Hi Ladies
I had a lumpectomy and node removal 3 weeks ago. Had my follow-up appointment at the hospital last wednesday - thought they would be giving me my chemo schedule and stuff but was hit with the news that they were recommending a mastectomy. They weren’t happy with the margins and also mentioned something called lymphvascular invasion.
I know that they removed 12 nodes during surgery and 5 were affected.
It was a huge shock to get the cancer diagnosis to start with, but then after the lumpectomy i was feeling positive and now feel like im right back to square one 
on the plus side i won’t have to wait long for surgery - will probably be next week or week after and am having breast reconstruction at the same time. They will be taking fat from my tummy to create a new breast, but i dont have enough to make the new one the same size…so i may have future surgery to ‘even them out’.
Anyway i was wondering how long it will take for me to be back on my feet. My surgeon said the op will take from 8.30am-6pm and i can expect to be in hospital for 6 days. My arm is still numb and sore from the node removal, i thought i would have recovered better by now and i’m worried because i know it will take even longer next time. I am back at work just now and finding this helps a lot … docs advice was to take 6 weeks off after my next surgery which scares me as i love my work.
I know everyone is different and its difficult to say how each person will recover…i just wondered if i can expect to be in a lot of pain after…and how long i will be feeling sore and useless! As i am a single parent my sister and/or mum will be moving in with me to help, this also scares me lol!!!
Sorry for rambling on…any advice gratefully received 
Commiserations Maclinsky. I know what you mean by feeling back to square one when you find out the margins are not clear.
I had a bilateral without reconstruction so can’t really advise on how you will feel or the recuperation time for you. What I can say is that the thought of it all was worse than the actuality. If you like your job and it is not strenuous then I suppose that it would be good therapy to return when the doctors recommend it and once you feel strong enough. Take your time though and accept all offers of help because it is major surgery.
I hope it all goes well for you. Others will be able to advise on the post op effects and timescales
Hi Maclinksi
Your post is very, very similar to my experiences. I started with calcifications and the thought that they would be removed and that would be it, then had WLE/SNB and thought that would be it, then found out I had one node affected and needed MX, chemo, tamoxifen! Completely shocking after feeling, like you, positive after my WLE.
I also opted to have immediate recon but had the LD flap operation and I also need to have reduction and uplift on my other boob later
this year asI look like this !
(^)(.)
My op took 6 hours and I was in hospital for 6 days. Everything went very well with the surgery and I had no problems. I’d say I felt ok after 4 weeks and was back at work after 6 weeks. Everyone is so different though. My arm was also numb and sore before the MX but that didn’t add any time onto the recovery of the MX. I would say though, make sure that you do the exercises they give you religiously after your surgery - they really do help with recovery and getting full movement back. I wasn’t in too much pain after the surgery, but was very uncomfortable - I did have morphine for a couple of days but hated it cos it made me sick, so stuck to codeine for about a couple of weeks then I was ok. Once I got out of hospital, I did feel so much better!
I’m sure your sister/mum will be of enormous help - you will need them in the first week or so to help you as I wasn’t allowed to lift anything heavier than a kettle! Let them spoil you, they can clean the house for you, cook, wash, iron so you can concentrate on recovering. You won’t feel useless for long, you sound like you’re determined not to!
I’m sure someone else will be along soon who has had the exact same operation you are about to have.
I wish you all the very best - you will do absolutely fine!
Rachel.x
Hi Maclinksi,
I’m nearly 9 weeks post DIEP flap with double mastectomy.
I was under the knife for 12hrs ,in hospital for a week and am getting back to work now. However I have avery physical job (osteopath). If I had an office job I would have been fine to go back at 4wks post op. I was driving at 3 wks.
The biggest thing is the anaesthetic. It leaves you very tired. The pain is minimal, I was ok on paracetemol and ibuprofen. You also end up standing like a banana, due to the pull of tummy muscles.
Having said all that, I am so glad I had it done. The boobs feel very similar to the old ones, just rather more pert and I have an amazingly flat tummy.
PM me if you’d like any more info.
One tip, take all the help offered, you do need someone around at least for the first week or 2 at home, especially with small kids
Nicky x
My experiences are similar to yours except no reconstruction, I felt I had been hit by an express train when told mastectomy needed! I worked hard on excercises after lumpectomy and recovered almost full arm movement however 18months after mastcectomy I still feel pain on left side,chest and arm. That’s the bad news the good is that the pain is less severe, painkillers only sometimes and today I weeded, pruned and dug in the garden, all rounded off with a 30 minute walk.