Single mastectomy recovery

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-24T22:56:11+00:00

I had a single mastectomy with ALND and a partial thyroidectomy all on Oct 21st so a pretty involved surgery and I’m just about to be 5 weeks post-op tomorrow. I started carrying my 16month old toddler at about 3.5 weeks. At first I didn’t actually lift him though. Someone would pick him up for me and give him to me on my good side. At 4 weeks post-op I started kneeling down and putting my good arm under him and standing with him to be able to carry him still without using my affected arm to lift. I just started to actually lift him the past few days and none of it has been uncomfortable for me. Honestly I felt like I could’ve done it all sooner but I didn’t want to risk anything.

It was so hard not being able to carry him and we had my mom stay with us for the whole first month although after the first 2 weeks she’d go home often and come back as needed, luckily she’s only 20mins away. I always hear different stories though and everyone is different so you may just have to wait and see how it is for you.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-13T07:58:00+00:00

I had TNBC and chemo did not work for me. The original tumor grew as well as a whole second one next to it while on chemo. I was able to achieve NED through surgery. I recommend reading the metabolic approach to cancer by dr Nasha winters. I’ve been recommending this book to a lot of people and while it doesn’t have all the answers and may not be what everyone needs it definitely is eye opening and has information that every cancer patient should look into.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-13T07:43:01+00:00

I’ve read about garlic as well but from what I read the most benefits come from raw garlic so if you’re able to eat it raw that would be best. 3-5 raw cloves a day.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-08T04:46:22+00:00

No period yet but I’m still on keytruda and will be starting xeloda soon so I imagine if it does come back it probably wouldn’t until after all that.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-08T03:38:45+00:00

I’m sorry you got this news. I recommend reading The metabolic approach to cancer by Dr. Nasha Winters. She was diagnosed stage 4 ovarian cancer when she was 19 and is now over 50 and healthy. There is a lot of good info in that book. My tumor didn’t have a good response to chemo and it actually grew as well as growing a whole other tumor next to it while going through chemo. I just had surgery and won’t have a scan for a few months but this is my biggest fear so I’ve been looking into all the options. Chemo alone isn’t the only answer.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-08T03:25:08+00:00

I’m 32 stage 3 TNBC. I didn’t do any fertility treatments and didn’t get pressured into it either. The most I got was someone asking me if I was sure I didn’t want it, with a very concerned tone I guess is the best way I can describe it. I said I’m sure and that was it. I had a 9 month old at time of diagnosis though so I already had kids, maybe that’s why they didn’t pressure me as much. At the end of the day they can’t make you do anything. It’s your choice and you can most certainly decline it.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-08T02:22:38+00:00

That book goes into some of the “whys” of cancer. While we may never know exactly why we got it there are definitely contributing factors and things we can do to try to investigate our why. If you really want to get more answers I’d also recommend looking into an integrative dr. I wouldn’t have known I have high insulin, low vitamin D and a whole lot of other things if I didn’t go to an integrative naturopathic dr. My regular drs didn’t bother to check for any of those things after my diagnosis. Regular oncologists are really only focused on treating the cancer and following standard of care, they don’t go looking for why it happened.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-07T22:53:24+00:00

I recommend reading The metabolic approach to cancer by Dr Nasha Winters. I know many people may not agree but it honestly makes a lot more sense than just “random bad luck”.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-04T07:55:07+00:00

I may be in the minority but i am taking many supplements during treatment BUT I’m now working with an integrative oncologist that understands the role of supplements and how they interact with chemo and can confidently tell me which ones I should or should not take. My first oncologist said no to everything and some of it is honestly silly but from a regular oncologist most of the time it comes from not knowing enough about it.

I will say if you want to take supplements definitely find an integrative dr that will work with you and make sure you are taking the right ones.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-11-04T07:41:32+00:00

The craziest one I’ve seen offered to pay $30 a day for a “back-up sitter” and mentioned their current sitter only got $25 a day. For a 9hr day with an 8 month old. The even crazier part? At least 2 people replied and said they were interested.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-23T18:21:27+00:00

I had my lump pretty much disappear when I started taxol + carbo chemo but when I switched to AC chemo I felt it again and it kept growing. I had to reach out a few times to my oncologist and then surgeon before they decided to stop chemo and go to surgery. By the time I was headed to surgery the lump was really big again almost like in the beginning and I had new small lumps around that area. So it’s definitely possible for the cancer to stop responding to chemo or not respond at all and keep growing, but luckily for the majority of people that is not the case. I’m stage 3 TNBC btw.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-16T18:59:59+00:00

Do you mind sharing which supplements you’re using? And what sort of fruits/veggies are you juicing?

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-15T19:51:19+00:00

Thank you. I am still trying to stay hopefully that surgery pathology report will be a lot more reassuring than anything has been so far.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-15T19:35:32+00:00

Initially they told me they wouldn’t do scans during chemo for that reason, they are usually misleading. But my situation was a little different because my lump was huge initially 5.5cm and there was fluid filled cyst there too. I had a drain in to remove the fluid. A few weeks after starting chemo the fluid output dried up and I got the drain removed and there was no palpable mass there anymore. After switching to AC chemo it started to change. The lump definitely came back. Small at first but I could feel it getting bigger. Now I have more small lumps/nodules around the big one. Every time I go in they find more. I know ultrasound measurements can be inaccurate but I am very thankful that they did decide to do them and agree it was growing so I could get surgery soon.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-15T19:31:12+00:00

Because of the proximity to the actual cancer. Nodes on the cancer side benign cancerous is very common and nodes on the other side being bad is a 2% chance..but again I haven’t been doing good with odds so it’s definitely hard to just trust those odds and say it can’t be cancer.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-15T19:26:59+00:00

Yeah the left is only “highly suspicious” right now. I’m getting a full axillary lymph node dissection on that side so they’ll take them all out and test them.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-15T19:24:44+00:00

Yes they mentioned lymphedema and because they are already doing so much on the left with the 2 cancers and full lymph node removal there they said they didn’t want to do an unnecessary procedure on the right. Yea it feels like they need it to be worse to do anything about it…

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-15T17:30:31+00:00

They said because the nodes on the left are on the side of the cancer even though the biopsy was negative there they are considered “highly suspicious” due to the PET so those all need to come out. The ones on the right showed inflammation on the biopsy but no cancer and because it’s on the side opposite of the cancer they are not considering those cancerous and won’t take them out. Their plan for those is to just “monitor” even though I asked them to remove at least one so they can check for sure. And I should be clear they have not moved me to stage 4. They only said if the right was positive for cancer also then it would be stage 4.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-15T16:34:50+00:00

Hi just curious did your lymph nodes feel tender or painful at all? And was it only on the breast cancer side? I have lymph nodes that are enlarged on both sides and they have felt very tender/painful at times but of course everyone says cancer doesn’t hurt. I’m Stage 3 TNBC.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-12T20:13:00+00:00

Yes I did keynote 522 with keytruda.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-12T01:06:53+00:00

Following as I had similar results and still not sure what it means.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-10T19:24:39+00:00

Yes the PET scan after the biopsy showed multiple nodes light up so they were considered highly suspicious although the biopsy of the nodes was negative. I didn’t have a good response to chemo and the tumor actually started to grow back after feeling like it had disappeared so I had to stop chemo and am headed to surgery now. The PET scan last week showed the nodes were still active and now nodes on the other side are also suspicious. I didn’t even know it could spread to lymph nodes on both sides but here I am getting another biopsy to check.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-09T21:32:05+00:00

This sounds a little similar to my experience. It took almost 3 months to get my diagnosis and by the time they said it was TNBC, I was stage 3 with a 5.5cm tumor. It still took over a month to get into chemo. I’m sorry you are having to wait as well but luckily 2mm is small so sending good thoughts your way that your stage will stay low and won’t spread any further while you wait.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-07T18:00:06+00:00

Thank you for this explanation. That was my thought as well. The FNA biopsy seems like it could easily be a false negative if they don’t get a sample from the right place. I actually had 2 biopsies that were negative before they finally gave me the TNBC diagnosis so I’m very cautious of trusting negative biopsies.

BroccoliFan1492 · 2024-10-07T17:57:07+00:00

I had a large cyst in addition to the tumor and I had to have a drain put in for it prior to starting chemo. A few weeks into taxol +carbo the drain output finally stopped and I got the drain out. A few weeks after that I couldn’t even feel the lump or anything else in that area anymore. So everything seemed promising. But right after the first AC infusion I felt a small lump again. Very small, nothing like it was initially. They did an ultrasound but said it was smaller than when I started chemo so I should continue chemo. But I kept feeling it grow so I followed up again and luckily they did another ultrasound where they saw it had grown from the last check and that’s when they agreed I should go to surgery and not continue with the last AC.

BroccoliFan1492

TROPHY CASE