't want... Saline or Silicone, Size, Shape, even how they will do the surgery...(flap or just behind the muscle..etc) pretty much everything is really your choose. The doctor will suggest what he/she thinks is best but really it's all up to you from here on out. You're finally in control at this point (which is nice). And since you have an expander in, you have time to research and really think on what you want and collect your thoughts.
This is good to know (that it's more painful having the expanders put in at the same time), having it done then (if possible) does avoid another surgery though. Have heard that toward the end of the fill-ups, it can get even more painful as the muscles are being stretched so much.
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Originally Posted by Poltracker
Yeah!!! That is the outcome we all want and the one I got too. Get it early and get it out.
It's gonna take at least 2 weeks for the pain to really ease off. I'm told the pain is really worse when you have the expanders put in at the same time because muscles are being rerouted. It does ease off though. As for your future visits to the PS, my advise is to start slow with your fills. There is absolutely no reason to hurry. The amount to start with varies greatly on your body proportions. I started out w/ 35 ml, then 50 ml, but stopped at 60 ml per visit, some folks do 100ml per visit. The expanders are stiff and there will be a constant low-level discomfort but no pain from them and the discomfort actually gets less as they are filled but does not entirely leave at least in my experience. Each time you get a fill, you will be a bit sore for a day or two afterward. Remember you will be stretching muscles, so think of it as having a pulled muscle once a week. Talk to your doctor about managing the discomfort from that.
This is good to know (that it's more painful having the expanders put in at the same time), having it done then (if possible) does avoid another surgery though. Have heard that toward the end of the fill-ups, it can get even more painful as the muscles are being stretched so much.
No, it was more painful in the beginning. In my experience anyway. I'm a week out from exchange surgery now and I'm not sure I like the results. My PS is trying to reassure me that it takes at least 3-4 weeks for everything to settle out and the swelling to go down...so I'm trying to wait it out.....
There are about a jillion cancer treatments out there which have been PROVEN (yes proven) to be more effective than surgery and radiation or chemotherapy.
Like.........
PS I'm sure you'll back up each of those "jillion" treatments with credible evidence or proof vs just spewing out empty claims. Right?
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If you are smart (and I believe that you are), then I strongly urge you to put your fear aside and take a deep breath and clear your head and really THINK ABOUT THIS before you subject yourself to the horrors that you describe.
Fortunately, she IS smart, ie disregarded such irresponsible foolishness, preferring to actually listen to people who have for many years studied this and made a career out of treating it who actually DID go with real proven methods....as opposed to listening to the Suzanne Somers of the world jabbering away about "holistic healing" as a sole method of treatment.
whew.
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If you do not, I wish you all the best in your unfortunate journey.
Yeah she got a mastectomy and now is cancer free. The horror.
Granted there are no long-term guarantees, but congrats to you with your success SunnyD, and all the best to anyone dealing w/this, whatever you decide.
I went to the plastic surgeon and he says I'm healing well. Then he gave me my first fill up of two ounces of saline in my expander. It feels a little tight, but it's good. I'm finally on my way back to normalcy. Thank you for all of your comments, good thoughts, and support.
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