The “journey” begins.

MrsMorrisey

Boob  has decided to swell up and want attention. 

Have ice pack and Advil but may need to get it drained. 

Did others have swelling, if so did it settle? I’m day 12 post op. 

arpie

Bummer - is it hot as well as swelling?  Can you talk to your Breast Care Nurse?  Also, Let your surgeon's office know, too.

I had a small seroma & it absorbed by itself .... 

Take care, wishing you the best xx

MrsMorrisey

Hi @arpie no it’s not hot and know what to look out for. 

I’ve made a tentative booking at my BS for next Monday. I figured that gives it time to settle but long enough for their to be enough fluid build up to warrant aspiration. 

MrsMorrisey

Saw lymphoedema nurse today and had some laser on the cording. Feeling a lot better. Boob is still swollen but not more than it should considering I’ve had two surgeries in 6 weeks!! Poor body. 

Also saw radiation oncologist. Three weeks radiation therapy starting in May. 

Feel like my celebrations from Monday have been somewhat dulled but I spose that’s cancer for you. 

MrsMorrisey

Hi all. I have a question which I forgot to ask the dr.
If you have radiation and the cancer comes back n the same breast, is your only solution more surgery?
 I was told that rads affects the skin integrity and future healing so what happens if it comes back? I know you can only do rads once on a certain area.

arpie

I think that is a question for your Rad Onc, @MrsMorrisey.   I've heard that you can't have Rads in the same spot more than once .... but I also know someone who HAS had 2 lots of rads in the one spot .... 

To be honest, IF the cancer came back in the same breast with me - I reckon I'd give it the chop 2nd time around - I was prepared for that the first time, if the surgeon considered it the better way to go .... 

MrsMorrisey

Rads won’t be starting until 15 May! 

That’ll be 4 months since first op. Seems a big wait. 

arpie

My surgery was in Jan & my Rads finished at Easter .... and I could have waited till after my trip to Norfolk Island in May, too - but I chose to have it over & done with BEFORE my break!   4 months would be within the 'acceptable' range - but most of us would  prefer to get it over & done with as early as we can xx

take care 

D63

Hello @MrsMorrisey. I’m a bit similar to you in having Stage 2 IDC with no node involvement, thankfully.I had the original lumpectomy followed by 2 re-excisions in the space of 3 weeks, because what was thought to be a 8mm mass turned out to be more like 16mm and was rather poetically described after the first re-excision as being in “a dust cloud of DCIS”. Because the tumour was a mite greater than 15mm, the option of chemo (in addition to rads and tabs) was laid on the table. Like you, I’ve opted to do the Oncotype testing and probably have at least another two weeks wait for results. My natural instinct was to adopt a scorched earth approach and have chemo - my tendency is to always choose the hard road - but I am trying to be very deliberate in considering the risks/benefits of chemo. Would you mind me asking you if you found  that the Oncotype results helped your decision making? 

MrsMorrisey

Hello D63 
Three ops is pretty full on for you, I had two and that’s enough. 

I had/have a different point of view to some others as I did not do the oncotype test. 

My thoughts are too much emphasis is put on an expensive test which provides no guarantee just more specific statistics. 

It should not be that expensive either! 

On my Predict portal my overall benefit percentage is 3%. To me that risk/beneft ratio is not one I want to take so I turned down the test and chemo. 

The onco wasn’t even sure I’d need it and only 4 rounds were on offer. She left it up to me. 

My logic said to me that the cancer was contained in DCIS, it was removed and it is gone. 

I feel like I’d be taking too many risks if I didn’t do radiation so I will do 15 rounds in May with Tamoxifen to start after that. 

We all make decisions based on lots of factors and each to there own I think. 

D63

Thanks @MrsMorrisey for your speedy reply. Silly me, I thought that you’d opted for the for Oncotype test. At the end of the day, the reality is that we have to grapple with our individual percentages and projections and I’m so glad you’ve reached the decision that is right for you. Very best wishes for your radiation treatment in May and thank you for your feedback.

MrsMorrisey

No worries. I think I wrote a post saying I would do it a while back. Best wishes to you too x