Finishing help needed

Oh yes, it does! And I try to be grateful that it *was* benign when I see that nasty little scar. Some days, that's easier than others. Thanks for reminding me.

Elizabeth

I tend to mark out the square, measure in an even amount back from the corners. Then use a cup/mug/plate (whichever is the better size), line up on the measured marks and draw the curve.

Tara

I can certainly understand your friend's problem. I have a terrible time finding a bra that will fit one reconstructed side and one "normal" side. The implated side is rounder.

I'm glad yours was benign.

The amazing thing is how "curable" people tend to think breast cancer is. I have so many friends who have died from it, and thousands of women still die every year.

Ladies (and gentlemen, for I had one male friend who died of bc), get your mammos every year, and do regular self-exams and doc checkups.

LOL- I'm so impressed that you used one. Honestly - I hardly ever do use one - though I'll use the inking part on my compass. I got a full set of reapidographs when in college and I volunteered at Enviornmental Action - I did all the ads, etc. Similar for the drama group - I thnk my first set someone else paid for - but then I returned that and got my own. I still have a set that's got to be 20 years old. The older set crapped out. I actually use them when I'm doing watercolors. I go in phases and do pen & ink with watercolor so the rapidographs are great for that. The big pain in the butt with them is the cleaning.

However, nowadays - to be honest - I actually have some Faber Castell and Micron Artist pens - that are disposable. Expensive but very convenient - especially the brush tip ones. I tend to cart those around. But, I still love my technical pens and markers.

I'm sure that I have some engineer wannabe artist geek gene - I get really excited about pencils, pens, lead holders, etc. Paint brushes, too - but not so much. Those last a long time, and don't really get carted around like my other stuff. It's something about the tools. I'm pretty easily excited with good power tools, etc - as well. What a confused brain.

ellice

Absolutely. When my DA was still in practice she would virtually insist to her patients on getting reconstruction started at the same time as the removal - feeling it was so psychologically important. She even worked with a bra designer and manufacturer to come up with a line of really nice bras that worked well with natural, good, prosthetics. I think that went for a while - I was working then in the late 80s but I want to think that after a couple of years she was bought out of the process and the company sold to a bigger one. But, point being, she was always very conscious that her female patients had enough to deal with - surgery, serious illness, feeling ugly, and that the majority of the male doctors blew so much of it off.

I suppose it's one of those things you come to terms with, and the rest of us are happy you're here, too!

ellice

All true. When I had the cervical surgery - that was back in 90 - the scars are all on the inside. The fact that I was dropping stitchs - 68 of them - some weeks later - in truly awkward bathroom, etc experiences - was the only scarring. That, and, well I had the surgery in DC, then was going to France some weeks later. The Doc had said that I could resume, er, activity, in about 10 days to 2 weeks - he was a guy about my age and we were pretty friendly. So, I went to France - must've been about 10 days post surgery. I was still on antibiotics. When I got there all good, but I seem to be a little itchy. We try oatmeal baths, I think it's sunburn (le beau had a house with swimming pool - meaning me and his teenage daughter out back a lot). Nope. Covered with red bumps. Dang it. Hives. Go to doctor in little town in France. I am allergic - to the antibiotic. Woohoo.

Almost 5 years later - uterine surgery. At which time they also did what's called an ovarian wedge resection, removing 40% of my right ovary. Wake up in hospital - notice midsection from crotch to just above navel - hip to hip

- full of bandaging, and some tubes. Doc finally comes in (my other doc) - to see me stitching in bed (somewhat woozy, but it's just on aida) and I start pointing at bandages - "what happened to the little bikini line cut?" He says "Oh, I changed my mind - too much to come out, this was easier" So, I have a nice zipper that was some 30-40 staples long. No bikinis - no matter how thin I may ever get. But, it is better than the alternative. OTOH, the scar tissue on the inside has caused some painful interruptions to married life - so to speak. But, we're getting that looked at again.

Same for DH - his obvious scar - from sternum all the way to groin, with a trip around the navel. Two weeks after he had his big c surgery, which was caught in time - very luckily - as he was only 27, etc., he had all the body cavity lymph nodes removed. Easier to do from the front - they open you up, dump your innards, get the nodes out, then put the innards back. The scar does raise some eyebrows. In our old team locker room - if you didn't have some decent scar - well - heck - there must be something wrong. Lots of knees, shoulders, face, etc scars. However, being here - scars, or gravity challenged - all much better than the alternatives.

ellice

Thanks -- I always say any day above ground is a good one....

Seriously, my surgeon sent me directly to a plastic reconstruction surgeon the day I was diagnosed,and they did the surgery together. I'm very glad I had it done, especially since I live in the deep South (U.S.) where it gets so hot in the summer. A prosthesis would be unbearable.

That said, the reconstructed side is nothing like real. I have just learned to think of it as an "inside prosthesis" and that helps.

I remember my few rapidographs from college art classes fondly - they were so fine and precise. University Art Center and Flax are still 2 of my favorite art supply stores, even if my budget can't afford them! I love taking my kids back-to-school shopping because then I get to buy new pencils, pens, markers, paper, and all sorts of tools for myself. I love lavender and purple too so of course I have to get anything in that color and everyone knows to keep their hands off! I carry little sets of miniature pens and pencils with me almost everywhere I go.

I wonder if liking the preciseness of the pens is part of my genetic makeup as well - I really love fine detailed stitching more than the other types - one over one, 40 count, stuff like that!

MelissaD

Exactly! A friend of mine in her early 50s has a nasty scar from open heart surgery and, while it drives her nuts, it sure is nice that they caught the problem and were able to fix it!

Thank ghu for attentive doctors. My friend went to her doctor for indigestion on Tuesday, was sent for a stress test on Wednesday and they refused to let her go home. Did the bypass the next day. Heart attack symptoms really are different in women than in men.

Elizabeth

Well, of course - we all expect a picture! ROFLMAO!

Pat

If you want pictures, you have to come and go native with the rest of us.

ellice wrote: snip

I saw a show on the Discovery Health Channel several years ago where two procedures were done at the same surgery time. After a double mastectomy was done, a "tummy tuck" would be done, with the fat being pulled up from the tummy area to be used in the reconstruction of the "new" breasts. When the woman woke up from surgery, her old boobs were gone, the new ones were already there, and she had a smaller tummy to boot! One anesthetic, one surgery time, one recovery time and one hospital stay. Liz from Humbug

I go through phases like that. For whatever reason, I love the little Rhodia graph pads - started carting them around when living in France, and happy to get them here.

That's an interesting point. I have several engineer friends who are also addicted to really good technical pens, pencils. Don't know why. But, I do really like actually writing or printing things by hand rather than using the computer for everything. Like nice paper, as well. I have some 0.3 mm pencils - they're awesome - except that you have to be careful about poking holes in the paper because the lead is so sharp and fine.

Ellice

Absolutely - especially the toothache/jaw ache thing - very pronounced in women but not in men. I just remind people that if you're having some angina, or chest pain, and other symptoms - and suddenly feel the urge to go to the bathroom - resist it and go to the hospital or call emergency services. Especially in women, bearing down can cause what's called vagaling out - as in pressure on the vagus nerve which wiill interrupt the cardiac cycle and cause a heart attack.

Attentive doctors are a great thing.

Ellice

Watch your local listings ... our PBS station is touting Viewfinder: A heart of a woman, followed by Hidden Epidemic: Heart Disease (MelissaD -

The first will "examine the particular risks for females" related to heart attack.

Unfortunately, a lot of doctors don't recognize the symptoms in women. My best friend in the universe had been complaining for a month about feeling extra-tired, and died at 48 of heart failure. None of her doctors paid any attention to her complaints. It troubled me that even sitting and stitching was "too tiring" for her, but what do I know?

Several weeks later, there was suddenly a big media push that such fatigue could indicate heart attack in women; if only that had been on a couple months earlier so her doctors would've been aware of what this could mean, maybe she'd still be with us.

That is really unfortunate. But, IME doctors know the difference. Maybe some older ones who weren't paying attention in continuing ed, but it's very much taught. Although, at the same time there are some emergency type things that a non ER or trauma type doc will prefer to let the medics do, even if a doc is around (frequently my experience with stuff happening in the rink - someone's dad the urologist will say - no, you deal with it - referring to kid's shoulder popped out, or broken clavicle type thing).

You seem to have the unfortunate run of not so up-to-date docs in your circle.

Fatigue could be from lots of things - including anemia, CHF, long-term infection, etc. It's just back-tracking to being fatiqued because of lack of Oxygen to the cells which could be either a pump (heart) problem, or a perfusion (problems getting to cells) or diffusion (lung functionality, or anemia) problem. It's always sad when a diagnosis is missed - I don't second guess when I haven't truly seen the records, been there, etc. The other part of my experience - people don't always tell the truth - about their symptoms, their meds, their activities - to us as medics, or to their docs, and certainly not to their friends and family. For whatever reasons.

Anyhow - the PBS show would be a good thing to watch.

Ellice

Not just not up-to-date, but some are prejudiced against women. Found out after the fact that one of my friends had seen the same doctor I did. She had objective palpable symptoms, and he took the same approach to her that he did to me: all women are too lazy to work, all divorcees want lifetime alimony and will lie to get it, all women are whiny babies about little things that men would just suck it up and live with. Refused to sign her up for disability, either, even after she told him that the physical therapist said she had to take six months off or be permanently disabled.

Well, doctors like people do fall in that normal distribution curve - there are asses everywhere. It's called change doctors, and file a complaint. But always just something you don't expect.

ellice