Mastectomy Recovery Symptoms

Going through breast cancer treatment Surgery
1

Hi. 
I’m hoping you can share your experiences of recovery from mastectomy and SLNB. 

I have had a mastectomy and 3 lymph nodes removed (all tested negative). I am nearly 4 weeks post surgery and am experiencing the following:

  • cording under my armpit down to my elbow.

  • a ‘dead arm’ feeling down to my hand (worried about lymphoedema so hoping others can tell me this feeling is normal )

  • a very tight feeling right across to the centre of my chest almost like any stretch is tugging at my rib cage. This has only started this week. 

  • aching under my armpit and collarbone.

My wound is healing well and I am managing the exercises so I’m hoping this is all a normal part of the healing process. 

Thank you. Hope you’re all healing well xx

2

Dear KayLou,

So sorry to read, you are feeling so uncomfortable, I really feel if this was me I would contact my breast care team just for peace of mind as pain can causes anxiety which you can well do without, however everyone heals differently after surgery,

Wishing you well going forward. Biggest hugs Tili :rainbow: :rainbow:

3

@KayLou2  Its good to hear your wound is healing well and that you are doing the exercises. I can relate to a lot of the sensations you have mentioned; I’ll share my experience if it helps, but would say it’s probably best to check with your CNS/team as how each of us heals will vary. 

I’m now quite a few weeks ahead of you; approximately 12 weeks from my Mastectomy + SLNB surgery. And 4 weeks from Axillary (ALND) surgery. 

Mastectomy + SLNB: My symptoms changed quite a bit over the first 4-6 weeks, and as the sensations were all quite alien to me at the time, I did call my CNS a couple of times as I wasn’t sure if they were normal or not.

  • Shooting nerve pain in mastectomy area during week 1, but nothing to note thereafter.
  • When doing my exercises, particularly those overhead ones, it felt like I had been stitched up too tight inside and I was trying to rip my ribcage apart when moving my arm over my head. The sensation gradually reduced (though at the time I felt it never would and something was wrong), i.e. by about week 5/6 the sensation of being tied up inside wasn’t noticeable. 
  • The area behind my arm/armpit was sore (a partly bruised feeling) for about 3-4 weeks
  • Tightness across my mastectomy scar (covered by my dressing for 3 weeks) and also the side of my torso/side of arm was also tight (tugging/pulling sensation) when doing the exercises. The mastectomy scar tightness has reduced, but is still there and I’m also wondering whether I should be doing something different to reduce that because my CNS/team haven’t been able to give me much guidance on what to try, other than say continue with exercises.
  • Mild numbness underarm (armpit) and significant numbness around mastectomy area. This is how it was up until I had my second surgery (ALND).
  • My arm/shoulder did ache/feel heavy (not sure if that’s the same as what you mean by dead arm?) quite a bit during the first few weeks, that reduced over time. I did my exercises 3-4 times a day without fail and feel the ache reduced as I regained arm strength. I was initially subconsciously protecting my arm until my drain came out, but thereafter made conscious effort to use that arm more and more.

This time around with Axilla surgery I’m having to go through a different set of sensations (numbness and also pinching pain I can’t quite explain which spans all the way to my wrist when using the arm and particularly when doing the exercises - I was wondering whether it is cording, even though I can’t actually see or feel a cord). And I hadn’t regained full range of overhead arm movement from my previous surgery at the time, so am still persevering with the exercises and have also just seen a physio to get some help with movement. I wasn’t given a lot more exercises to do, but just suggestions on more additional things I could incorporate such as yoga stretches I used to do before surgery, and using a small weight to regain arm strength. Now I need to see if they help over the next couple weeks.

Anyway hope some of that was useful. Do keep up with the exercises as they are essential in regaining that full range of arm movement; I know progress can sometimes feel slow but you will get there.

xx

4

Hi KayLou,

I had my mastectomy and 3 lymph nodes removed at a similar time as you (April 20th) and suffering similar problems. I have cording in my armpit which causes pain down into my elbow & lower arm. Also worrying about lymphoedema! I went to physio last week, but finding massage and stretches really painful. Was told to stretch until the pain is a 3 or 4, but honestly the pain goes from a background 1 or 2, and then when I reach the point where the cord feels stretched it jumps to an 8 or 9. The more I try to fix the cording the worse I seem to get! The mastectomy wound itself has healed well & I’m not having trouble with tightness in that area. My arm is making me really quite miserable though as it’s my right arm & I’m finding that it’s impacting what I can comfortably do quite a lot. Can’t even knit which is my main hobby, as the small repetitive movements seem to tighten the cording up. Back to physio a week tomorrow. Will also call my BCN to see if she’ll re measure my arm to check for lymphoedema.

Let me know how you are getting on x

5

Thank you so much for posting this, I had my mastectomy and DIEP Reconstruction last Saturday and I am worried by everything I feel at the moment

the reference to cording was the most poignant as that is absolutely what I am getting

also the shooting breast pains so I’ll ring the BCNs tomo

take care all xx