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Mastectomy done - out of hospital :-)

TwinTwo
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Hi All,

Just to let you know I had my mastectomy with lymph node removal and breast reconstruction last Thursday and got out of hospital on Tuesday.

All went well.  Don't have results from the lymph node biopsies yet (this will inform what treatment I still need), should be another week yet for that.

Had a great time :D  I had two ward buddies until the Sunday afternoon and then I had the whole ward to myself for two days.  Ward buddies and I got on like a house on fire.  One came to visit me with her boyfriend the day after she got out and the other phoned the ward to talk to me.  Our ward was closed very early Friday morning after a woman had been brought in through A&E with vomiting and diarrhoea in the middle of the night and lied about what was causing her symptoms so she was put on our post-surgical ward!!!!!  Infection Control were in the next morning as she was moved to an isolation bay elsewhere and people cleaned around us.  Extra procedures were then in place for visiting us (gloves, gowns etc.) and we weren't allowed to leave our ward.  A deep clean then took place around me on Monday morning (that was hilarious) and the ward reopened at 10am, but there was just one day surgery person on Monday and one day surgery person on Tuesday (I knew the second one so that was cool).

The food was great and we all had loads of visitors so, all-in-all, it was a good experience.

My drains had to come out on Tuesday as then the infection risk was getting too high, but I was still draining a lot, so I will continue to swell up under my arm but it isn't too uncomfortable yet.  From what I can see of the breast he's done a fantastic job.  He took me down a size as requested.  He managed to access the lymph nodes from the one cut on the breast, and the cut is just from my now missing nipple and a little bit to the left, so minimal given that all my breast was being removed.

In-laws insisted we still stay with them as I recover from surgery, and mum is over to 'look after me' (which is really just going for lunches frankly).

Hope everyone is well.  Just thought I'd post an update.

LJxx

  • Offline in reply to TwinTwo

     

    Hi Twin Two,

    It sounds like a fairly productive day today. I am glad that your GP managed to concoct a combination of drugs which might help your migraines - it's amazing how much more can be done when a student is present. I used to suffer with awful migraines for 4 days out of 7. I took Migralieve and Imigran - one did work, the other wasn't as effective, but I can't remember which was which. I presume that you have already tried Imigran, or cannot take it? If not, it might be worth a try.

    I had a double mastectomy with my second bout of cancer and had chording under 1 arm and, I am still aware of a tightness 7 years later, despite doing my exercises religiously. I am glad that you are being sent for an urgent post-surgery physio appointment. It can't do any harm that you know the superintendant of physio and, a bottle of wine would seem a worthwhile trade-off if push comes to shove.

    I was very fortunate in that I met a nurse specialist in the Haven after my surgery. By this time I had developed bilateral Lymphoedema. This nurse taught me how to massage myself and bandage my arms, which I was never very adept at. I now attend a lymphoedema clinic for manual lymphatic drainage for 2 weeks out of every 12 weeks and the nurse there bandages me up. With both arms trussed up, I look like the Michelin Man for those 2 weeks and get some very strange looks and questions.

    The one thing that the nurse in the Haven did for me was to practice some Myofascial release on my scar tissue. This worked wonders. She even worked on scar tissue from my breast to my groin, which I had from a previous operation, carried out 14 years previously and, managed to soften a lot of the keloid scarring which had developed. If you are still having trouble in a few months, this might be worth consideration.

    You were fortunate that your results weren't back yet, when you didn't really want them before the weekend. Now you can relax over the weekend and wait to see what next week brings.

    Regards,

    Jolamine xx

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