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Worrying about surgery, partial mastectomies on both sides and
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Oct 14, 2023 | Replies (21)Comment receiving replies
@msandbreastcancerwarrior
We all understand anxiety caused by anticipation and fear of the unknown. We’ve all been there. Ask as many questions as you want. Sorry to hear about your MS and transverse myelitis. If it makes you feel any better, it seems that sooo many people on the Mayo discussion boards have multiple medical issues so you’re not alone there. After reading a lot of the messages here, I didn’t feel so alone with my vast collection of medical issues. It just makes us more resilient to be frequent flyers. It’s kind of like training for the medical Olympics. We are ready to take on whatever life throws at us. I’ve found that people who have had perfect health all their life tend to fall apart with even minor ailments. If my extremely healthy mother even had a routine blood test, you would think she was going in for open heart surgery to hear her tell the story. I always got a kick out of that. Lucky her. Little kids with cancer are so resilient because it’s all they’ve ever known.
In response to your other concerns, I had 7 lymph nodes removed -- all negative. My sides were a little tender for awhile with swelling and it was a little uncomfortable for my arms to rub against my sides when walking, but that eventually went away. Again, nothing to write home about. I don’t remember if the lymph nodes were all in the arm pit or down the side. They used the blue dye to determine which ones to test.
What do you mean your cancer is on the inside and that is unusual? Do you mean buried deep in the breast as opposed to being right under the skin? Or do you mean inside as in toward your breast bone vs. your side? My tumor was at 12 o’clock and pretty deep into my breast. It was small. I hope you only have one surgery so you can get back to your life as quickly as possible.
It does sound like your lidocaine plan is the same as my anesthesia/pain pump with bupivacaine so that’s good. It was easy to remove in the office just like the drains.
I was supposed to be in the hospital just overnight, but stayed 3 days because they couldn’t control my abdominal pain from the salpingo-oophorectomy. If I had only had the mastectomies, I feel like I would have been ready to go home the same day as the surgery. Sometimes they keep you overnight anyway, just as a precaution and observation. My surgeon arranged the double surgery with my OB/GYN so I would only have only one leave of absence, one hospital stay, etc. That sounded ideal, but it was a little much to be compromised on my upper and lower body at the same time.
I decided against reconstruction due to my neuropathy and my keloid scarring disorder. They pushed me hard for reconstruction, but I made the right decision for me. No regrets. I normally just go flat, but when I get a little more dressed up to go out then I wear silicone prosthetics in a mastectomy bra so my clothes fit better and my clothes fit the same as they did before the surgery. When I get home, I can’t wait to take them off and lighten the load. I joked in a post awhile back that there are perks to going flat like no "boob bounce" when exercising and no "boob sweat." You ladies know what I'm talking about. There is always a silver lining!
Replies to "@msandbreastcancerwarrior We all understand anxiety caused by anticipation and fear of the unknown. We’ve all been..."
Thank you so very much again, I am so grateful to you for helping me! I can feel my anxiety level going way down, with every word I read! Thank you! ❤️🌹
You make such an excellent point about how we frequent flyers develop a toughness and endurance. We get through things, and we know we can get through other things that come. It’s nice to have that inner strength.
I was an Army Officer before I got disabled with MS, and another Army Officer I knew and admired, said in an interview, that breast cancer and the treatments didn’t affect her much at all because she was airborne. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a thing in the Army…you get your wings and the training is tough and you keep that inner strength. I’m airborne, too. So I will get through this.
Yes, I meant my masses are very close to one another, one just closer to the chest wall, both at 9 O’clock so close to the middle of my body, rather than the outer edges, if that makes sense.
Are all the lymph nodes only in the armpit? I thought I saw in an illustration, there were some in-between the breasts sort of, and I thought, I bet that’s where my sentinel node will be, because it’s closer to the cancer. But they will find out when they inject the tracer dye. They will do that when I’m already out, which is a mercy for me.
If they don’t get clean margins, it will be mastectomies for me. And I will have to wait 4-6 weeks for that, so I am hoping for clean margins.
If they do mastectomies on me, I will opt for staying flat as well. I’m 62, and vanity isn’t important to me anymore. I will wear the prosthetics when I go out though just to avoid attention and blend in.
Thank you again so much for your help!
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Hello! The time leading up to the surgery and fear are the most difficult. They will keep you very comfortable in recovery with IV meds. I had this surgery, almost 3 years ago… my cancer was at 9:00 on left. The opportunity to have a reduction lift surgery meant that they could take large margins and a lot of tissue - including 7 nodes. My recovery was easier than I’d feared. I had an allergic reaction to oxycodone - so put on Tramadol - it worked well alternating with Tylenol! I used a large wedge pillow and slept in bed. The pillow was also a great help in a chair or sofa. By the second post op day I could take a short walk in neighborhood! Sending you best wishes!