whoops, wrong spot.
My bad. Nothing to see here.
Forum Discussion
- I very belatedly discovered the benefit of massage with a persistent and large seroma - draining it (an aspiration!) only seemed to encourage it to fill again with remarkable determination and speed and is a bit of a risk for infection, although so is leaving the fluid too! I’d seriously discuss it with a lymphoedema specialist if a seroma won’t disperse naturally in reasonable time.
- I may well be developing one of those.
Sigh.
I've made a physio appointment for next week just in case, and I've got a referral for another(!) ultrasound if I think I need it.
Forewarned, as you say... - You've got to wonder how some folk get rid of them in days and I always end up lugging those gruesome bags around for weeks and weeks. I'm a world champion 'leaker' and also had drains removed after over a month.
Unfortunately I hadn't stopped oozing internally and ended up with a series of seroma. Watch out for that (a collection of fluid in the wound site) Seroma are common and don't usually cause major dramas; they are more an inconvenience if you need to have them drained.
Aren't I the bringer of great news first thing in the morning? Sorry about that, but forewarned is forearmed. Mxx - Drains suck...
Keep plodding.
Mxx - Ok everyone, time for an update.
First - THANKS! You all helped. A lot.
Secondly, I gave up trying to go without the pain meds. Turns out being in pain makes a person very grumpy. Who knew.
I took all my pathology and treatment plans and EVERYTHING with me to the breast care nurse on Wednesday. I also moved heaven and earth (and so did they!) to allow my partner in with me. Having him excluded from that sort of thing was causing serious domestic strife.
Then the kids (5&8) went away for three nights, which was extremely reatorative.
Seeing the cancer psych was also helpful. I'll see her again next week.
Everything is still overwhelming, I'm still drained, exhausted, and depleted. I still (STILL!) have the blasted surgical drain in my side. I still have so much health admin to do it's not funny (with the bills, it's not the money so much as it is keeping track of everything and actually doing the task.)
But for now, I'm doing ok. Not great, but ok. And for now, I'll take that 😊 - @Kahm
Yep. It is a rolling shit show, that is for sure.
I can personally recommend screaming in the car. Find a quiet road somewhere and let rip until you feel ridiculous.
Does it fix anything? Well yes and no. I find it lets off some internal pressure. Do it somewhere you are not going to get booked for 'driving while distracted' or filmed by some weirdo. MXX - Hello, I’ve sent you a private message 🙂
- Hi @Kahm, I totally hear what you are saying. You are in the right place. You have been incredibly proactive and achieved a lot in a very short space of time in one of the trickiest times to be diagnosed. You are still very much in the frantic part of finishing chemo, surgery, pathology, recovery and radiation - all of those things. We can all relate in some way to how you’re feeling. You are going to feel done in, but then you will dig a little bit deeper and you will adjust and process this seemingly endless amount of information. Go easy on yourself, you are learning on the run and is totally ok to not be ok. My PS said to me in relation to my treating team, ‘we all have our agenda, but first and foremost is the actual treatment.’ I was very worried about reconstruction (I really wanted it), but, as I have learned, there are lots of options. I definitely know there are people who have radiation done with expanders in. Could this be a possibility for you? You may have done this, but write a list of questions - I had to as I was often overwhelmed. Take care 🌸
- "Podcast Series: Upfront About Breast Cancer – What You Don’t Know Until You Do, with Dr Charlotte To — BCNA Online Network" https://onlinenetwork.bcna.org.au/discussion/23866/podcast-series-upfront-about-breast-cancer-what-you-don-t-know-until-you-do-with-dr-charlotte-to#latest
