Hi ive just found this site and see how much strenghth you all get from each other .I was diagnosed with breast cancer in aug 04 in which i had a lumpectomy lymph clearance and radiotherapy in aug 05 i was diagnosed the same on other breast again i had all treatments along with chemo. last week i was once again diagnosed with it in which i must have al double mastectomy on 8th oct ,i have opted to have a double one as i have been told they can do immediate recuntsruction with the muscle from my back and implants which wll be increased in size over time i feel that enough is enough and i also never seem to know how im going to feel from one day to the next i cant sleep and im scared but i dont really think that i shlold be after all i get the gift of life and a boob job too as the days are getting closer i am feeling a little overwhelmed and of course i dont like pain or the fact that i wont be able to clean my consultant says to be prepared or pain an that im looking at about 12 weeks ill i can drive again would anybody agree with that?Will i be able to tend to myself when i go to the loo ?from Shaney
Sorry you have had such bad luck have been hit 3 times. All I can say is that a friend who had bilat mastectomiesmanages the loo etc OK even when in hospital.
Angela
I was diagnosed with 3 different kinds of breast cancer yesterday - two different kinds in the right breast - a definite cancer in the lower right breast which is invasive and cells in the right upper breast which could turn out to be invasive, so was advised to have a mastectomy for that. Also in the left breast I have DCIS at 3cm but by the time they take surrounding tissue there could be a lot removed so had the option of removal of tissue or another mastectomy. Wham bang a double up - hows that for luck. Thing is if I have removal of tissue only - there wont be a lot of breast left so decided on going for double up! At least I will get rid of these cancer ridden bags! Cant have immediate reconstruction in case it has spread to my lymph nodes in which case I will need more treatment with chemo/radiotherapy. I do look forward to the time when I can have reconstruction, I will have pert ones once again hopefully. I have never thought about the implications that follow surgery. I am told that it wont be that painful, just feel tight across my chest. I dread the thought of not being able to tend to myself whilst going to the toilet. Do not even have any idea of how much time I will need from work. Would be interested to hear from your friend Angela who has had bilat mastectomy and did she have it all at the same time.
Ang
Ok yet another Angie here, bad luck name maybe?
Ang if it heIps I was diagnose with 2 breast cancers at the same time in Jan. Right side was ductal invasive, 3.5 cm and triple neg. Left side was 2.8 cm ductal invasive and slightly hormone responsive. I’m 34 BTW and age does make a difference to a few things here. Anyway it’s late so I’ll catch up with you tomorrow but the surgery didn’t hurt anywhere near what I expected (I am a wimp pain wise) recovery was fast, lymphs were clear, I’ve just finished chemo and things are looking up again.
I didn’t do recon and am not going to, no more surgery for me, not for cosmetic reasons anyway. You can’t get perter than flat or prosthetics after all
Anyway have family up so will pop in over the weekend. You must be in pretty bad shock right now, but if it helps I had no problem getting to the loo after the op not even on the same night.
Speak soon. rest well.
sorry to ditch so fast last night… hadn’t seen sister in law in 5 years so was great to catch up, can’t stay on these forums all the time after all
Anyway I was saying that it was tight across the chest and the drains they give you are a pain because they get in the way but I took a nice big bum bag to put them in as I went home with the drains (you cannot keep me in hospital for a second longer than necessary) so I had them in for a week with the nurse coming to empty them and they are annoying but having them in a bum bag leaves your hands free which helps a lot.
The very first night I was hooked up to machines for the morphine (which I never even touched as there was no pain) so that was less than ideal for getting to the loo but the following day they unhooked the morphine which allowed me to get out of bed and go the loo so really not a problem at all.
One this you will find annoying is there wil be loads of references to using your good arm but I expect they will be taking a sample of lymph nodes from each side so you won’t have a good arm. This may appear bad at first but in fact it allows you to recover strength evenly with both arms. I was back walking the dog 1 week after the op, ie as soon as the drains were out. I was cooking my own dinner again etc quite happily. You do have to be careful not to lift too much ie shoppng bags but I’m fiercely independent and even though my fiance offered to do all that stuff for me he knew I wouldn’t let him so I just did things like carry a pint of water to a pan rather than carry a whole pan of water across to the cooker, just adapted for a few weeks.
So all in all it was about a tenth as scary as I thought it was all going to be. Frankly all those biopsies hurt more than the op which I expect you know how they feel.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that both my tumours were grade 3 too and reading on this forum you might think that’s the kiss of death but it’s not so, as my suregon said before I got the results being high grade means they mutate fast which can also mean you find them faster and before they have a chance to spread so take all the results in your stride, there’s good and bad in all versions. I was lucky in many ways and I’m still kicking (and having just finished chemo I’m kicking back hard
Angie
thank you so much for that angie, I dont even know what these drains look like or what to expect or how they fit in a Bum Bag! What did it feel like not having any breasts, and how did you feel about seeing yourself afterwards? How long were you in hospital, I have been told 1 week. How much time do you need to recover or get back to work. I dont have any figures on grading etc yet as all the results were not available to my consultant when I saw her last. I dont know how fast this thing is spreading. All I know is that my consultant said the results were complicated. She said I would not need lymph nodes taking away from the left side as I have DCIS which has not spread. I will possibly need lymph nodes taking from the right, but I asked about Sentinal node biopsy whereby they insert dye into the nodes and can tell if it has spread, so hopefully they will not need to remove any! My mind is all over the place at the moment so hope this makes sense, I am jumping from one subject to another. I dont know if I will need chemo/radio yet, depends on spread. Hoping to get away with that. Another question is, will they give me chemo anyway to get rid of anything left that may be lurking. So grateful to you for taking the time to speak with me.
Ang
Everyone has different treatment plans according to the biology of their tumour and how big it is, and whether there is any evidence of spread anywhere (which they work out via testing the lymph nodes). They also take account of your age, so you would be more likely to have chemo if you are younger at the time of diagnosis.
I didn’t get chemo because I had a small tumour and no cancerous lymph nodes, also the grade of cancer was grade 1 and the cancer was oestrogen positive. If I’d had a bigger tumour (over 2 cm) I think I would maybe have been offered chemo. They usually tell you how much having each thing reduces your risk by, I think chemo would have had a minimal impact on my risk so I didn’t have it although at the time I was very suspicious why I wasn’t offered it. Instead they prescribed tamoxifen for 5 years, which acts against oestrogen which in my case causes tumours to grow, but tamoxifen stops this happening in the breast.
Chemo has risks associated with it and is unpleasant and you have several sessions over a period of months so I’m glad I avoided it as it would have extended my treatment a lot. Good luck,
I have started a new discussion on Bilateral mastectomy please send replies to me to that link. thanks v much thanks vert and mole pls keep in touch. apologies to shaney for taking over you discussion.
ang