Oncologist & Faslodex

Well, I had a post all typed out and then pow...gone. So trying again. Fast.

Saw onco on Tues. Got Faslodex inj. Didn't hurt much at all this time. Port still works. Chemo room still sucks. No scan for 4-5 mos.

Funny

Scar

Scar across my back & you can see the drain tubing under the skin just below my scar. PS said that she only use a small area of back skin to repair my skin in front. She used it where my skin was thin. She got good coverage for the expander from my lat muscle so the expander is under that. The left over skin from my back had the top layer taken off and is buried as part of the new boob thing. 

Looking for new blog site to use that has an APP!!!

Apparently Google is no longer supporting the iOS app. Wondered why I kept getting kicked off. So annoying to have to type this using the web browser!!!
I need to be able to transfer everything over to another blogging app.

Great day!

I felt really good today (well, since it's after midnight I guess I should say yesterday). I felt happy today. Went to Rumsey St. to check out Site Lab for ArtPrize. It's a street with an old Catholic Church and old houses that are used as art venues. I loved the smell of the old buildings & the old floors & wallpaper. I so want a house of my own.

I had some sharp pain in my back in the afternoon. Not sure if it was from the stitches, the drain, or the muscle. The area around my port feels swollen an has been bothering me. I hope the port is still ok. My right arm is great! No elbow pain like I normally have & seems like less swelling. Left is still up but not painful.

Shopping

I had a good day so I went online shopping. I got shopped Curediva and saw this awesome cancer planner set:

As messy as I am I like to be organized & this has section that look like I can get all my treatment/surgery/lab stuff in one place.

Then I got an email from Mindyana for a 10% discount for breast cancer awareness month so I got one for me & one for a friend:

Then they sent me a 15% off code and I got a couple other gifts for friends.

Then I got an email from The Greater Good for 30% off an item. 

For me

For friends

And I donated to Haiti.

The Greater Good site donates to different causes & offers many fair trade items.

Post-op appointment

Got that itchy tegaderm tape stuff off! Whew!!

PS said surgery went well & that I have a nice lat dorsi muscle because the was able to cover the entire expander with it. That's good because the skin was still thin but now the expander is under muscle & skin. She only had to use a small amount of the skin from my back.

(My hand is on top, got in the way as I was making the pic)

I have a small dark area near my nipple & PS explained that the cautery knife burned my skin there because it was so thin so she had to stitch it up. Not a big deal to me. 

Drains are still in and I expected that. Output is still around 70mls. Itching is thankfully under control. Pain is much much better.

Nurse was stripping my drains (you hold the drain near where it's inserted and use thumb & finger to pull the liquid down towards the bulb to help prevent clogging by clots). She said the dr likes pus things and she (nurse) likes to get clots out of drain tubes. Ha ha! My kind of people!

Pain scale and eewww!

I saw a pic of the pain scale in a brochure  today. Those things crack me up! I should make a collage of all the different Faces of Pain. Ha ha!

Anyway, here it is...

Sitting here typing this I have 0 pain. But if I move from my pillows it will be 4 and when the norco kicks in I'll be feeling a 3-4. I must say I have had moments of frowny-almost-tear-inducing pain. The meds do help now that I know to be proactive in taking them. 

Ok, now for the eeeeww! I'm a science geek so I find gross things super interesting. This bit of yuck has been hanging out in my drain bulb all day. I have my post-op appt tomorrow so I'm not supposed to empty the drains before I go...

Wow!

http://www.refinery29.com/2016/10/124446/cancerland-champagne-joy-interview

Disability paperwork

I got a packet of forms from Social  Security while I was in the hospital. I had to fill them out so they can determine if I can continue to receive disability. It seriously took me hours to fill them out! I had to list medical personnel who know about my conditions over the last 12 months: name of clinic; name of Doctor; address, phone; first visit; last visit; upcoming visits; ER visits; hospitalizations. Whew! I did that for 4 doctors: oncologist, breast surgeon, primary care, plastic surgeon. I even put my physical therapist on there. Oh and I had to sign the form and have a witness who knows about my medical condition sign also. I asked my mom. :-)

Then I moved on to the medications section...I had to use an additional page for all of those.

Then I had to list a typical day's activities like get up, have coffee, shower, etc. they wanted to know about hobbies. There was a list of things like dressing, bathing, standing, walking that I had to check if I have problems doing them. I checked lifting with arms, concentration, memory, and a couple others. 

Do I use medical equipment such as canes, walkers, braces? I wrote about compression sleeves/garments.

In the work section I said I can no longer work with animals as I have for most of my life because of the risk of cellulitis & issues with lifting. 

Whew! Mailed the thing last night. I included the form about stage IV cancer and axillary lymph node removal.

I should have copied the pages from my planner for the past year. Been rather busy. Maybe I need a job down at the hospital. ;-)

My back

OMG! The itch in my back is crazy! I removed some of the plastic sheet/tape & it pulled off some steri-strips but incision is healing. I've had a "new" pain in my back today. Feels like a pulled muscle so I'm not sure if I did something. Started hurting last night when I bent over to pick up something off the floor. I finally gave in and took norco & when they didn't work I took a Valium.

Can't wait til Friday for my post-op!! I'm sure the drains will stay in. They are still around 70-75mls.

Arm movement is good. The intense pain occurs below the expander but that's getting better. Overall feeling pretty darn good!

Oh how I hate drains!

Still draining pretty good. Nice gag inducing, tube shaped clot this morning. Yuck. But that's the reality of the JP drain. Blood, serum, tissue, clots. I can feel the tubing under my skin on my back and there's a "squishy" feeling when I lean back on my pillows. My back has been itching like crazy. My side was itchy last night but in the numb area so I couldn't determine exactly where the itch was located. 

JP log

How I keep track of meds. N=norco, V=Valium, A=antibiotic

Drains pinned to my shirt

Flap incision and drains

Surgery went well

I'm home! My surgery started around 8am on Thurs. I was in recovery for a while until a room was ready for me. Whatever they gave me for preventing nausea was amazing! I was able to eat the same day. Docs who checked on me yesterday and this am said everything looks good. I have 2 drains and an expander on the right side along with the lat dorsi flap. Pain hit about an 8 last night but now that I'm home I can stay ahead of it with norco & Valium. My nurse today suggested that I set an alarm to take my meds since we don't feel pain when we are sleeping but it can be awful upon waking. I'm sure that's what happened last night.

I had to have an IV in my left wrist because my port couldn't be used since it's on the right. Nurses wouldn't take out my catheter after the fluids were stopped because it's hospital policy to have IV access. So my arms ballooned. And that annoyed me. I'm trying to be so careful and make sure I'm compliant with the sleeves & the people at the hospital totally ignore what I'm trying to tell them. I plan to bring it up with PS when I see her for my post-op appt.

Happy it's over! Now if I can avoid infection we can get the expander filled & the implants placed.