Fears about upcoming surgery and breast cancer

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Beach93Sunshine
Beach93Sunshine Member Posts: 3
edited March 2021 in Breast Cancer #1

Hello everyone,

 

So far I have one breast cancer lump in my left breast at the 3 o clock position under the nipple that will be taken out by lumpectomy surgery on March 15th.  I have gone round and round with my surgeon, surgical scheduler, and my treatment team and there are so many things because I believe the doctor will also be testing the lymph nodes at the same time to check to see if the cancer has spread there.  Will I know the results of the setinole node biopsy while the tumor in my breast will be removed?  Or will I have to wait until the final pathology report which will not come for 5-10 days.  The lump they checked is grade 1 cells, stage 1 so far.  I will have to be without face to face contact with anyone from 7:00am in the morning on the day of the surgery until 1:00pm in the afternoon.  My husband who can come in the building cannot even be in person present while I go through pre-surgical prep and all the things I have to do before that just because of the freaking pandemic.  It would help if I could have someone physically present to hold my hand and tell me it will be okay that I feel I can trust and knows loves me and has my best interests at heart.  I feel I am going through this alone.  I just need to know someone else who has gone through this surgery during the pandemic when someone could not be present throughout the whole day of the surgery.  The surgery itself is not until 10:30am on March 15th, 2021.

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  • geotina
    geotina Member Posts: 2,111 Member
    #2
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    Alone for surgery:

    I went thru this alone.  Biopsy, magseed implantation, tests, doctor consultations, etc. by myself.  On the day of my lumpectomy, July 30th, my daughter drove me.  She was in the waiting room but was able to see me before the surgery and when I woke up after surgery..  During all the surgery prep at the hospital, no visitors.   You will be fine.  My surgery was at the University of Michigan.  Staff went out of their way to keep me as comfortable and at ease as possible.   During the pandamic they just cannot have a lot of people hanging around.  Look at it this way, it is what it is so try and not get too worked up about it.  You will be back home the same day,  being waited on and resting in the comfort of your own home.  My cancer was a 1a, IDC, very small 3 mm.   I also went through radiation, driving myself every day for 4 weeks, 3 weeks of whole breast radiation and one week of the "boost" which I opted for.  No chemo necessary.

    Best of luck.  You think you could never do it by yourself but you will be surprised just how strong you can be.

    Tina

  • Connell5621
    Connell5621 Member Posts: 1
    #3
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    Hi There, 

    I am new to this website also and reside in Boston, I just had a bilateral mastecomy on March 16th! I also went through the whole COVID surgery but after talking to my surgeon who was amazing...she let my fiance in to all my appointments and he was there for presurgery and recovery (although I do not remember him being there). He was not able to come in to any of my consults and pre surgery appointments though. I went into surgery with DCIS ( non-invasive) however when I came out and recieved my oncology report a week later they found invasive tumors ( very tiny) and postivie invasive cancer in one of my lymph nodes. I am very lucky to report that I do not have to do Chemo or radiation. I have to start the shot injections of Luprol to start menopause and temoxifin in a week which I am very nervous about because I have heard some horror stories about it and I am no where near menopause...have any of you started it or heard about the side effects. 

    How did your surgery go? I am still recovering going on 5 weeks , still very uncomfortable. Hope it went well :) 

  • HereWeGoAgain
    HereWeGoAgain Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2021 #4
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    How are you doing?

    I went through this (mostly) solo 11 years ago, but of course we weren't in a pandemic. Now I have a recurrence and am having DIEP surgery in about a month, and COVID is definitely adding to the stress of it all!  That said, the health care professionals across the board have all been fantastic; be a human being to them, and they'll give it back to you+! I think that since they do this day in/out they forget how frightening it can be, so when they ask how I'm doing, I'm honest and say that all things considered, I'm okay, but damn this is scary. I hope you're recovering well and have lots of support from friends/family. Don't be afraid to ask for it--I learned that lesson last time.



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