new to forum, diagnostic mammo & ultrasound found large lumps, Part 2

Good to hear from you, Susie. Your Texas weather is just bizarre, lol. We also have had either drought or horrendous rains (without the temperature swings), and no matter how much rain we get, 2 days of dry and sunny and the plants start dying. Of course as soon as you water, you get a downpour and then they’re overwatered. Without professional help it’s nearly impossible to keep nice flower beds, or even grass.
I had my pre-op visit yesterday. The visit went fine, but it wrecked my nerves for the rest of the day and most of today. Just all the horrific memories start flooding in and it takes me a day or so to get a grip and concentrate on the present and future, and not relive what has gone wrong in the past. I am exercising as much as I can. Mostly walking, but I’ve added light weights also. I was just heading for bed and I can feel myself drifting off, so goodnight and I will TTYL.
Best of health and positive thoughts to all.

Linda, so good to read that you are moving forward, surgery on the 14th if I remember correctly. I will continue to pray this all goes as plan. Most of all, keep your positive thought process in the forefront. Don't get sucked down the dark hole, you will persevere as you have done all along. You have an incredible amount of strength without any doubt. We often have no idea how strong we are until we are out to the test.Try to remember this, fear can cause reality to become cloudy.

I am happy that you are back to exercising. I know this is something you did before, I am in agreement with the dr that said start doing as many things you did before. Making the effort is what counts most of all.

Oh yes, the good old flu season is back again! Keeping yourself safe is a must. I always get the flu shot every year. I know there is so much controversy over it not helping the strains that often show up. Regardless, I have COPD, the flu could be extremely serious for me according to my drs. Knowing this, I will not risk it. I am having terrible sinus issues, this rain has our mold count off the charts & mountain cedar is really high. I have been dealing with a slight sinus infection for 2 months. Until I have it in check, I will hold off on the flu shot.

Oh gal, the rain the past 2 months has been insane. September & October we set new records, I heard on the news last week, we had over 40 inches of rain in 2 months. Currently, we are on day 3 or 4 of sunny skies. Our temps are lower, so things are not drying out fast. My yard is still extremely wet, most of my flowers are done from too much water. I have mold on the zinnias in a flower bed. I hope next week it is dry so my lawn guy can clean up a couple of flower beds & go over the yard. I have some things for him to cut back & to make it look a little tidy, lol. This morning it's sunny, a little cool & very windy! Hopefully the wind will help dry things out a little. We have a chance of rain tonight sadly.

My laptop took a nose dive which I knew was coming. It slowed to a crawl & trying to get into HW was a huge problem. I took it in last week & they replaced my hard drive. I do not use my phone for HW, even though, it is now phone friendly. I can read on it because the print is larger, but I am not comfortable trying to post with it. I have an IPad & it's ok in a pinch. I am just a creature of habit, lol. I like having a bigger screen.

I plan to run a couple of quick errands this afternoon while there is sunshine! I am thinking about making chicken & dumplings today, so I will need to get some chicken tenders. A friend gave me a recipe for chicken & dumplings & it calls for chicken tenders. Much easier to cook them rather than breasts or a whole chicken.

Sending many positive vibes to you!!

Well I had my surgery done yesterday. They are generous with the dilaudid, thank goodness, as the back pain is severe. (But I’ve had worse pain through Voldemort, so I feel like I can handle most anything.). It’s weird... I am not wearing any Gauze sponges, ABD pads or bandages or anything. I can just look down and see my new breast (from my back skin) sewn onto the front. And in the standing bathroom mirrors I can see a HUGE, maybe 10-12 inches long incision going horizontal from about under the armpit and just over then central spine. A friend told me this scar evens out and goes flat, and the fat from the other side gets redispersed, so I won’t be flat-backed on one side, and rollly, lumpy on the other side. The doctor was able to gather up quite a lot of fat from this one side, and with the expander underneath (which she already expanded once) I may only need one more expansion in order for it to be equal to the other side. Thee is a lot more visible scar line on this left chest, so I hope my scar Rx cream works as well as before.
All for now. I can barely keep my eyes open.
Best of health and positive thoughts to all.

Post Edited (exqualls) : 11/15/2018 3:57:08 AM (GMT-7)

Positive, healing thoughts for you exqualls.

Linda, somehow I thought I had posted. Jeesh, my mind some days gets just muddled, lol. I do hope by now you are turning the corner with your healing. The pain you described with your back sounds painful. I can see with your description of the tightness, it makes a lot of sense. Is this pain getting better?

My plans to get my tree up flopped, my grandson & I just never had the time needed to get my tree up.My husband is dealing with bursitis of the hip. He has had an injection done as an out-patient at the hospital. It lasted 2 days & came right back. He see's the ortho this afternoon to see what is next. His xrays showed a good deal of arthritis plus a spur. A hip replacement was briefly discussed, but because of underlying health issues, he is not a very good candidate for a replacement. Not sure what is next. It's very doubtful I will get a tree up since the husband is not feeling all that great.

What are your plans for Christmas, is your other son coming home? We will go to our son's on Christmas Day for a late lunch & let the kids open presents. With kids involved, it's much easier to go to them & spend the day. I gave up hosting the holidays years ago, it became too much for me. The kids wanted to take over this & I was more than willing to hand over the reins.

Our crazy Tx weather is continuing. We are expecting a potential for a wet snow late Thursday! Rain turning to snow is a real possibility. Our temps has been in the 60's during the day, so at least we will not have to deal with slick roads. It has been a very unusual year for crazy weather here.

I wanted to touch base with you, please let us know how you are doing.

Well, I had another surgery 6 days ago, on January 4. This was to take the expander out and exchange it for an implant. The surgery went very well. I only had minimal pain from it. I still actually have more pain from the area in my back where the chunk was taken out (the surgery on 11/14/18). I had my post-op visit yesterday and she said I am healing so well that we could schedule the next surgery, which MAY be the last, scheduled for February 18!!! The actual left breast that she constructed from my back tissue to fill in the area mutilated by the staph infection looks BETTER than the right breast! The shape and size is better. What this February surgery will do is even out the contour of my left armpit, and she’ll take fat from my belly to give the right breast a better shape, like the left one has. She will also make nipples for both using belly skin! So it will be like getting a mini tummy tuck.

Everything is moving so fast now. I have had minor setbacks from Voldemort. But every day I work hard on my leg strength and balance, so I think I am not far behind. I take EXCEPTIONAL care to avoid germs for at least 2 weeks pre-ops and 2 weeks post-ops.

Well it is late and I should rest. I can feel pain in my back so sleep doesn’t come easily.

I hope you and hubby are doing well. TTYL

Hi Susie. Thanks for removing my last name, I didn’t know that was a no-no. I wouldn’t want to get put into forum jail!
Yes, I painted as a child, very young, I started drawing as soon as I could hold anything in my hands, and then my mom started getting me canvases and paints and easels probably by age 4 or five. Back then I only painted seascapes. Over and over again. some of them with a palm tree, some of them with a dock, some of them with a pelican sitting on one of those wood posts. Just endless seascapes, and a few horses, because all girls love horses.
When I started taking piano lessons at about age 9, I gave up painting and was consumed with the piano, until I went away to college. And in the decades since then I have only drawn or painted maybe a dozen times. I was in charge of an art project at my sorority for Rush Week and when the boys were in elementary school I did a painting for a Halloween event. And when they were in elementary school I actually did a couple paintings on commission! But once I got busy with the kids and other activities, I did not paint or draw again.
You know Voldemort made it so that I can’t do any of the physical activities that I used to do, at least not yet anyway.
And although the palms of my hands are partially paralyzed, I decided I would try to draw or paint since I couldn’t do any of the other activities that used to keep me so busy.
I honestly did not know if I would be able to draw or paint anymore. Not because of the partial paralysis, but because I thought the talent had disappeared from not being used. I don’t mean to sound egotistical, but I have impressed myself! I really didn’t know I could do all that I have done. Like I said I really had only done seascapes in oil painting. And the style was always realism. And the thought of ever painting a face never even occurred to me, as I thought that was impossible. And now I’ve painted faces, which I think have turned out quite well, and as you’ve seen I’ve painted all kinds of different animals and subjects, and use different styles like impressionism, and abstract.
Well I certainly am hogging this whole text about me. I’m so sorry you had the stomach bug and the flu, but happy to hear that you got medicine for it and are on the mend. How is your weather right now? We are having a wonderful cold front. For the last two or three days it’s gotten down into the upper 40s I believe. This is the weather that I love love love. Normally I would be outside walking quickly, but I am staying inside to avoid germs. And, I’m not supposed to be walking quickly yet, not supposed to get my heart rate up yet —the last surgery was just 13 days ago. Although it seems like it was months ago for some reason.
How is your husband doing? And how old is your grandson now? If you are on Facebook again say hi to me! TTYL

Susie!! Your son got married! Congratulations, that is wonderful 😀!
I hope your husband’s new meds are helpful in the long run. So many times (we all) fix one problem, and then others pop up. I’ve seen that a lot with my own husband.

I’m glad you wrote. I was fixing to post in a day or so as I am coming up on what may be my last surgery, God willing. It’s on 2/18. I healed very quickly from the Jan. 4 surgery. I mean I FELT totally healed after about a week, so I had to force myself to restrict my movements so I could continue to heal inside. Plus, being the height of flu season I have had to avoid going places and seeing people. The last thing I want is to catch something that would postpone the next surgery. Also, a cold or flu can cause a relapse of Voldemort, which is my biggest fear. I used to panic more that a surgery could trigger it..... which it can, but it’s more likely to happen after a URI or even a GI.

Anyway, I’m so glad you wrote, however you didn’t mention yourself! I hope that is a case of ‘no news is good news’!

I’ll check back in after my surgery. Take care, Linda.

Linda, I have had you on my mind lately. I have been checking for an update & hope that you will be posting soon.

Has anyone heard from Linda? I hope her surgery went well.

I hope she responds soon! I have followed her case since she started posting. It hit home for me. What happened to her was a magnified version of what happened to me upon my Crohn’s diagnosis. I am praying she responds soon and is fully recovered and well from her last surgery. 🙏🙏🙏

I think I have found her on FB & I sent a friend request a few days ago. It looks like she is active with painting again which is wonderful. The only thing with FB is she may not know who the request is from. I would love to hear from her too. If I hear anything I will let you know. Her email address is not listed in her profile here.