Tag: modified radical mastectomy

Healing – an on-going process

Healing is a process, a process that can take months or even years.  As I mentioned in an earlier post I’m still healing from my first surgery almost two years later.   Physical healing is dependent upon many factors; the procedure, your overall health, how hard you’re willing to push yourself, even your attitude can play a big role.  Of the two mastectomies I’ve had, the modified radical mastectomy has been the most challenging to recover from.  I didn’t realize how damaging a modified radical could be until I had the surgery.  They not only remove the breast tissue but also most of the lymph nodes under the arm and the lining of the pectoralis major (the large chest muscle).  Because I lost so many lymph nodes, 24 in all, my body had a hard time processing the extra fluid that resulted from the wound.  I needed to be diligent emptying the drains and clearing the lines to try to keep up with the fluid.  I was so eager to have the drains removed that I feel like I influenced my doctor to remove them a little too early.  The result was that I blew up like a balloon and had to go in to have the surgeon use a needle to drain the excess fluid that built up a week later.

I also had to be faithful with my exercises.  My under arm was very sore and I could barely lift my arm to get dressed.  I started stretching as soon as the doctor gave me permission.  The first and easiest exercise was just walking my hand up a wall as far as I could, pushing a little further each day.  I did that at least three times a day.   Once it healed a little, and I had permission from my doctor, I began driving.   Just turning the steering wheel was a workout.   The more I used my arm, the better it felt.  It did take several weeks and I had to be careful not to push it too far but I was successful in regaining most of my motion.

The emotional healing is another story.  It took several months to see that I was still the same person.  I realized that being diagnosed with breast cancer and having a breast removed was not the end of the world.  The chemo and radiation also complicated things but I’ll go into that at a later date.  Healing is a personal journey.  You need to prioritize it any way you can and know that you’re not alone.  There are thousands of women who have walked the same path.

Surgery – first step of the cure

For me, surgery was the first step of the cure.  Having never had any major surgery it was a scary prospect.  The first mastectomy I had was a modified radical.  This meant that the surgeon would be taking lymph nodes.  He planned to take 4 or 5 nodes but once he was in there he felt he needed to take more, it turned out to be 24 in all.  The nodes were enlarged and he was worried that they were cancerous.  Having dimpling of the skin, a tumor that looked to be about 2 cm and was less than a millimeter from the chest wall gave him reason to believe the cancer could have metastasized into the lymph nodes.   Fortunately for me, all 24 nodes were clear.  But this made for a slow and sometimes painful recovery. It’s been almost two years since the first surgery and I’m still healing.

The second mastectomy was almost a year to the day from the first, it was a Simple Mastectomy.  This time the surgeon only took one lymph node, which was clear of cancer.   The complication with the second surgery, I believe, happened when I was coming off the anesthesia.  When I woke up the nurse was saying she was trying to get my blood pressure down, all I can remember is that one of the numbers was over 200.  Later that day I started to swell up in the shoulder near the incision.  The nurse that night kept putting ice on it saying we needed to get the swelling down.  I told her it wasn’t helping, I was blowing up like a balloon.  One of my drains had stopped flowing several hours earlier which I later realized was a tell-tale sign.  The next morning the surgeon came in asking if I was ready to go home.  I said I am, but I wasn’t sure he would be when he looked at my shoulder.  As soon as he heard what was happening he called the nurses in and they unwrapped me as fast as they could, took my breakfast away and I was told I would be going back in for surgery as soon as they could find a slot.  It turned out to be a hematoma, a very large one.  The surgeon went in, cleaned up the bleeding and I was sent me home the next day.

The second mastectomy healed much faster, I had lymph nodes to process the excess fluid which made a big difference.  I still have a pouch of fluid from the first mastectomy and lymphedema in my arm.  I’m still working to reduce the fluid but it may be a battle I fight for a long time, maybe even a lifetime. I do feel surgery was necessary in my case.  I’m not sure how long it would have taken for my cancer to spread but I feel confident that it would have, especially given that I had new cancer appear the second year.  Surgery is not something to take lightly but until scientists come up with a real cure I see it as viable solution.

Breast Cancer – the end of the world?

For some, breast cancer is very serious and may be fatal but for the majority of women it is not the end of the world.  It may seem like it at times, especially when you’re going through treatment or recovering from surgery but for the majority it is survivable.  As I’ve been told many times by doctors and other cancer specialists, most breast cancers are considered to be some of the “good” cancers.  When you’ve first been diagnosed you think, how can anyone say such a thing?  But once you research the varieties of breast cancer and the numerous other cancers that affect people, you begin to understand what they mean.  The majority of breast cancers are treatable with a very high success rate.  Other cancers like brain cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, and many more are not as successfully treated and cured.   I was fortunate that my cancers, yes plural, were caught relatively early.  My first cancers were not caught early enough to avoid chemo and radiation but early enough that they had not metastasized.  My second go round with cancer, diagnosed almost a year to the day of the first, was caught early enough that surgery was the only treatment needed,    So, be diligent in your exams and watch for any changes and report them to your doctor because the best way to beat cancer is to catch it early!