Great that you are home safe and sound Maggy… and thank you for the heads up re the tubes, hadnt realised that you go home with them!
Take care.
I get my op tomorrow and hoping that I will be home on Monday.
Marguerite
Hi ladies, I had my op on Thursday afternoon and was sent home on Friday lunchtime as I felt fine. They removed my left breast and two lymph nodes. I still have a drain in (YUK!) and the district nurse came today to check and change my dressings, and will continue for the next week or until the drain can come out.
Pain-wise it’s not too bad, just a bit achey when I move (like the feeling you get if you’ve had a good work out at the gym when you’ve not been for a while!), and I’m not using any painkillers except a couple of paracetamol before bedtime just to help me through the night.
I’m hoping it won’t get any worse, but who knows what will happen, when the bruises start appearing! But then I’ve got stronger painkillers if needed.
Family and friends are being fantastic and I’m just resting as much as possible and doing my exercises as ordered by the physio.
Going back to the breast clinic on 3rd March for results and details of next treatment.
Good luck & loving thoughts to all of you going through this at the mo, lets all take it one step at a time and we’ll be better before we know it xxx
Just wanted to say hello and glad that you are home to Meggy and FabForty and all the best to oscarbailey who I think should have had her op today.
Mine is on Wednesday, going in Tuesday evening at 4 so hopefully will be back home and on here next weekend.
Hope you all continue to do well.
Beverley
I am due to have a mx and full lymph node clearance and an immediate reconstruction, haven’t got a date yet as they are fully booked for the next 6 wks but my bc nurse is trying to get me in much sooner. It will be great to buddy up with others going through this as I feel quite scared now. Before I was worried about scans etc but now I have got the all clear I’m worried about the surgery!
catrina
Hi there
Hope all you newly post op ladies are doing well and that those of you facing surgery this week (or the next few weeks) are holding tight and not worrying too much. Easier said than done! I’m just getting into 5th day post bilat Mx. Worst thing still is pain from drain sites, and not getting comfortable in bed for sleeping. But its not overwhelming. Noticing quite an unusual & unanticipated band of tightness round my chest - really weird feeling - coupled with numbness & pins & needles. Still taking painkillers but not on them all the time. However its a huge relief to have got this far - once the drains are out and I know the pathology of what they took this time (this was 3rd op) I think it will be manageable. I don’t know whether my drains are exceptioanlly long but they certainly dangle down to mid calf & when I pack them into the little shoulder bags supplied by the physio, they then stick out hugely - nothing discrete about this at all!! I haven’t ventured out yet…
Best wishes for feeling better and lovely spring days ahead
Maggyx
Hi Meggy - sounds like you’re doing remarkably well for only 5 days post op. I’m coming up on 4 weeks post op and can confirm I had the tightness on the chest - but no pins and needles. Most of my residual pain comes from the expander implant - really unpleasant but not unbearable. Wish you all the best for your continued recovery and treatment.
Lynnx
Yipee, back home!!! Had right side mx, full lymph node clearance and ld flap reconstruction on the 15th! Came home yesterday! One drain of three still in my back. Lost a lot of blood and fluids through op and drains and had a faint couple of days ago so had to stay in longer than anticipated, back on Thursday 25th to remove 27 staples on my front (not looking forward to that one!). Can confirm the pins&needles and numbness under arm. Also, where my new boob is my former back muscle, it twitches when I reach or lift my arm, quite funny really…Staples on my back out next week.
Doing my exercises and eating healthy diet. Having paracetamol and using V shaped cushion to get comfy in bed.
My drains were really long, too. Was advised to take a large strong cardboard gift bag with me to carry them around and hide them from the kids. That worked well for me.
Best Wishes for all of us recovering, keep smiling!!xxx
Glad you’re home Tina45 - its amazing what can happen in a week. Hope you were comfortable in hospital - I was only in one night and only slept in snatches as it was so noisy and busy. I was on a day case ward as a 23 hour admission!! Hope your recovery continues well at home - its nice being back with family but there’s always a temptation to do too much. I tried to fill the washing machine this morning and had to give up…!
Cheers xx
Got my kids ready for school, PE bags, lunchboxes etc, stacked dishwasher and then had to sit down, feeling a bit spaced out! Glad last week is over, everyone at hospital was so nice and helpful but I was tired, like you said there is no sleep as it is so busy! Loved being in my own bed last night! Take it easy everyone. xxx
Hi ladies, glad to hear we’re all back in the comfort of our own homes. The hospitals do a fantastic job, but there’s nothing like the comfort of your own bed is there? So how are you all doing?
I still have my drain in but looks like it will be taken out tomorrow as it’s down to just 30ml a day now. It will be nice to be able to wander around without “my shopping” as I call it!
My next appointment is on 3rd March for results of the op, and treatment plan.
Take care, & keep rested xxxx
Sounds like you’re doing really well FabForty! My drains are still each producing about 50ml over 24 hrs. They are due to be taken out on Thursday but District Nurse warned of slight possibility they might not (not sure I could bear that!!). Hope you’re finding a comfortable position to sleep in…
Cheers xx
Hi Meggy - I had a similar worry that the drain may not get removed but the surgeon told me they have a balancing act in that they really don’t like to leave drains in any longer than necessary as it can increase the chance of infection. 50ml was certainly the figure quoted to me as the green light. Hope you get them out.
Lynnx
Thank you Lynn - that’s cheered me up! Hope things are easing up for you …
Cheers
Maggy
I was told that 7 days is max for drains due to infection risk, with me they took the suction bottle ones off one every day over three days and replaced it with a stick on bag one. I always go to bed with full allowance of painkillers, the back is sore from the flap and front isn’t too comfy either… All looking a lovely shade of green&yellow and black, looks like I have been in a car crash…weirdest of all is the arm pain, I expect that will take a while to right itself. Never thought I would appreciate my lymph nodes so much now, I suppose its a case of you dont know what you’ve got until its gone!!
Hi ladies,
Had surgery Saturday evening and home last night.
It was a therapeutic mammoplasty on the BC breast and a reduction on the other. Apparently all went well, although I have not yet had the courage to look.
My first drain came out on Monday (from the good side) and the other two yesterday.
Have a small twinge where the drains were, and bleeding a bit around both boobs.
Apart from that no real pain as such, just a really strange sensation being ‘hoisted’ up in the post surgery bra. Follow up appointment on Friday for results of margins and lymph nodes.
Marguerite
Hi Marguerite
Glad you’re home safely and you’re drainless too - a state I envy you for! My 2 drains are due to come out tomorrow - I’m hoping for a transformation in my pain levels after that but I guess it will take time. Yes I’m also having all sorts of strange twinges, numbness, and sensations which I’ve never had before. Also a feeling like I have a tight rubber band round my chest. I know all of this should settle after some weeks/months/years!!! It is great to be moving on - it’s an awful waiting game before surgery so my sympathies are still with everybody facing it over the next few weeks.
Hope you are feeling less like a car crash Tina45!! I’m sorry that you’re sore back and front - and probably sides as well…
cheers
Maggy x
Hi Ladies, Good luck to all of you post surgery and awaiting results - for what its worth, i can agree on all the rubber band /clamp tightness, twinges, numbness and pain. You might remember i’m just a few weeks further - 4 wks post op tomorrow. If you’re anything like me, now that surgery is out of the way you’ll be starting to fixate on results and treatment plans. I hope all are good for you. (I can see a new thread coming on soon.) Can i go first with a “sharing” on results and treatment plans.?
28/01 left MX, 17mm tumour, ER+ Grade 3, no lymph node involvement, no spread in the breast - still awaiting HER2 result - preliminary negative.
Treatment plan - AC chemo, 4 cycles over 3months, tamoxifen - decision still to be taken on Rads.
I was pretty gutted yesterday, hoping to avoid chemo as I know others with a similar pathology haven’t had it but onco was quite insistent on the benefits because of my age (46 - pre menopausal )
Good wishes and hugs to everyone else - take it easy.
Lynn
Hi Lyn
Sorry you’re feeling gutted by the chemo decision - it must feel like you’re lurching from one massive hit to another at the moment. Getting through surgery feels like a really big thing on its own! I’m hoping my pathology won’t have changed too much as a result of Mx - however there is a worry that they might have found something else that changes my ‘scores’ which hadn’t shown up on scans. Not sure when I’ll get the results - going by my previous experiences it could be weeks…!
Hope your Mx healings are progressing well 4 weeks down the line. How is your range of arm movement now? I’m finding the most difficult things is reaching stuff off the shelves!
All the best
Maggy
Cheers Maggy - what is your expected pathology?, sorry don’t know if I know it.
Lynn
Hi Lyn - it was 12mm IDC grade 2, with wider 30mm area of intermediate grade DCIS (this will probably change after Mx since the 2 WLEs couldn’t get clear margins). Lymph node clear, ER+ve (7/8). Since diagnosis I have overhauled diet, cut out a lot, and started taking a wierd assortment of supplements - I rattle like a pill bottle. We have entered a strange world - with even a language all of its own!!! Is there a funny side? Not sure I’ve found it yet…
Cheers
Maggy