Newbie
Hi there everyone 👋 this is my first time posting my journey so far, it has taken me awhile to do this, so apologize in advance for such a long post. First I must say how wonderful it has been reading people's posts and how lovely and caring you all are 💞 such an inspiration I was diagnosed 10/2/20 with ILC stage 2 grade 2 hormone + her2- 11mm right breast. Appointment with Breast Surgeon the next evening he suggested lumpectomy but going for a MRI 20/2/20. Results back 27/2/20 that uncovered a few small lesions so more biopsies they came back cancerous 4/3/20. So now have chosen to have a skin & nipple sparing mastectomy with tissue expander & sentinel node biopsy. Boy how things change. BS is hoping for clear margins and clear under nipple and clear nodes then no need for chemo or rads just 5 year hormones. Op booked for 9/3/20 Private Hospital. Awoke to so much pain in top of breast where the tissue expander seemed to be up to high (under my muscle). Heaps of pain killers, even the self administrating pump thingy, eventually taken to my private room (that was nice). Had one drain in, IV, oxygen, then the usual obs, pain killers & antibiotics through out the night & day. 10/3/20 still very painful like nothing was really working. Nurse took me off the IV, oxygen & self administration thingy and gave me 2 endos but even they didn't help the pressure feeling. Feeling pretty bummed. Pathology results should be back by Fri week. 12/3/20 saw physio start level 1 exercises and walking the corridors. 6/3/20 Yay going home today after 1 week. Results in 20/3/20 good margins, main tumor was actually 16mm, 3 smaller lesions, unfortunately 1 out of 4 sentinel nodes had a 4mm cancer, bugger now I'm told it's going to be chemo, rads & hormones. Being referred to the Alan Walker Centre. 31/3/20 appointments with chemo oncologist & radiologist, off for blood tests and an echo test on heart before I start chemo. 8/4/20 1st chemo cycle booked. Treatment plan is 4 cycles of AC dose dense every fortnightly then 4 cycles of Paclitaxel dose dense every fortnight, then radiotherapy 5 days a week for 5 weeks. Then hormones for 5 years. 7/4/20 Appointment with BS put 100ml in TE. 8/4/20 chemo went well, went home with a bag of medication, was waiting to feel sick or nausea but I didn't. Cycle 2 booked for 22/4/20 went well again. 28/4/20 unfortunately I had an accident this afternoon cut my shin open on some tin, rushed to emergncy ended up with a 8cm long cut and 9 stitches and had a tetnus shot. Discharged at 10.30pm with having 1 antibiotic & a script for more. 30/4/20 leg was painful getting red and had a fever 38.7 so back to emergency and was admitted straight on to IV antibiotics and lots of tests, transferred me to RDH more tests. 2/5/20 Chemo oncologist came and saw me said chemo cycle 3 booked for 6/5/20 is cancelled. 5/5/20 discharged. 7/5/20 community nurse house visit to change dressing, leg still throbbing when unelevating. 8/5/20 Appointment with BS put 75ml in TE only 75ml to go then no more GREAT! as it is such an uncomfortable process and feels like a rock. 9/5/20 concerned about leg still sore. 11/5/20 nurse came to change dressing said wound was looking ok but warmth & redness not good so went my gp and changed my antibiotics, contacted my BC nurse & she filled in my chemo oncologist he said go for your usual pre blood test & come into tomorrow for chemo depending on wound. 12/5/20 well he took one look and sent me straight to emergency RDH after they took a wound swab (to find out which bacteria bug to treat for which takes 3 days to grow). So once again admitted put on IV antibiotics, wound cleaned and packed, more tests. This is really turning into a nightmare😣. 14/4/20 finally got the swab results, so on the right antibiotic now YAY YAY. 15/4/20 one of the treating Dr's came and said the xray of your leg showed a shadow on your bone which could be that the infection could have spread to it, so off for a CT scan (just what I don't need) thankfully results came be negative 😊😊.Got discharged 4pm with take home antibiotics.16/5/20 the best sleep for the year marvelous I've been so exhausted. Nurses coming daily, finally everyday seeing improvement. So chemo cycle 3 booked for 26/5/20 depending on wound. Usual blood tests day before. YAY they decided to go ahead finally can get back on track. Feeling so much better now. 29/5/20 nurse coming out this morning. Appointment this afternoon with BS only going to go for half the fill to my TE. Chemo cycle 4 last AC booked 9/6/20. Once again sorry for the long story but thought it best to put it all out there. xx❤❤xx
About to start radiotherapy
I have just had my planning session for radiotherapy on my right breast (mastectomy in July 2019, tissue expander now in place) I was worried about having the tattoos but they were just a scratch. The CT machine closest to my home (I live in SW WA) was not able to do the scan so I had to travel a couple of hours closer to Perth. All ok there though. Apparently the images are not so good with the magnet in place on my tissue expander but the newer machine was good. It was just a wasted journey, a week after chemo. So I am hoping I can get some good tips from those of you who have been through the radiotherapy journey (I think I have 25 daily sessions).
Mastectomy and Tissue Expander - Healing Process
Hi ladies, A week ago I had skin and nipple sparing mastectomy and insertion of a tissue expander. Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar procedure and what your healing processes has been like? I'm feeling like I'm doing ok but for the last day or 2 I am getting a short sharp pain behind my nipple, almost like something is catching when I move my arm (I'm thinking it is nerves), anyone else had something similar? Thanks :)
Muscle expander
Hi I just had my second lot of saline inserted in my muscle expander yesterday (wow it can be hard to breath the first night and next day) but tonight I feel an itch but my skin is numb so I can’t scratch it. It’s so frustrating. Does this happen often and does the feeling come back. I’ve tried a heat pack and a cold pack but it won’t make the itch go away
