Phyllodes Anyone?

Hi Niki

Welcome and so sorry to hear you are also in the same group of 'extra special people' as those I found myself amongst back February; so I absolutely understand how anxious and overwhelming it can all be.  My journey, thankfully, hasn't been typical, but has made me realise I am much stronger, mentally, than I ever believed.  

From personal experience, I found giving my tumour a ridiculous nickname certainly diminished the feeling of threat, albeit I also felt extremely relieved following surgery, once I knew 'Bob' had been sent packing, but do appreciate everyone deals with such situations differently.  

A lovely kind soul on this forum actually mentioned it was OK to have a 'toddler tantrum - legs in the air' moment, which really did make me laugh out loud, because that's exactly what I had been doing that morning.

I hope you'll find this forum helpful and a good sounding board.  

Hi Nicki 

your bound to feel anxious I was when I found out about my PT I had it removed In  feb it was golf  ball size unfortunately I have to go back in this Thursday to have more tissue removed as the margin  wasn’t clear but I have every faith in my consultant that it will all be removed and I gave it a name Larry the lump lol told everyone he was being evicted but unfortunately he’s left a bit of baggage behind lol 

Hi Magic

Hope all goes well for you on Thursday and 'Larry de Lump' finally gets the order of the great boot! 

Great minds think alike or so they say.  My surgeon asked me on the day of my op, did I know exactly what he was about to do?  To which I replied, 'Yes, you are going to evict the squatter in my breast'.  Unfortunately, this statement went straight over his head, but the ward sister was, pardon the pun, in stitches, because she absolutely got it.   

Despite my surgeon's sense of humour failure, he's brilliant and no doubt thinks I'm bonkers, but humour is a what saves our sanity at a time when the world seems to be topsy turvy.

BTW - I too should be having more tissue removed soon, as one of the margins was a tad less than recommended.

Yes it’s things like that that keep you going and keep your mind if it as well hope all goes well for you too can’t believe these PT are so stubborn and don’t want to move out lol x

Many thrall for your words. What can I expect in terms of scar / breast shape etc ?

I had a about a 5inch scar that was healing nicely and now after Thursdays op they have cut into the same scar although not had a look yet bruising is worse than the first time and I now have an indentation and the nipple looks like it could look around corners but hoping it will settle in a few weeks on my report it said it was borderline but less than 1mm if margin still has the tumour so hope it’s all gone now 

follow up in 4 weeks time 

Hi Niki

Like Magic; I have a scar about 5 inches long with a circular one running around the nipple. 

Since my initial surgery back in April, it has healed very well indeed and has progressed from red/bloody to now being a very faint, fine, pink line.  Once all the 'scabbing' had healed, I chose to use/massage in a little bio oil after a shower, which has helped flatten the larger scar considerably. I also have a bit of a flat spot where the tumour and marginal tissue was removed, but I am assured by my surgeon this will fill out and round again, given time, and, this appears to be the case as it has already started to do so. 

My surgeon also chose to use a vacuum assisted dressing for the first two weeks which is supposed to help promote good healing and reduce the potential for infection.  There are/were no visible stitches, albeit any 'internal' ones have either dissolved or the tails migrated their way to the scar surface, with me removing one only a couple of days ago.  I think I read somewhere, it can take a few months for suture remnants to fully dissolve/work their way out?

As for bruising, I have to say it was minimal, and much, much less than when I had the core biopsy, (I think a blood vessel may have got in the way when I had that done).

Please also bear in mind, everyone's skin heals slightly differently and thank heavens I inherited the right genes for good skin, although I also believe keeping well hydrated also benefits the healing process.

Hope this helps.