Over the weekend my infected breast got worse, subtantially bigger. I also had a negative reaction to one of the antibiotics.. severely itchy and a rash that has now even spread to my face (tiny blisters all over - ICH)
So I got in to see the surgeon today and got the bad news. We have arrived at the worst case scenario. We have to remove the expander and delay reconstrution. I go in to the hospital today at 3, for surgery at five to remove the expanders. and tomorrow I will come home flat chested with drain tubes. I'm heartbroken.
Welcome to My BRCA Blog. I'm Amanda, I'm 30. When I was 28, I tested positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation increasing my risk of Breast Cancer up to 84% and my risk of Ovarian Cancer to 27%. I recently had a prophylactic mastectomy to reduce my risk. I am using this blog as a forum to express my feelings through this journey as well as to keep others in the loop. Newest entries are on top, scroll down or use the links on the side to see older posts.
Showing posts with label expander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label expander. Show all posts
Monday, October 24, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Recovering at Home
I came home from the hospital Thursday afternoon. My husband set up our comfy recliner with a sheet and my blue fuzzy blanket. With the addition of two pillows for my arms it is quite comfortable! Up until today I was taking my pain medication every 2 hours. Last night I switched to 3 hours (or when I woke up), It seemed to go okay, so I will continue on this schedule for a day or so, continuing to try to decrease the narcotics.
I was allowed to shower right away, which surprised me because I had read many places about not being allowed to shower until the drains were out. So when I got home I took a shower, and my husband assisted with washing my hair. It felt wonderful to be CLEAN. He also took care of the drains up until Sunday night when I felt I could/should take that over.
I'm really looking forward to getting the drains out. They're kind of annoying and pretty gross. They are these tubes that are hooked up to something that wraps around my breast (on the inside) and dangled about a foot or so out of my body on each side to these bulbs where the fluid collects. Twice a day we have to "strip the drains" where we lotion our fingers and squeeze all the fluid/clots sitting in the tube into the bulb, then we have to empty the bulb and measure and record the fluid that was inside. UGH.
At my most recent appointment with the plastic surgeon he thought we could get them out maybe on friday.. My husband interpreted things a little different, as in *maybe* on Friday, but more likely on Monday. I really hope it's Friday.
He also suggested that I wear a bra, but specifically he wanted me to wear something supportive under my breast but loose around the nipple, so like an old bra should work. Unfortunately I no longer have any good supportive bras that aren't a miraculous bra, but I found a couple old nursing bras, and they're working for now.
My right nipple is struggling to survive. It's really scary looking, it's all dark red/purple, kind of blackish... So I have to clean it twice a day and thickly apply a burn cream to the nipple and surrounding skin. I think it is starting to look slightly better and the plastic surgeon seemed more optimistic about it when he saw it yesterday.
The expanders are strange, each breast has one of these expanders and they're basically the same circumference of my old breasts, but without the filling. So they're big around but rather flat. Apparently they had removed 500 grams of breast tissue from my left breast, and 450 from the right (the left was bigger..) then he filled about 200-250 grams into the expanders at the time of surgery, so right now my breasts are about half the mass that they were prior to surgery.
They are really strange though. They're HARD, and they don't move. So it kind of feels like they're in my armpit when I try to lower my arms. I'm assuming that is only going to get worse as we start filling them up.
I mentioned my arms and the numbness in the last post. They've improved quite a bit. I have almost full use of my fingers and thumbs back, but from the pointer finger to the thumb of each hand still have a tingly pain in them and my left arm still won't full extend. It seems to get better each day, though the improvement seems to have slowed... But I am sooo happy it didn't stay where it was, that would have been life changing, in a very negative way!
Anyway, now that it doesn't make me dizzy to sit at the computer, I'll try to post more frequently.
I was allowed to shower right away, which surprised me because I had read many places about not being allowed to shower until the drains were out. So when I got home I took a shower, and my husband assisted with washing my hair. It felt wonderful to be CLEAN. He also took care of the drains up until Sunday night when I felt I could/should take that over.
I'm really looking forward to getting the drains out. They're kind of annoying and pretty gross. They are these tubes that are hooked up to something that wraps around my breast (on the inside) and dangled about a foot or so out of my body on each side to these bulbs where the fluid collects. Twice a day we have to "strip the drains" where we lotion our fingers and squeeze all the fluid/clots sitting in the tube into the bulb, then we have to empty the bulb and measure and record the fluid that was inside. UGH.
At my most recent appointment with the plastic surgeon he thought we could get them out maybe on friday.. My husband interpreted things a little different, as in *maybe* on Friday, but more likely on Monday. I really hope it's Friday.
He also suggested that I wear a bra, but specifically he wanted me to wear something supportive under my breast but loose around the nipple, so like an old bra should work. Unfortunately I no longer have any good supportive bras that aren't a miraculous bra, but I found a couple old nursing bras, and they're working for now.
My right nipple is struggling to survive. It's really scary looking, it's all dark red/purple, kind of blackish... So I have to clean it twice a day and thickly apply a burn cream to the nipple and surrounding skin. I think it is starting to look slightly better and the plastic surgeon seemed more optimistic about it when he saw it yesterday.
The expanders are strange, each breast has one of these expanders and they're basically the same circumference of my old breasts, but without the filling. So they're big around but rather flat. Apparently they had removed 500 grams of breast tissue from my left breast, and 450 from the right (the left was bigger..) then he filled about 200-250 grams into the expanders at the time of surgery, so right now my breasts are about half the mass that they were prior to surgery.
They are really strange though. They're HARD, and they don't move. So it kind of feels like they're in my armpit when I try to lower my arms. I'm assuming that is only going to get worse as we start filling them up.
I mentioned my arms and the numbness in the last post. They've improved quite a bit. I have almost full use of my fingers and thumbs back, but from the pointer finger to the thumb of each hand still have a tingly pain in them and my left arm still won't full extend. It seems to get better each day, though the improvement seems to have slowed... But I am sooo happy it didn't stay where it was, that would have been life changing, in a very negative way!
Anyway, now that it doesn't make me dizzy to sit at the computer, I'll try to post more frequently.
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Plastic Surgeon - Pre-op
Today I had my pre-op appointment with the plastic surgeon. He was much more personable this time. I didn't get alot of new information. We discussed again the location of the incision. He still thinks it's too risky to do the incision under the breast, so under the nipple and out each side an inch or so.
As required, I've stopped taking my anti-inflammatory medication, so hopefully it doesn't get too bad, but that's what the hydrocodone is for right?! I mentioned that to him too and he said that is fine, that what that means to him is that I may just need more (higher dose?) of the pain meds after surgery, since my body is accustomed to taking them.
I had read lots of places about patients being prescribed anti-anxiety medication for the night before and morning of the surgery, he said he doesn't do that because he wants to ensure the patient can stand up when he needs to draw on them, (which he'll do the morning of the surgery).. so okay. I've had surgery before with out anti-anxiety meds. I can do it again!
He did ease one of my concerns by saying the expanders would be partially filled at the time of surgery. So I won't wake up complete flat chested! They'll need to somewhat fill out the skin that is left behind. Then after a few weeks we'll start fills, which if I'm remembering correctly I believe he said weekly. Then after we achieve the size we want, we'll leave the expanders in for probably about 3 months before having the exchange surgery, to (silicone - yay) implants.
He said we'd kind of have to play the reconstruction by ear. We'll have to wait and see what my body will tolerate before we can know what kind of results to expect.
Of course, this was the time when we had to read, and be told, all the horrible things that could happen. Ranging from having scars (duh?) to deadly infections and multiple surgeries, skin dying, and bleeding risks, and the potential to need to take muscle and skin from my back to repair damage (yikes!). But I know all this. Nothing surprising. Having months to prepare has definitely given me time to look up and read about pretty much anything you can dream of related to this procedure. I know what the potential is. I'm just hoping for the best!
I am willing my body to have the best recovery possible. I want to impress him with my amazing healing! When I had my VATS lung biopsy the doctors were very impressed with my healing at my follow up, (but then they mentioned they are used to seeing patients in their 60s and 70s at these types of things... who don't typically heal quite as nicely as 29 year old...)
Interestingly he also pointed out the slight asymmetry of my breasts... apparently the left one is slightly larger than the right. I know most people (if not all?) have at least this slight difference, but I had always thought mine were VERY close. but sure enough after he pointed it out, I could tell. I wonder if part of pointing this out feeds into the overall need to understand that I didn't have perfect breasts to begin with and shouldn't expect them to be perfect when we're done. Which of course I understand. I get it - I'm cutting open my breasts and removing their substance, to have them sewn back together containing something unnatural. I get that they won't be as glorious as the ones I grew naturally. But again I'm hoping for the best....considering....
As required, I've stopped taking my anti-inflammatory medication, so hopefully it doesn't get too bad, but that's what the hydrocodone is for right?! I mentioned that to him too and he said that is fine, that what that means to him is that I may just need more (higher dose?) of the pain meds after surgery, since my body is accustomed to taking them.
I had read lots of places about patients being prescribed anti-anxiety medication for the night before and morning of the surgery, he said he doesn't do that because he wants to ensure the patient can stand up when he needs to draw on them, (which he'll do the morning of the surgery).. so okay. I've had surgery before with out anti-anxiety meds. I can do it again!
He did ease one of my concerns by saying the expanders would be partially filled at the time of surgery. So I won't wake up complete flat chested! They'll need to somewhat fill out the skin that is left behind. Then after a few weeks we'll start fills, which if I'm remembering correctly I believe he said weekly. Then after we achieve the size we want, we'll leave the expanders in for probably about 3 months before having the exchange surgery, to (silicone - yay) implants.
He said we'd kind of have to play the reconstruction by ear. We'll have to wait and see what my body will tolerate before we can know what kind of results to expect.
Of course, this was the time when we had to read, and be told, all the horrible things that could happen. Ranging from having scars (duh?) to deadly infections and multiple surgeries, skin dying, and bleeding risks, and the potential to need to take muscle and skin from my back to repair damage (yikes!). But I know all this. Nothing surprising. Having months to prepare has definitely given me time to look up and read about pretty much anything you can dream of related to this procedure. I know what the potential is. I'm just hoping for the best!
I am willing my body to have the best recovery possible. I want to impress him with my amazing healing! When I had my VATS lung biopsy the doctors were very impressed with my healing at my follow up, (but then they mentioned they are used to seeing patients in their 60s and 70s at these types of things... who don't typically heal quite as nicely as 29 year old...)
Interestingly he also pointed out the slight asymmetry of my breasts... apparently the left one is slightly larger than the right. I know most people (if not all?) have at least this slight difference, but I had always thought mine were VERY close. but sure enough after he pointed it out, I could tell. I wonder if part of pointing this out feeds into the overall need to understand that I didn't have perfect breasts to begin with and shouldn't expect them to be perfect when we're done. Which of course I understand. I get it - I'm cutting open my breasts and removing their substance, to have them sewn back together containing something unnatural. I get that they won't be as glorious as the ones I grew naturally. But again I'm hoping for the best....considering....
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