marybeth Regular
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 38 Location: Syracuse, NY
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:06 pm Post subject: Ques for the Dr....re: Anesthesia during mastectomy |
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All went well with my left simple mastectomy on 1/14 and on 2/7 was scheduled for my port. The previous week I noticed several symptoms, although did not feel sick, just wasn't 'myself'. First a low grade fever for 3 nights and ONLY at night <101..loss of appetite and an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach that I thought at the time was nerves. But truthfully, couldn't figure why I was so nervous about the port when I had less anxiety going thru a mastectomy! Anyway, then I started to notice that my urine was extremely dark and concentrated and my stool was very light, almost gray. I didn't feel truly sick but mentioned it to my dr. before the surgery and he noted that my skin was yellow. I was jaundiced! Port cancelled and spent 3 days in the hospital with full testing of liver, pancreas, gall bladder etc. CT scans, MRIs and neuclear type testing too. All thank God were negative for cancer, blocked bile ducts, etc and all looked OK. My oncologist visting bedside said that the jaundice could be due to the general anesthesia given me during mastectomy and that my liver had difficutly processing it. Uncommon but it happens. The gastro Dr. concurred and said he's seen it although it happens to about 1 out of 1,000 pts (lucky me) I was told that if that was the case, my billirubin level would peak, and then start to come down which is exactly what it did. I went from 5.6 to 3.4 inside a week and a week later was down to normal at .6....I do not like process of elimination when determining my health but it seems they could have been right on. I had no treatment or meds, so I would think if I had a liver disease or something else going on my levels would not have been back to normal. Since this seems to be an uncommon occurrance, have the Drs seen this type of medical issue or heard of it before? And, what in heaven's name will chemo do to my liver if it couldn't handle general anesthesia? Thanks in advance! MB _________________ Dx 12/28/04 at age 51
DCIS and ductal carcinoma invasive
6mm tumor
lumpectomy 1/5/05 unsuccessful margins
left mastectomy 1/14/05
1 +/5 lymph nodes
Chemo started 3/15 AC, then Taxol
Herceptin 6 rounds/stopped b/c of low EF
Armimidex
right prophylactic mastectomy 2/17/06
Implants 1/07, final w/tatto 9/07 |
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hhmv73a Experienced user
Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 95
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Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:27 am Post subject: re: |
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Dear MB,
Thanks for using the Cancer Forums.
Personally I am not familiar with the anesthesia procedure used in general surgical procedures. My only experience was 3 days training in my 4th year medical school for that field, although I thought about that residency for my career.
I don't know if Dr. Leo will have the knowledge, but I think you can always ask your surgeon to refer you to the anesthesilogist for a consultation.
Regards,
Jay |
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