Healing well

After a short week I had the drains removed which was a big plus. Not only did my choice in wardrobe increase, but I also had the bandages removed and was able to finally move from sponge baths to a real shower! I was doing well and was even able to wear a bra (stuffed with a sock) without any problem as I still am fairly numb along the incision.

Just this Monday I started noticing a little more pain around the armpit area. I had a long day as I had went to the office and then afterwards had dinner with Paul and the group he works with. Even though I did nothing strenuous I noticed at the end of the day that I was somewhat swollen.

I didn't sleep well that night. It was uncomfortable lying in pretty much any position. I started thinking about what one of my sisters-in-law had said (yes, the one who had asked about the nipple) - that if you had the drains pulled too soon infection could begin. So then I had that going through my head. Then I realized that I might even be getting lymphedema as I had some lymph nodes removed and if there was a backup of lymph fluid hanging out at the armpit, my arm should be swelling up and turning red at any moment!!!! I was up in the middle of the night googling lymphedema and infections due to mastectomies. I was able to finally get some sleep but decided that I should stay home from work the next day and take it easy.

The swelling didn't get worse and didn't get better, however, this morning it seemed like the swelling was just a little worse. I already had an appointment scheduled with my surgeon in the afternoon so waited to find out what she thought.

My surgeon thought I was healing great and that yes, there was some swelling but no big deal, she would just draw out some of the fluid, that it was pretty normal. Whew! She drew out about 40 cc's which looked gi-normous in a tube! However, on looking at a measuring cup it was about a quarter cup. She said that I may need to have some more fluid drawn out at the beginning of the week, and maybe not, but that it was perfectly normal with the healing. So no lymphedema is starting and no infection, so no antibiotics are required. I think I may sleep better tonight.

Now I am supposed to start a prescription of tamoxifen which could be for 2 years before I start something else, or it could be for 5 years and then 5 years of something else. Who knows. They are still trying to come up with the best formula and 10 year test results are coming in by the end of this year as well as others that are still ongoing. It is supposed to kick start menopause in case the menopause I have entered is only temporary from the chemotherapy. I have been holding off taking the tamoxifen because of different reasons, but it looks like I have run out of reasons ( no antibiotics to interfere) and should get started. Say hello to hot flashes and night sweats! Woo hoo!

Where's my nipple?!

My sister-in-law said she had some questions that a friend of hers had asked. When they did the mastectomy, did they take the nipple? I told her that I hadn't had the bandage taken off yet, but I was pretty sure that they had taken the nipple. Then she asked if reconstruction was performed, do they give you a nipple then? I told her I hadn't investigated that but I assumed they were just rebuilding the form and not the nipple.

I went home and told Paul about this. He almost got ballistic. No nipple?! I want my nipple!!! How dare they take the nipple without telling us!!! Too funny. This obviously bothered him quite a bit and he went on Google to do a little searching. He informed me later that yes indeed, they had taken my nipple, but if we had reconstruction surgery they could rebuild the breast with a nipple if wanted. (How come I feel like the 6 Million Dollar Man - we can rebuild him!)

I saw my oncologist Wednesday morning and he said that due to the pathology findings from the surgery he felt that I should probably have radiation therapy to be on the safe side. That won't be started until about a month after the surgery to make sure that everything is healed. I will be going in 5 days a week for a shot of radiation for 6 weeks. My surgeon called me later in the day to give me more specific details on the pathology findings. She said that the tumor had been removed and the margins were clean. One of the lymph nodes was positive for cancer, but another lymph node was shriveled, obviously killed by the chemotherapy. She was very happy with the surgery and that we had gotten most if not all of the cancer. Yeah!

They don't recommend breast reconstruction surgery until after radiation treatment, and it can be somewhat difficult after that as the skin loses its elasticity. However, I am assuming that it regains a lot of elasticity after recovering from the radiation treatment. At this time I am not sure whether I will be getting reconstruction surgery or not. I am not fond of surgeries (who is?) but I will see how I do with a prosthetic and decide what will be best for me as I will have some time before making a decision. However, if I do have reconstructive surgery, I obviously need a nipple for my husband! :)

Hospital inmate on the loose

Went into the hospital on 8/08/08 to be admitted for the mastectomy. The surgery was delayed 1 1/2 hours due to a delay with a patient scheduled before me. They wheeled me into the surgery room at 2:30 p.m. The anesthesiologist announced that he was going to put some 'margarita music' on for me as I was going to be getting a 'margarita cocktail. They must have done something with my IV behind me because that is the last I remembered until I surfaced in the private room they took me to later. I was informed that I didn't get to the room until 6 p.m. and then afterwards the nurse had to nudge me a little to wake me up as I was lying there trying to catch flies. Sigh. I suppose I probably had drool rolling down my face, too.

I was fighting the anesthesia and kept dozing off and then coming back to talk to the family before dozing off on them again. The family decided to leave after a while when they had determined that I was okay, but I obviously wasn't going to be very communicative.

The surgeon stopped in the following morning to let me know that she had gotten the one tumor, that we had just biopsied earlier this week, but the original tumor (that I had thought was a rib head out of alignment) was totally gone - which she thought was freaky. I thought was great as something was obviously working - probably the vitamin D. :) However, she felt that she might not have gotten all of the cancer in the lymph node area and would probably recommend the radiation treatment afterwards. We will know more on that when the pathology report comes back later this week.

I had to deal with a little nausea through the day, but by dinner time I was able to hold my meal down and my stomach was very happy to have some solid food after almost 48 hours! As I was doing better I was able to go home that evening and was able to get a lot more rest without any nurses waking me up to take vital signs. And the first thing I had Paul do this morning was make me some coffee!

I'm feeling fairly pain free unless I move my right arm too far in any direction. I am supposed to do some stretches with my arm, but I figure I should play it fairly easy until my drains slow down a little.

All the best wishes, healing energy and support was much appreciated, and definitely helpful. During times like these you realize what great friends and family you really have.

And then there was one

I was all excited when my oncologist said that I could get by with a lumpectomy and lymph node removal. The surgeon agreed, but the radiologist didn't. There were calcifications in another quadrant of the breast that were suspicious for cancer. My surgeon and I talked and decided that the best way to make a decision was to have a needle biopsy of the calcifications and determine whether they were cancerous or not. Then we could decide on whether a lumpectomy or a mastectomy was to be performed.

The procedure was scheduled 2 weeks later, allowing my blood counts to recover. While this was happening Paul whisked the kids and I over to Norfolk, Virginia, close to Virginia Beach. While Paul worked at the Navy he had a contract with, the kids and I played in the pool and on the Chesapeake Bay beach. It was wonderful, warm and very relaxing. We all sucked up a bunch of Vitamin D and enjoyed the change of scenery and no real schedule except to get Paul to and from work.

After returning from Virginia I went in on Tuesday for the needle biopsy, lying face down on a table with my boob hanging through a hole and my head turned to one side, and told not to move while they made the biopsies and took x-rays - for a half hour. When I was finally able to move, I didn't notice my breast, it was my neck that was killing me!! Due to the chemotherapy treatments I bleed easily and the technician had to clamp down with her hand on my breast to try to get my bleeding to stop. After several minutes she made a call into the other office and asked if another tech would please come out and spell her as her hand was cramping. So I then had someone else grasping my breast and applying pressure with another tech running in to ask if they needed her, too. Great, a bunch of women wanting to hold my boobs. I told Paul about this later (he was not allowed to watch the procedure due to the radiation from the x-rays) and he said that he could have helped squeeze my boobie with no problem. :)

Today I received a call, while at work, from the surgeon telling me that the biopsy came back positive for ductal carcinoma in situ and thought that the best procedure for me was to do a mastectomy along with lymph node removal. :( I lost my cool and blubbered over Toyin's shoulder until I regained my composure. And all for a damb boob that hangs too low. Sheesh.

I am to show up at the hospital at 10:30 a.m. Friday morning - 8/08/08 - where I will then proceed to have my surgery at 1 p.m. along with a lovely overnight stay including meals at the relaxing Providence Hospital.

And the beat goes on . . .

I went in for the ultrasound and the radiologist reported that it looked like the calcifications had reduced considerably, but he would like to do a needle biopsy. He wanted to call the oncology clinic first to find out when the best time to do this would be as I had just had my last chemo treatment a couple days ago and my blood levels would be getting low.

The radiology clinic called me a couple days later and arranged for the biopsy to be performed in 2 weeks as my blood cells should be recovered by then. I am supposed to go in the day before this to have a blood test to double check everything is okay.

The technician then told me a little about the procedure. It seems that it won't be done by ultrasound as I had originally thought, but instead by mammogram as the mammogram equipment shows the calcifications a lot better. And to do this I will be lying face down. Huh? Yes, I will lie face down on a table with my breast hanging through a hole where they will then clamp the mammogram equipment onto it and flatten it into a pancake to locate the calcifications. At this time they will then perform the needle biopsy. Hoo boy! They forgot about putting my body into the pretzel position beforehand! Oh! And while we have you clamped down in this position, let's go ahead and do a colonoscopy as well! I've heard those are fun, too! Who thinks these things up, anyway?

This procedure will be performed on a Tuesday just a few days before my scheduled surgery on Friday, August 8th. If all goes well and the biopsy is negative for cancer I am assuming I will be able to proceed with a lumpectomy along with the lymph node removal. If cancer is showing in these calcifications then it may be determined that a mastectomy would be my best bet.

The jury is still out

I had my last chemotherapy treatment today and I was all excited, waiting for the treatment to end when I received a call from my surgeon. She said that she had talked to the radiologist, who had been on vacation last week, and said that he was NOT HAPPY to hear that I was only receiving a lumpectomy. He feels very strongly that I should have a mastectomy as there are calcifications in another quadrant of the breast that have not disappeared like the main tumor has, as seen on the MRI. As there had been no needle biopsy of this area before, they are suggesting that they do that and make sure that this area is not cancerous before making any more decisions on the type of surgery.

So tomorrow I am going in for an ultrasound to look more carefully at this area and to schedule for a needle biopsy depending on the ultrasound findings. I am a little confused as I had asked my surgeon about the calcifications when I saw her a week ago. She said that according to the report they had reduced remarkably. But according to the radiologist, this doesn't seem to be the case.

In researching this matter on the internet it has been mentioned that the main goal is to remove the primary tumor along with lymph nodes. As I will be receiving radiation therapy after whatever surgery I have, it sounds like that will kill off any remaining cancer cells.

I guess a little more research in the matter will be taken before the final decision is made. In any event, as much as I would like to keep my little boobie, it will have to be sacrificed if it is determined to be in my best interest. And what a little trooper it has been!

Going, going, gone?

I received my second to the last chemotherapy treatment last Wednesday and did as well as the previous time. Not near as much aching and what I did have was helped by the Tylenol.

I met my surgeon today for a short visit. She mentioned that the mammogram I had recently did not show the tumor. It was only able to be seen on the MRI, barely, as it has reduced significantly. She is thinking that she may want to have the radiologist put a 'wire' into the tumor while using ultrasound so that she makes sure she removes the right area. (That would be helpful!) As this is the larger breast she was saying as how she could probably pull it over and cover up the 'dimple' that will be left. After I left her office I was kicking myself as I didn't even think to ask her about doing a simple lift at the same time. Damn!

The surgeon said that this would be a simple outpatient procedure and that I would be going home the same day with a drain under my arm which would be removed a few days later. The surgery is scheduled on Friday, August 8th after I have received my last chemo treatment next week on Wednesday, July 16th. I am starting to see an end to all of this! Yeah! Then I will still have radiation therapy to go through, but I will have at least a month off with no treatments before I start that. Gee, what am I going to do with all that extra time?! Paul will expect me to actually get off my duff and do a little work around the house. Thbpppt! :)