Hey Debi!!
So nice to hear from you!! I empathise entirely re: kicked by a horse. I look like I’ve been beaten up - so much bruising - and you may well be worse with your clotting problem! I have found that taking arnica 30c by mouth a every few hours and spreading it on any unbroken skin is helping!
Is the mono boob part of the plan? Did you have any reconstruction? or is it just mx swelling??
I’m more of a boobandahalf type now… with a phantom nipple that is still bothering me if I get cold. And that’s the worst thing about typing - I get so cold!!!
Td x
Ali
glad you got it done and hope bruising dont last too long! enjoy the wedding tho and dont worry if people look, tell them you were mugged for your lottery winnings!!!
I keep a notebook now by the pc which has the details of everyone I talk too! that way i can keep up with everyone.
i have today been and got 2 wigs, my hair on its last legs now, most of it came out this morning. my friend coming this weekend to either cut really short or shave, will decided when she comes. wigs are 2 different styles, thought my OH could experiment, see who he fancies the most!! not 100% happy with them but will get used to it. they both look good on my daughter, typical eh! got a bandana too and feel comfortable in it so will wear that around the house. next chemo on thursday so will be starting to get nervy after the weekend.
have a good weekend and catch up soon
deb x
Hi ladies
Td, the monoboob is swelling. Well at least i hope it is!! I had bilateral with ld recon. I was lucky that i had wonderful ladies in the beds next to me that gave great support and encouragement. I think we develop a certain strain of humour and its gets you through the darkest moments. One was back having her nipples constructed and the other was having trans flap to a previous failed ld recon. We were all holding our “wounds” as we did so much laughing.
Have still got 2 drains in so im hoping it gets more comfortable once they are removed.
Deb, good luck with the chemo. i feel so lucky that i dont need any other treatment.
Ali, good luck for your surgery and do go to the support group. You may get something from talking to people face to face. You know what they say… problem shared and all that
Debi x
Hi Ladies
Please can I refer back to the New Pyjamas query as I will be going in for surgery soon and bought the M & S MRSA defence pyjamas (mens small - no ladies). Now I am wondering if I should cut down the arms as I will be having a drain for the lymph nodes removed under my arm. How does this work? Will it be from my armpit? Also they encourage you to get dressed ASAP after surgery and I have looked for button tops but they all seem to have tight looking armholes and sleeves - what did you ladies end up wearing?
Thanks for your help.
Love Jo xx
Jo
I got myself some Tesco short sleeved pj’s. 2 sizes larger than i needed so i could manouver my arms into them. I only had breast and LD drains in so i cant comment on lymph drains. I have some MRSA defence pj’s (short sleeved) and saved them for wearing now i am home. Pale blue and look like an ordinary shirt. I also have some camisole tops to put on once the swelling goes down a bit as they don’t fit at present. If you end up with any axilla drains these would probably suit you.
I figured my MRSA risk was minimal in hosp as i was all trussed up and no one actually looked at my wounds whilst in.
Hope this is of some help and good luck with your surgery
Debi x
hi Jo
I had axilla drains - all my 4 drains were taped downwards and came out the bottom of my jammie top, so leave the sleeves. I wore both long & short sleeves most comfortably - I’d have been cold some nights with short ones. It’s the front opening thats important. I bought loads of jammies - nice Betty Crocker ones, cheap Tesco ones ( good tip about getting a big size Debi - I struggled with the bottoms as I couldn’t move as well for getting them up & down!!) and silk ones which I haven’t worn yet…
What surgery are you having? I had mastectomy, LD flap recon and lymph node dissection. I was in hospital for 6 days. The hospital that I was in has no MRSA and I had to be swabbed to make sure I wasn’t bringing it in! I did buy antil MRSA post surgery bras from Royce though (so many people carry it I don’t want to get it at home!!) which are incredibly comfy.
Hope that all helps! Keep us updated & join the thread!
Love Td xx
Thanks so much Debi & Td
It helps a lot when you can ask people who have been there and done that. I will keep the sleeves - hadn’t thought about the cold as last time I was in hospital it was like an oven most of the time (maternity ward). Because the jammies are small mens the bottoms are quite roomy anyway with elastic waist so no probs hauling them up I hope.
I am having a lumpectomy and sentinal node dissection (nurse described it as a ‘scoop’???) on 16th June at a very posh Treatment Centre which has only been open for a few years at MK. May get a private room all to my self with en-suite if I’m lucky apparently. They say I may be in there for up to 5 days depends how the drains etc. go I think. I don’t know anything else, I think treatment depends on what they find (God help me). I know it is invasive, just praying it hasn’t spread. (Seem to have got religion all of a sudden there - agnostic up to now).
Anyway - back to the clothes. What did you wear at home Td? And how is your mobility now with your arm? I don’t think camisole tops will work will they?
Thanks again.
Love Jo xx
Hi jo Pretty sure your drains will be coming out of the bottom of your PJ top. When I went for my Lumpectomy I was home the next morning. Then when I was having The WLE and nodes removed I thought I would be in five days and spent ages choosing PJs I didnt even get out of the hospital gown as once again I was discharged the next morning so hope you wont be i too long either! I went for button front and a size too big too and they were great.
Good Luck take care Diane x
Hi Diane
Thanx for that. Did the nurse do your drains or did you have to do them yourself at home? Not sure which is best - stay in hospital where they can keep an eye on the drains or go home & worry about them getting blocked or infected or something? I thought Lumpectony and WLE was the same thing, shows what I know.
Love Jo xx
Hi Archie
Glad to hear that you are home and well, i am also home now and i am suprisingly well, no swelling no brusing and no pain to speak of. if my boob didnt look half its size i wouldnt believe that i had had the opperation. Sending you wishes for your continuing recovery.
Take Care
Tina
PS
cotoneyedjo
I got some ordinary button all the way up nighties and slit and hemed the sleeves so when i moved my arm the sleeves moved to each side giving me plenty of room for the drains. i had them comming out of my sleeve
Take Care
Tina
Hi Cottoneyedjo
Just saw your other post about the drains. I had my opp on Monday told i could go tuesday if i kept the drains in but i decided to go wednesday with the drains out. its a good job that i stayed, as on tuesday night one of the drains fell out although i now know that it wasent such a big deal if i had been at home i would have been panic stricken.
Take Care
Tina
Thanx Tina
I am such a wuss I think I will stay in as long as the drains are in just in case something happens like it did to you - especially if I am in a private room (hope). Now you have set me thinking I will have to ask the BCN whether they do the drains down the arm or not. I wish they would explain more what EXACTLY happens when you have to have these things done, surely they must know you need to plan accordingly.
Fed up ,cause it’s raining again on a Bank Holiday. Ready to retire to Italy now instead - just have to convince the OH!
Love Jo xx
Hi Jo
I think the drains are placed close to your wounds, but they are very long thin bendy plastic tubes with small bags on the end, you can either put them through the armhole of your nightie or let them hang down the inside of your nightie and hang out the bottom ,either way you should get a bag so you can hold them up when you move around. i just found it more comfy to have them through the sleeve. there were some women that had the bag round their necks as it is so easy to forget you have the drains in and walk off and the bag drops on to the floor. but that looked a bit uncomfortable to me but you will find your own to carry them.
more rain predicted for tommorow. like to retire to thai land OH willing just cant afford it lol
Jo
I am at home with 2 drains, carrying them round in what can only be described as a “plimsole bag” Managing ok even though i have forgotten them a couple of times when getting up out of the chair!!. They are well taped to the skin so you are very unlikely to pull them out. They are also stitched in place so quite secure.
I dont regret coming home with them still in, but it’s whatever works for you.
Take care
Debi x
Hi Tina & Debi
Thanks you have helped me to understand the whole drain thing now. Knowing me I will forget the bag every time I move.
Not sure I like the ‘stitched in place’ bit - but hey I’m sure it isn’t as bad as childbirth (don’t get me started on the number of stitches then!!!). Do you have to get them taken out at hospital Debi? How are you today after your op?
Tina - my friend has been to Thailand a few times and is always amazed at the beautiful girls going with fat old western men and the ‘ladyboys’. My sister had a boob job there recently as it was the top place for breast surgeons all doing the ‘ladyboys’ boobs (plus a lot cheaper of course). She is in the Goa now showing them off - haven’t told her about DX yet she will go ballistic in case she gets it.
Love Jo xx
Hi Jo
most of the thai women that go with the westeners do it to send money back to their families in the country as they are so poor ,and many of them have been sold to pimps and have to work to pay back the loan that their families got for them. its the same with a lot of thai brides they do it for their families. the ladyboys are somthing else, some are so incredible bueatiful that you cannot believe that they were once men, lots of people go there to have surgery especially transgender as the surgeons are so expert at what they do. the thai people are so nice that it makes me sick when i see those old western perves taking advantage. but luckily i have never seen any of the child perves or i would be in a thai prison for doing a bobit on them lol.
PS
where abouts are you
Take Care
Tina
Hi Tina
Yes I know - they wouldn’t do it for love would they - although I bet those men all think they are gods gift. I heard that the Thai Govmt have cracked down on the pervs now & have jailed & deported loads while others are fleeing the country. Hope they don’t all end up back here.
I live in Milton Keynes - where are you?
Love Jo xx
Hi Jo
I am in a little village just outside spalding in Lincolnshire but the hospital i have to go to is in lincoln and its two hours drive away from me.( just my luck)
Tina
Hi Tina
What a pain - the MK Hosp is only 10 mins from me but I will have to go to Northampton for my rads I think, but still not that far away. Did you have to do the 4 hours every day for rads?
Jo
Hi Jo
I dont know what treatment i will have to have yet, i will find out on the 4th of june. hopefully it will only be rads if i am lucky
but i will still have to go up to lincoln every day, but at least i will get the weekends off lol. anyway i will say goodnight to you now as i am off to bed, talk again soon
Take Care
Tina