Hi. I was diagnosed a month ago with invasive ductal cancer stage 3 and last Friday I had a mastectomy. I’m in a fair amount of pain and arm is stiff. Also pregnant. Is anyone else in a similar situation.
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Hiya,
I had a mastectomy and full lymph node removal last Thursday. Am recovering well but feel very stiff on that side, especially in the morning. I am fairly mobile and out and about with hubby/friends and the dog + doing regular arm and shoulder movements during the day. It helps and I feel like I’m helping my recovery.
Congratulations on being pregnant - having bc is awful but what a lovely thing you have to look forward to in future!
Hopefully you will connect with others that are also pregnant but keep on posting here as someone will always offer some support or advice xx
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I have also taken pain meds regardless of pain level - think I’ll keep that up for another week or so!!
Hi @donna_51
Congratulations on pregnancy , need to do the exercises they shown you had a leaflet soft ones to start with does help the mornings are the worst for stiffness always felt I had something under my arm does get better in time lymph node removal is more painful than mastectomy just take it easy I was numb for ages around chest and under arm but it does come back good luck xxx
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Hi I had a mastectomy and node clearance and found that doing my exercises really helped. I had ones to do on a leaflet and then I was really lucky that our hospital has a physio just for breast cancer ladies. I had further exercises with a resistance band. I also had some cording in my arm which can be painful but was told how to manage that with massage. Do you think you could have some cording? Do you think it would worthwhile chatting to your BCN or ringing the helpline on here? I personally didn’t have much pain just stiffness and although doing the exercises was hard work it has paid off. Good luck on your journey xx
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I’ve been doing the exercises which have gotten easier. Started taking codeine which is helping a little. Don’t think I have cording but not properly looked yet. Not sure what it looks like but I’ll bear it in mind. Thanks ladies.
Hi
Cording feels like a line ( or cord) under your skin of the arm. I had one from my upper arm down to elbow crease. I was lucky with daily massage it went quickly and thankfully hasn’t come back xx