Hello
well after being dx on 15 July with IDC am having wle and setinel node thingy tomorrow plus reduction to other boob and uplift - I worked up to yesterday when my nerves finally shattered and i broke down in sobs several times and still stayed there until 6.30 pm trying to achieve something!!!
I’m scared and shaky but gradually accepting that this is happening. Is anyone there?
Lyn x
Hi Lyn - good luck for tomorrow (it may be too late for you to see this post before you go.) At this point, it wouldn’t be normal for you NOT to be in a state of total panic - we’ve all been there. As my friend remarked today, we all go through life thinking “It won’t happen to me.” But unfortunately, sometimes it does.
Thanks Susanne - no im still here - must go and pack my bag soon - my OH is due back from work at 1am - just me and the lump for company at moment - glad to know you are there though
Lyn x
I had a WLE with full node clearance on 24th February - 1.2cm Grade 3 lump, 1/25 nodes affected (I alreay knew one was, as it was huge - that was how I found my cancer, couldn’t feel the lump in my breast.) I found the node clearance site more painful, but it only lasted a while. We’ve been talking on one of the boards about exercises to reduce cording and lymphodema - do check those out, and do them (not to the point of pain) as they really do help.
The worst thing about the op was the drains - they’re a real nuisance, they hurt if they pull on you, and you can get very anxious about infection risk. Some hospitals give you a bag to put it in, or you can make your own - just an old pillowcase, with a long length of tape safety-pinned to it. It has to nearly touch the floor, or the drain doesn’t work properly.
Also try to get up and walk around as soon as you can. Get visitors to take you along the corridor, until you feel safe to walk by yourself. And don’t shuffle or you’ll feel like an invalid - hold your head up and be YOU (you still are, even if it sometimes feels like some pathetic, scared little wimp has taken you over.)
Thanks for tips Susanne - I am going off line now to pack the bag or I will never get to bed - feels like my usual last minute panic when going on holiday - but this is no holiday- the wimp has subsided for a while - i have a sense of purpose now - good night and thanks
Lyn x
Ohh I’m so sorry I missed you gemjunkie!!!
I have only just had mx and I don’t mind saying I was bricking it!!
I had a massive panic attack on the way to hospital but luckily for me I didn’t have to wait long so less time to panic.
I told the anethstist I was really worried (I think he could tell by my sweaty palms! lol) he said don’t worry I will give you a bacardi and coke to settle you.
I did wonder if he was serious!
When I went down in that little small room they put some sticker pads on you, then theyy (well mine did) gave me a small amount of anesthetic to make me feel drowsey (this was the bacardi) then a little while later he injected the lot but he never said anything so I said " should I be feeling like this?" he said “yes” and that was it next I knew I was in recovery .
It’s only natural to feel scared but do tell them and they may have more bedside manners?
Susanne is right about the drains take a bag with you not a teeny one either.
You will be home before you know it.
Also must stress make sure you do your arm exercises daily, Ive been discharged already from physio therapy.
good luck love Caron xx
ps I imagined myself not there as if I was watching it being played out, it did help.
Hello Gemjunkie,
so sorry I missed your post yesterday so don’t expect you will see this before you go. I had exactly same procedure seven weeks ago. It was all absolutely fine. No probs at all. Be thinking about you today. Please post when you get back and let us know how it went. Sure you will be fine and soon this will just be a memory.
Best wishes,
Sheila
And the nasty little b*gger will be in a petrie dish somewhere, instead of in your boob!
Suzanne, that is exactly the image I went to surgery with! Sheila x
Hello Gemjunkie
sorry you had to join us and I hope that it’s all gone ok for you today. Fingers crossed.
Katie
X
Hi I’m back and still alive.
It did not all go to plan but I’m home now and glad that step one is over.
Thanks to Caron, Sheila and Katie for your kind words, hope you are all in good spirits.
I had the radioactive injection scans at one hospital then had to book into another (private) for the op at 11.30am. My surgeon arrived and drew diagrams all over my chest area with his magic marker and took some before pics. Was due for 4 hours of surgery at 1.30pm but unfortunately the anaethesist did not turn up - on holiday!!! - apologies all round from surgeon, this has never happened before, very stressed hospital manager !!! and it took until 5.30pm to get another one (very nice German lady). They then operated on another lady first and eventually I went down to theatre at 8pm (after loosing it at 7pm) and having to go out in the rain for a cigarette (what an idiot).
Next thing I knew it was 10.30pm and I was in recovery. Apparently my surgen explained what had happened but i forgot it all in the drugs blurr so at 6 am I wa spanicking an wondering why I only had one boob operated on = poor OH had to come in to calm me.
ps.
Turned out my surgeon was actually on holiday this week and had come in especially to do my op and he was in London at 8.30 seeing another consultant with his poorly wife but he came in to see me at 10.30 am and expained what had happened. He said that when he operated on my 26mm lump it had legs coming out of it into the healthy tissue so he had to remove a 10cm area of tissue for testing and three lympth nodes. I had no real problem with my arm and drains were fine, taken out yesterday morning and home by 2pm. I have an appointment for THurs evening and he is hoping to have some of the results for me then…more worrying. Now I am in agony with trapped wind and something else I have not seen on this site - a wedge of dark green constipated stool that refuses to leave my body! It reminds me of the first pooh that a baby does - OH checked out with pharmacist who said it may be SE of ana or drugs. Amyone else had alien pooh? Sorry to be rude. Lyn xxx
Hi Lyn
As a nurse see alian poo post op all the time.
We often call it starvation poo, cos you’ve not been alowed to eat for ages add to that all the drugs and stuff.
Oh and the constipation bit its ugh had that post op myself, didn’t get ailan poo (though had kinda expected some) but then I did time eating to the last poss moment that wouldnt freak my anesthetist out.
Please dont be like me and underestimate how much an anesthtic can knock you and take care.
g x
Hi Glenna
Wow I finally gave birth to the alien poo at about 5pm - we had friends visiting at the time - highly embarassing but I ran down the stairs crying Hallaujah! Can now sit down again. I have never seen anything like it. If that was pre-op digestion then there is plenty to follow as I ate like crazy in hospital for two days though not much today. Still got trapped and loose wind but at least now can eventualy release it.
The pain from the op is minimal and I have avoided any further tramadol just paracetamol and ibru. Big problem is lack of sleep and bad dreams when I do sleep. Just had one and half hours of fretful rest and now up again - wee, hot flush, my OH sleeps like a log (snoring one) wish I could get three hours in one go.
How are you doing?
Lyn x
hello to you two,hope you dont mind me joining in,Ive really laughed at your poo discussions,can I address a question to Glenna,
seeing as youre a nurse. I found the perfect solution to being constipation when I was on chemo, cheap,available in most good supermarkets,work in about 10-15 minutes but no-one ever recommends them;glycerine suppositories. the benefits are no griping pains as medicine works its way through you,plus the speed. I did use them after my op as well,squeezing isnt an option the 1st few days.
Take care love Mags x
Oh good old glycerine suppositories work wonders.
I work in paediatrics and we use them for the kids. Bit of a laugh when you have to cut off a “slither” to give to a tiny baby woobles all over the place and the little devels love to poo it out straight away, so you have to stand there holding it in. If people didnt know what were doing would either think we were nuts or want us investigated.
I’m doing good, my enery finally returned after about 8 days following 1st chemo hope this is the max.
Went to look at new riding center today so planning to go back to lessons soon, really liked the place especially as they said if I wasnt up to a lesson or felt too tierd they are more than happy to just let me be on the lunge rein so I can just relax. So me a very happy bunnie nothing like nice things to look foreward even if its only something small
Hope your all well.
g
Hi Mags & G
Yes I remember 30 years ago when I had an ectopic pregnancy op and the norm was to stay in hospital for a week or so then - I had those greasy suppositries put in by a nurse and I was as bad as a baby - I could not just lie on the bed letting them melt - I ran to the loo too quick - and got told off for wasting them - will get some if I need more surgery. My husband suggested medical olive oil (lurking at the back of the first aid cupbord),which helped grease the way but my 31 year old piles were so sore (bled on aborted attempts to reieve myself of the alien green stuff - after years of no trouble) it was very painful to get it in there. Please don’t laugh too much at visions of me and OH doing all this.
Hope this post does not offend anyone - at least I’ve still got my soh - discovere gaviscon today which has now beaten back the remaining trapped wind.