Treatment after surgery

Hi Or1977

Welcome to the forum and Iam sorry to hear that you were diagnosed with breast cancer and needed a mastectomy. 

I’m having chemo because I had cancer in one of my lymph nodes so it’s likely that if there is cancer in any of the lymph nodes that they took they will give you chemo. While I won’t say chemo is easy it is doable. As for the drain they don’t tend to leave it in any longer than two weeks after your operation.

Wishing you the best of luck with whatever comes next for you.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi Or1977, sorry to hear of your diagnosis. I had 2 ops (lumpectomy and then full axillary clearance) I to had a drain but only for about 5 days. Until you get your results back it’s hard to know what your treatment will be. Your treatment will be based on those results and be specifically for you. I was triple positive so had chemo, radiotherapy, targeted treatment and hormone blockers. There would have been no way I could have kept it from our kids. I told them right from the start and kept them informed at every step after appointments. I think this helped them to process everything and if they had any questions they asked. It was a difficult time too as our eldest had GCSEs and our youngest got run over by a car a week before I started my chemo. We muddled through and I’m now out the other end just 2 more targeted treatments to go and hormone blockers for another 4.5 years. 
Wishing you all the best 

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

Hi Daisy thank you for replying to me I am a very active person and find it hard to sit and do nothing it is still draining songod knows when this nightmare ( in a whole ) will be over

  Today I feel sorry for myself and wished I was alone xx

Hi !!!

 Love your name ! I am so sorry to hear about your son and your "good fortune " I am horrid knowing what a mum has to go through. 

Totally get to be honest with the kids but now it's too late I need to tell him once I know further treatment but dint want to break his heart 

I am.sad today. So sad 

Big hugs back xxx

There have been cases here on the forum where no further treatment was needed. Do you have a date for an appointment to receive the pathology results and the recommendation regarding treatment?

Drains. After 9 days I would expect yours to come out soon. If you are producing less than a certain amount per day (possibly 50ml, but I don't quite remember now,) it may be worth going to the hospital today to see if it is ready to come out, in time for Christmas.

As for your son, from what you are saying, everything you have told him so far is true -- they have indeed removed your lump. Depending on his age, and if you prefer not to say, "cancer," then any further treatment can be explained along exactly the same lines -- "I am getting treatment to prevent any more lumps to appear."

Wishing you a good Christmas and and even better one next year!

Hi , I had.my drain in for 11 nights , it came.out when it drained less than 30ml in 24hrs.  I had a masectomy with reconstruction, my nipple is also gone as tumour was behind it.  I have been given the FAB news I am now cancer free. However I do need chemotherapy as it was TNBC . I have a meeting in Jan to find out more about my chemotherapy. 

Hope this helps a little and sending lots of love xx

 Hi ! 

I keep thinking of next year and how I am going to look back on this time, feeling stronger and fitter than ever. I had 50ml since yesterday but It got caught in something I do not know if its working properly. I already changed it twice! It is just a pain ! 

I am so happy you got good news !  I am hoping that on the 4th of January I will come out happier to from the appointment.  

Thanks for the advice have a great Christmas,  clean and healthy forever xx

Hiya 

Next year I will be stronger , happier, fitter and healthier so I know this is a journey I need to go through.  My son is 12 and your suggestion is great thank you very much. The only thing I am worried about is the visibility of the further treatment and how will be upset or worried for me. 

I have an appointment on the 4th of January to find out about the results and the treatment if needed. Obviously I am very scared. I wanted to enjoy Christmas and I will be I need to get rid of the drain first and keep on thinking about the day after all of this bad dream. 

Have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for replying and giving me advice xx

You are very welcome, Or1977. I am a veteran of two mastectomies (at which point I ran out of boobs, so no more of that) and with my first surgery I had to change bottles twice, then they decided to take the drains out completely because they kept losing vacuum. This was all in the space of 2 days post surgery, but that was without a reconstruction. I then had to have the area drained manually a few times, not exactly on my list of fun things to do, but it all settled down in the end. With the second mastectomy the drain lasted a little longer, I think perhaps 4-5 days, but again no reconstructions, and this time no manual drainage is needed. Thinking back to the first surgery, I wish I could have kept that drain longer, it would have likely saved me the trouble of going in for manual draining.

About your son, I get what you are saying, but right now there is not enough information to share anyway, and there are more open questions than answers. After your appointment on the 4th of January you will have more answers to any questions he might ask, and if you are expected to lose hair, for instance, he might get the idea even without you saying a word, so possibly it might be an idea to tell him what is going on. How to do that is a different question. If you want some face to face support with that, both Macmillan and Maggie's have excellent support. From general experience with children, the younger they are, the more direct the questions they ask, all the way to, "Mummy, are you going to die?" Naturally he is going to worry about you, but I think that arming him with some information will go a long way to alleviate his concerns somewhat, and allows him to contribute by providing some practical help at times -- bringing over a snack or a bottle of water, bringing over the post from the door, etc.

Hi Orr1977

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis.  I had a mastectomy in October and had 1 drain removed in hospital at 1 day post-op, the other was removed after about a week in the breast clinic.  My nipple was removed too and I'm still sporting a dressing on it, they are slowly going down in size.  I have effectively 1.5 boobs now but have requested a symmetry operation on my other breast (slight reduction/uplift) so they will look a bit more matched in the end.  I started wearing a soft crop top type vest last week as I got tired of being braless and from the outside of clothes, it looks like a normal outline.

Fingers crossed that your results come through soon x