Sandytoes, I’m sure all the best bottoms are sticky and lemony! And there’s nothing for it - you’ll definitely have to try again! Yum. I think it’s about time I made them again as well…
Jane xxx
Has anyone had a sentinel node biopsy with the blue dye? Please could you tell me your experiences good and bad. I saw my surgeon tonight( /was it last night now? ) and he wants to do a SNB before my Mx and reconstruction so I am booked in for one on 7th Sep. No idea what to expect really but am happy they are doing it rather than just taking all the nodes out without testing first.
Oh and if anyone has seen the sleep fairy please could they pass her my way, thanks.
Hi I had snb with dye unf I can’t tell you much as kit was when I had my mx op so won’t remember a thing but I’ve had no probs with arm no scar etc takes a while for movement to return but kp doing exercises it gets tight now and then but u learn to live with it
Jo, I had one at the same time as WLE. I had a radioactive injection and scan the day before, then the dye is injected either a little before the op or during the op. You should get a local or be under anaesthetic when this happens. It leaves a blue patch on the underside of your breast which can last for quite some time, the first time you wee it is blue or turquoise, and especially if you are fair, your skin may look a bit blue. I had a very faint blue ‘mask’ around my eyes that disappeared quickly. (I tried to take a picture with my mobile, but it didn’t show up, only under a very bright bathroom light.)
The incision under my arm hurt more than the incision in my breast at the same time, because there are lots of nerves around the lymph nodes, but none in most of your breast tissue. Take the pain killers they give you on a regular basis and that should do the trick. You may experience some numbness and pain as the nerves heal, but the exercises seem to help with that, as well as restoring mobility. If your Mx is quite soon afterwards, this may all disappear into the post-Mx treatment.
Just don’t think you have to be heroic if there is some pain afterwards, take the painkillers! They also help reduce inflammation.
Cheryl
Thank you Laura and Mezzomamma, that sounds fairly straight forward. They told me it was but I do like to ask people who have actually experienced it.
I agree, it’s straightforward, but immediately after surgery the node incision was much more painful than the WLE incision. Blue dye has faded 7 months later so there’s just a very faint blueness around my nipple (completely disguised by the rads burns, but that’s a different story).
I am delighted to announce that I CAUGHT THE SLEEP FAIRY LAST NIGHT!!! Temazepam lassoo worked a treat and I feel much more rested today than I have done for ages. Won’t use it too often, but might knock myself out again tonight just to make sure I have a couple of nights of sleep under my belt. Woke up once or twice for the duvet game but went straight back to sleep rather than lying there fretting for hours. Heaven…
At work today (alto, you around? Give me a ring I’ve lost your number) so I shouldn’t be posting on here! (tee hee)
Yay! You slept CM!!! thanks for the welcome to the Rads rushes too… I used the Zopiclone fairy last night, and also slept… so feel better today… First rads over… no, I can’t use my alo vera deodorant, it has to be the one I can buy THERE… so off I troop to get it - same make, but theirs has loads more additives in it than the one I had! Oh well. I’ll be good and use theirs! No problem changing… there was a changing room by the machine, and one lady changed into a dressing gown and sat in that in the waiting room, but I’d been told just to change in the treatment area, which I did (just rolled down my sports cami) and it was not at all problematic or undignified. Only (joke) I made with the ladies was that I thought the piped music ought to have been soothing, rather than something that made me want to get up and bop!!! Hard to keep still when you want to dance! Lemon shortcake… mmmm… recipe please!
Hopefully getting one step nearer to Rads rushes myself (planning on 16th Sept) - fingers crossed for last Taxol tomorrow! Just the slight problem of getting some blood out of me in advance, five attempts by the vampire at my GP’s this morning without success (actually she is really lovely and gave me hug this morning, saying she will miss me!), so now have to go to blood centre at the hospital this afternoon…what a pain!
Really hoping the Taxol isn’t delayed - I have a short break booked for 3rd Sept when I hope to have most of my taste back, and can enjoy a glass of wine!
Hi Jane,
The lemon squares recipe that begat all our sticky bottoms is on page 264 of this thread. Actually, the easiest way to find it is to stick the word “caster” into the Search box and you’ll find it’s listed amongst several other recipes.
Happy baking!
Jane xxx
Temazepam fairy comes with a sting in the tail - had to leave work early, the Migraine Monster came and bit me in the bum! (Read the Tem leaflet and headaches and blurred vision are common side-effects. Darn.)
hi again everyone, been away at surgery marshes since friday, and returned to lagoon yesterday. Feeling bruised, bumped and emotionally wrecked, but hope to be feelin better soon!. Mx & recon friday, 6 hours approx op. Woke up feeling like I was ok, totally glad to be in the land of the living though very drugged up. Morphine is good stuff but my body liked it a bit too much and stats suffered so I had to be taken off it - result 3 hours of hell; climbing walls with back pain and crying as I could not get comfortable. I have never felt so alone… The lack of nursing staff meant I left feeling really helpless (they needed two people to move me but did not have enough staff as I recall ,but I was a bit delerious at the time due to the pain I was in) and they wouldn’t give me morphine again by drip as it meant I did not breath well. In the end paraceltomal and codeine just did not touch it and they gave me oral morphine, which worked. I felt so sorry for the two ladies sharing my ward as I just cried solidly for hours
My parents stayed to help me and only went back home today. I miss them already and they have been so much help. I have been eating lots of good food as hospital food make me physically wretch after three days and tasted so salty and horrible. The windy fairies have helped me back to normal bodily function, as well as the good fruit I have been eating. Thanks for everyone’s good wishes. Wanted to post form hospital but could not get online very well due to mobile reception. And so sorry to moan, but this is the only place I can do it as I have nobody at home to listen to me!!
Oh and can I vent please? - was told today ony getting paid for three quarters of normal hours last week; boss more or less implied I was on full pay while I was off. I know I should be happy to be getting some sick pay at all, but could have really done without this. Would’t mind but I ony got out of hospital yesterday and had a work phonecall an hour after getting home!!!
And to top it all have dome fresh bleeding at pinch point of poorly football where sutures are. Phone ward who told me not to worry I had probably bumped it, but i am worrying
Oh Dizzy - you need some serious R&R at the lagoon! Hope everyone keeps the noise from the JM down… ghastly… are you out of pain now? Oramorph worked well for me… not had a reconstruction yet though… not sure whether to… might just stay a one hump camel!
CM - you talked about the Aloe plants in the woods… did you use them from day one? or wait till things started to notice? or what? Got bombarded with a list of instructions as I was getting dressed this morning… can hardly remember any of them, except to have TEPID showers!?! Are they SERIOUS???
I wash my boob with aqueous cream and use aloe vera gel after my shower and at assorted times during the day. I have worn a bra all the way through, but it’s a cotton-lined, unwired sports bra from Sainsbury (at a fiver I can cope with that) as I found it more comfortable to have my boob kept in one position (and the gel kinda glued my skin to the inside of the bra so NO friction) rather than wobbling around inside a loose t-shirt and rubbing and getting sticky and hot underneath. My nipple and areola have lost most of their skin but no open sores, just very ouchy if anything moves, and have a couple of small skin breaks under my boob, but the intrasite gel I was given has been brilliant, as long as I leave it to dry properly before trying to put clothes on. So best to put it on at night so I can lie on my bed starkers while it dries.
Climbing Herceptin Hill again on Friday. Have felt rather odd NOT having a hospital or doctor’s appointment for the first time in over a month!
Hi GIJane
I’m 1/2 way thru rads and so far, so good - I barely wash the boob in the shower - simple soap every other day or so. Liberal E45 lotion after shower. Aloe V immediately after rads, more AV if I get itchy in the day, lots of AV plastered on before I go to bed.
I’m in sports bras too.
The central heating in Tam Towers hasn’t been playing up yet, but it’s early days!
Dx
Thanks ladies… I forgot to say to whoever had weepy eyes… I had too on Tax… just stopping now, four weeks after last one. I used Opticrom, which seemed to help (available over the counter)…
My climb up Herceptin hill has been slightly delayed due to my SNB being scheduled for the same day. Could you give me a wave as you go past please CM, I am camped just a little way up it at the moment.
Dizzy-- So sorry you’re having such a horrible time and on your own… I know everyone on here wishes they could comfort you in the real world. Do you have access to MacMillan nurses? The ones I have come across have been lovely and realy helpful and you may be eligible for a grant from them.
Sending loads of gentle hugs and hope you feel better soon,
Margaret x x x
Hi Dizzycloud
Sending gentle hugs!
I had the LD flap recon too - and I live by myself. My main bit of advice… DON’T TRY TO DO TOO MUCH!
It’s frustrating at first, but even simple things like loading a washing machine, or changing a duvet, become mammoth tasks. Take any help that’s offered and take your time on any task you do yourself.
Keep doing the exercises (gently!) be kind to yourself and you will soon start to feel better.
Take care
Dx
Dizzycloud, when you feel up to it, ask your manager or the appropriate person to send you a letter setting out the company policy on sick leave. When you ask, remind them that you are being treated for cancer, say that you have had contradictory information and ask them to clarify. This may not get you the 100% you were expecting, but if you have been put in the wrong category it might help sort things out, and at least you will know where you are now.
If they stick with 75% and you think this is wrong, then when you are up to it, you will have something in writing to discuss with an adviser. (You have my sympathy, because I lost teaching hours while on sick leave before they even put me on half pay and however unfair, my employer apparently observed the legalities.)
It’s downright rotten that you have this on top of having cancer, the effects of treatment and being on your own. Vent all you like; that’s what we’re here for.
Cheryl
hi again everyone, hope you are all looking after yourselves in the woods. Thanks for all your concern. My BCN came to see me today and examined my wounds. I now feel so much better, as I was worried. All healing ok but do have a wet bit, so she has given me some waterproof dressings for this, and told me not to worry I am healing ok. Got some fluid buid up on the back wound, but that’s only to be expected.
Daughter is coming home on Sunday, I can’t wait! I am enjoying the peace for now, but it will be nice to have some company and dare I say it, a little help
Ref the work front, normally my company only pays ssp, so I am lucky I am getting extra on top. My boss did say he would look after me though. We don’t have an HR dept, that is usually me!. If I complain it might seem greedy. I can manage, but it doesn’t leave me a lot to play with especially if I have to be off more than 6 weeks. I am going to take things one day at a time and see how I feel, though I am firmly decided on working for myself fulltime in the not too distant future. Having time to think is so nice, I can’t remember the last time I actually spent so much time just thinking about me and what I want for the future