marni
06-17-2011, 08:10 PM
The surgery is over and I am home after a night in the hospital with wake ups every hour to either pee or get the drains emptied. The anesthetic left me with terminal dry mouth, which made me drink lots of water, which made me need to pee a lot so part of the restless night was pretty much my own fault.
The pain is not bad, except for some stiffness and some very tender areas just under the collar bone and sternum where they had to scrape the breast tissue out from under the muscle. I have done some gentle arm exercises and have a full is somewhat slow range of motion but really it's not much worse than after a hard day at the gym. I ended up with only one drain because "there just isn't that much tissue there to be removed" which is how the surgeon reacted to my fried egg sized breast sliding towards my belly button.
I will hear about the lab results next week, but am not anticipating any chemo or radiation since the other side is totally clear, and there is nothing left of the surgical side to irradiate or chemo. I will be on tamoxifen (hormone therapy) for five years to discourage development of any more DCIS but other than that I am cancer free and half masted.
I am almost giddy with relief that it is all over and glad to be home and no longer tethered to a bed by an iv pole and pump.
I can't drive until the drain is out which might be by my follow up appointment next week but in the meantime, my daughter is here for the weekend, and my oldest son ("my son the doctor"( of mathematics) will be here tomorrow night for a week to help out with the driving and heavy lifting.
I am already eyeing the recumbent at the gym, and the elliptical with stationary arms. Plus I have my trainer moved into the house under an ac vent (today's temp was 99 with 32 mph winds and an 80% humidity) with easy access to a table fan and a cd play and a couple of training cds so..... I am sure that the fact that I am in pretty good shape has helped and will continue help me bounce back so easily and quickly.
All I can say is thank goodness for early detection so ladies and gents, get those mammograms, even if they call you back every three months and it takes two or three tries each time .
Thank you everyone for putting up with my whining and self pity and offering me such positive support. I hope I can do the same for each of you when you need it.
marni
The pain is not bad, except for some stiffness and some very tender areas just under the collar bone and sternum where they had to scrape the breast tissue out from under the muscle. I have done some gentle arm exercises and have a full is somewhat slow range of motion but really it's not much worse than after a hard day at the gym. I ended up with only one drain because "there just isn't that much tissue there to be removed" which is how the surgeon reacted to my fried egg sized breast sliding towards my belly button.
I will hear about the lab results next week, but am not anticipating any chemo or radiation since the other side is totally clear, and there is nothing left of the surgical side to irradiate or chemo. I will be on tamoxifen (hormone therapy) for five years to discourage development of any more DCIS but other than that I am cancer free and half masted.
I am almost giddy with relief that it is all over and glad to be home and no longer tethered to a bed by an iv pole and pump.
I can't drive until the drain is out which might be by my follow up appointment next week but in the meantime, my daughter is here for the weekend, and my oldest son ("my son the doctor"( of mathematics) will be here tomorrow night for a week to help out with the driving and heavy lifting.
I am already eyeing the recumbent at the gym, and the elliptical with stationary arms. Plus I have my trainer moved into the house under an ac vent (today's temp was 99 with 32 mph winds and an 80% humidity) with easy access to a table fan and a cd play and a couple of training cds so..... I am sure that the fact that I am in pretty good shape has helped and will continue help me bounce back so easily and quickly.
All I can say is thank goodness for early detection so ladies and gents, get those mammograms, even if they call you back every three months and it takes two or three tries each time .
Thank you everyone for putting up with my whining and self pity and offering me such positive support. I hope I can do the same for each of you when you need it.
marni