I had a lumpectomy on 7 Apr 09 and two nodes were removed. I have been doing my exercises three times a day every day but, for the last week or so, I have also experienced a painful pulling in my armpit when I exercise, which is visible and looks like a taut piece of elastic under the skin that is about to snap! This prevents me straightening my arm above my head. I assume this is cording. My bcn told me it was normal and would lessen in time but might never go away completely. She also said the seroma which has appeared in my armpit over the past week would make the pulling worse (she told me not to worry about the seroma as the body would disperse the fluid eventually). She couldn’t advise how long it would be before I saw any improvement in the pulling. Has anyone else experienced cording so soon after surgery? Does it normally get better over time?
Hi dimsie,
Yes it certainly sounds like cording from what you describe. I had this too after my mastect with lymph node removal. I still continued to do my exercises, but to a lesser extent, and tended not to use that arm too much in that time. It lasted a few weeks, but is perfectly fine now. Hope this helps.
Rosie x
Hi Dimsie,
I too had the same symptoms at the same stage you’re at (cord looks weird doesn’t it?). I had op 26th Feb 09 and to be honest it was at least 4 weeks before things felt normalish!! I persisted with the exercises (breast cancercare sheet) which I have discovered is Vital, they were sore and uncomfortable, especially when the arm went tight. I’m 8 weeks down the line now and my arm is great (not a cord in sight!!), I have full function in it now, it can feel a bit stiff some days and those are are the days I keep up the exercises. There is still a fair bit of healing going on deep inside and goes on for a few months. So my advice to you is Excersise!! you will see the benefit in a couple of weeks…
Take care
Fiona xxxx
Hi Rosie and Fiona
I am very reassured from your comments as you have both told me that the cording in your cases disappeared completely in a matter of weeks. I am certainly continuing with the exercises on the hospital sheet and today I intend to start back at my keep fit class (2 weeks after the op). To be honest, I feel a bit of a wimp mentioning cording, when so many others on these forums have experienced much much worse. Hope all going well for both of you
Angela x
Hi Angela, hope your arm getting that wee bit better every day. I had the weirdest feeing too, in upper and under arm ,sort of numb but tingling at same time and that very strange tight line of cording running to my elbow. However,I’m 8 weeks post op and am back to more or less normal.Had my rads planning yesterday and managed to lie there with arm over head for 20 mins no probs. It does just take time but I did my exercises about 6 times a day and even if was sitting down watching tv made sure I was gently stretching my arm or waving at who ever was in the room, I also gently massaged upper arm with oil every night. I only had SNB so don’t know if that was a factor in it or was just lucky that too many of my nerves weren’t messed about with when I had op ,my BCN did say that the best exercise to persist with was the standing in front of door one,reach up with good arm then “walk” fingers of bad arm up as high as you can go. Good luck and hope it improves soon.
Sandra x
I managed to get an appointment with the physio yesterday. She told me I had quite good range in my arm considering it was only two weeks since my surgery and I should just carry on doing the exercises. She also suggested massaging the cord for 10 mins twice a day once I was fully healed. I told her I wasn’t sure if I was fully healed and she had a look and said she wasn’t sure either. Unfortunately, my bcn, who had told me to pop in yesterday, if I wanted to ask her anything, wasn’t in, so I couldn’t ask her. Thanks for your tip, Sandra, about walking up the door. That was one of the 13 exercises on the sheeet the hopsital gave me and I do it 10 times, 3 times a day. It is the one that hurts the most but probably the one doing the most good. If I have any further to report, I will post under Treatment & Side Effects, Undergoing Treatment: Surgery, rather than here. As soon as I posted my query here on 19 Apr, I realised I should have really posted it under Treatment & Side Effects, Undergoing Treatment: Surgery, rather than here. So I re-posted my query there under the Topic - Cording.