Bilateral Mastectomy on Friday - prayers, prayers, prayers please!

Well, after Friday I'll be a changed woman. Surgery is scheduled for early afternoon. With the bilateral she's going to a sentinel node biopsy on the currently unaffected breast, since it can't be done after the fact and just in case anything is found in that breast. I almost cancelled the SNB becauase I'm not looking forward to the needles in the nipple again (ouch), but I figured that is definitely better than a full node disection in case anything is found.

So, I hope to see you all there on Friday, unless you're otherwise tied up. Don't forget the pink boas!!!

L&H,
Laure'

Boy Laure' you do not let any daisies grow under your feet. You just moved, and here you are all scheduled for a bilateral. I guess you found your surgeon and everything is working like clockwork, which is great. We will be there with the PCE and feathers flying on Friday. Big hugs, MK

I chose Dr. Jan Huston and will be having the surgery at St. Barnabas in the Ambulatory Care Center. I chose outpatient for many reasons, top on the list is the IV can come out sooner since my veins usually reject the IV after a number of hours. Also, then I can be home with my cats and kids and in my own bed!

The reason for doing the SNB now is that they have to inject the dye/nuclear meds into the breast so that it goes to the sentinel node. Without the breast, no place to do the injection. Unfortunately, I'll be going from the St. B's medical center to the St. B's ambulatory center, so no "coctails" until I speak with the anesthesiologist.

I really appreciate all of your prayers and thoughts! I have definitely been trying to find out all I can about this! Now I'm awaiting the Oncotype DX study and I'll let you know that when I find out. Still praying for a low score!

L&H,
Laure'

Interesting point, Frayda. I did a bit of research and here's an interesting article from JHU, presumably one of the better cancer centers:

"Johns Hopkins makes it the patient's choice to be an inpatient or outpatient for mastectomy surgery without reconstruction based on input from her surgeon. We are strong advocates that only hospitals who have developed comprehensive patient education programs which are conducted in advance of the patient's surgery should be performing mastectomies on an outpatient basis. We know from experience however that patients prefer going home the day of surgery 71% of the time and do very well. They score us high on patient satisfaction surveys and feel confident that they made the right choice in electing to have their surgery performed on an outpatient basis."

I'm not having any reconstruction, and given the input from the doctor and the choices women in her care have made to go home, I still feel confident that I want to go home. It's going to be much easier than my gallbladder surgery, my c-section, and 25 hours of natural childbirth without any meds.

Thank you so much for your concern. I will have help. Both my mother and my husband, plus my kids are pretty good about taking care of themselves. The cats I hope will snuggle at my legs (well, only Roger ususally does) and that's a wonderful feeling. I'm sure I'll be okay as long as I get the anti-nausea meds!

Laure'

Thanks, Frayda. You didn't sound harsh at all. Rather, you sounded concerned and loving and that means the world to me! I always appreciate seeing both sides of the coin, and getting advice from people who care is what living is all about! So, thank you for caring!

Laure'-
Sending early prayers to you as you prepare for surgery...it sounds like you are right on top of things and preparing mentally too. We'll send the PCE up to NJ for Friday...

L&H,
Lori

I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node on April 13th.  Before I was put to sleep, they did do the small needles around the nipple, but I promise you, they did not hurt.  I think they did 4 and they were the smallest needles ever !!!.  They felt like a little sting for less than 4 seconds each.   I also had no trouble with the sentinel node.......I thought it would be in my arm pit, but actually it is lower than that and I had no pain, maybe a little discomfort, but really no pain.  I wish you luck and give you my prayers and love,

Janis (Monroe, NC).

Laure,

I'm sending you wishes again for a great outcome, along with prayers for same. Make sure you do exactly as the doctor says!

L&H.
Rita