Well thats the last day at work before op.over. First thing Monday morning and I’m really starting to panic!! Help!!!
Christay
Good luck,Christay. I hope all goes well for you
Sharon x
Dear Christay
Please try not to worry. The op is the very least of your problems. I had a left mastectomy and becker implant at the same time on 22 May and was up and running the next morning. It isn’t painful - just uncomfortable. Drains are a nuisance and easily forgotten. I will keep you in my thoughts and heart on Monday. Just try (hard, I know) to enjoy your weekend and face it when and only when it has to be faced.
Much love and strength
Dilys
Thanks both
Dilys, its really encouraging to know how well you coped with the op. Mine is a simple mastectomy - no lymph nodes or recon so hopefully it won’t be too bad. Actually it isn’t the thought of pain that bothers me but the anaesthetic. I know that sounds pathetic but I’ve never actually had an op before - well not for about 45 years. I think I did have one as a young child but can’t really remember!! Also, I find the whole lack of control bit hard to cope with. Still 72 hours from now it will be over - one boob down and (fingers crossed) cancer free. One way to lose weight. How much does one boob weigh???
Sharon, thanks for your encouragement. I do appreciate it.
God bless.
Christay
Hi Christy
The lymph node part is the most painful, so no need to worry on that score. I was worried about the anaesthetic too, as I had never had an op before. I was fine. You won’t know a thing about it and will soon be waking up with it all over and done with.
Good luck and lots of love.
Julie.
Hi Christay, I was in the same boat as you, 45 and 3/4’s and never had a general, and a history of weird reactions to all kinds of drugs, and even the hospital were concerned about how I’d cope with the anaesthetic. When Monday morning came, I was in bits, and at the doors leading to the ward, I turned round because every fibre of my body wanted to moving in the opposite direction - AWAY from all the scary stuff. After a lot of unsettling nonsense with a pharmacist, the cancer surgeon, the recon surgeon, the BCN, her assistant, the anaesthetist, the ward sister and some other nurses (FAR too many people for my comfort!) the last thing I remember is my lovely anaesthetist telling me to lie down so he could give me “magic drugs” (he siad after he could see what a terrible state of fear I was in) and then I was awake again in my room, surgery and recon magically having been done without a single clue of memory from me, and it was 10.30pm and I demanded to be fed!
Apparently, my boyfriend accompanied me down to theatre with me on the trolley, and I was chatting away, and said inane things like, “Ah, and here we have the so-called Calming Green walls, except they aren’t AT ALL calming, ACTUALLY!” and when the nurse said, “This is where you can say goodbye for now,” I (apprently, so I’m told) burst into tears, said “I love you! If I die on the table, and anyone tries to take the house away from you, don’t let them!” And also, reportedly, I had a 40 minute phone chat with a girl-friend, during which I was lucid, charming, witty (she says) and utterly coherent. And another phone call with my partner, to whom I beomoaned the fact that I had missed Eastenders and a film I had wanted to watch. But I remember none of it! Absolutley the only thing I vaguely recall is travelling through a room lined with shelves, which was quite colourful. I am told this was the recovery room.
Aside from that, I knew nothing about the process at all, not from when the anaesthetist gave me the “magic” stuff. He told me after that it was stuff they normally give Intensive Care patients, because of my history. My boyfriend was adamant that I’d be groggy as hell for a couple of days after the general, but in fact I slept not at all the first night, and only napped during the nights throughout that week. V perky!
I had mastectomy, recon, and lymph level 2 clearance, with 4 drains, and it’s now nearly 4 weeks ago, and I’m doing well. The only real pain I had was from their insistence that I wore a bra they sold me to suuport my recon, which was agony, but that won’t apply to you.
Good luck with the op - it really isn’t as scary as you think it’s going to be - I know it’s a terrifying thought, but you have to grit your teeth and try to trust them. I’ll be thinking of you, let us know how it goes,
Love and light,
Angel153
Hi babe i had a double mastectomy last sept and without a word of a lie i felt great after .Visitors even said the colour back in my face as the day before i was that transparent chemo colour .Ye was a bit uncomfortable but not half what i imagined it would be i got home 2 days later with 3 drains in and have never looked back .I am going to see about my recon in oct as i am only 37 and still want to wear slinky tops .Take care you i will be thinking of you on mon .You will be fine .P.s dont know if you have heard of reiki it is a godsend .xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Good luck for tomorrow, Christay, I’ll be thinking of you,
Big hug,
Angel
Thank you all. Nine hours to go and still a lot calmer than I expected. Be back in no time at all.
God bless.
Christay
Dear Christay. I just had big lumpectomy on Friday morning and it was fine. It’s like it happened to someone else in a way because you will have no memory of surgery whatsoever. Absolutely nothing to be scared of. Anaesthetics is an amazing thing nowadays. You will wake up in the ward as if nothing had happened - apart from feeling a bit groggy.
Best of luck to you!
Emma
xxxx
I am sorry to say that despite modern anaesthetics I woke up in agony after my partial mastectomy and had to have additional anaesthetic via my rectum. Not an experience I would care to repeat. Unfortunately we are all different so no guarantees I am afraid. I was told before surgery that I’d wake up painfree - it never happened, despite me telling the consultant I’d also had pain after the lumpectomy op which I’d had six weeks earlier.
It’s a bit of a lottery I am afraid.
Mole
Hi Christay
Just to say I was thinking of you yesterday and so look forward to you getting back on here. Hope it all went well for you my love.
Dilys
Christay,
I too look forward to you returning. Take care.
Margaret
Thank you all. Thinking back now I can’t imagine why I was worried but I was and, yes, I’m sure I would be again if I had to go for another op any time. But you were all right - it was so easy. I think it helped that the theatre nurse turned out to be someone I knew through work. Four hours after leaving the ward, I was sitting eating a chicken casserole for tea. No problems whatsoever. I was glad of the morphine driver for the first 24 hours, I must say but am now pain free thanks to the drugs they have given me to bring home. Personally, I think all the prayers had a lot to do with it so thank you all for your support. Now its just the waiting game and you all know what thats like!!
God bless.
Christay
Hi babe glad to here you are home again and doing fine .Bet that was the best chicken casserole you had in a while .Just you lye back and enjoy getting pampered you deserve it .
Luv and hugs joolsxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
welcome home Christay, good to have you back
hugs
x x x
bless you
Hallo Christay
That was quick! You did so well my love. Give yourself a huge hug whilst doing the exercises. So pleased for youand very proud of you. So should you be. Well done and welcome home. So great to hav you back.
Much love
Dilys