had a mastectomy three weeks ago, also 23 lymph nodes removed. Cancer a grade 2 lnvasive lobular cancer…my drain kept draining copiously for two weeks (5 bottles!) . It has now gone and there is a small swelling round the scar site, very soft and not troublesome…a friend had hers aspirated but I am assuming that is not necessary in my case. I have a fair bit of nagging pain under the arm and in the upper arm, I’m doing exercises religiously and again I’m assuming that is normal. Would like to hear from others in similar situation…
I also had a lot of fluid draining following mastectomy (in March). They kept the drain in for a bit longer than normal and, like you, I had a little bit of swelling afterwards, although mine settled down in a few days. If you are concernced, do ring your breast care nurses who should be able to reassure you or see you if necessary. It sounds like you’re on the mend though x
Hi Maudie, am answering because you might be checking this thread. Posted this elsewhere as well.
Hi, answering because I found a way to deal with mild seroma (fluid build up) in the last week that works for me.
Background: I’m almost 4 weeks post right-side mastectomy with implant and sentinel lymph node removal. I was basically fine the first week after surgery, then overdid activities (going out, dragging my 3-year-old around, etc) and was in real trouble with swelling and fluid accumulating around the implant. After a scan they decided not to drain the fluid, but by that point I’d been on ibuprofen almost a week (shouldn’t go over 10 days) and I decided to try some things on my own.
Elements of getting rid of fluid & swelling:
- Doing as close to nothing as possible. I stopped doing any recommended exercises that pulled on the fluid zones as well. I slept a huge amount. Very boring.
- Wearing tight sports bra and added compression. I thought of it like with a twisted ankle: the key to not letting the swelling get worse is to have some compression (obviously not too much: blood circulation is essential to healing). The tight sports bra I had was good, but it didn’t compress the part between the breasts, where a lot of the fluid had ended up (not coincidentally, I believe). I rolled up a sock and put it between the breasts to add compression there, and it worked. I kept this (sports bra + sock) on at night as well, wasn’t too uncomfortable (especially since the swelling & fluid did go down).
- Sleeping and lying down on 2 pillows, arm to the side. The idea is that the mastectomy should be the highest point when you are lying down, so pillows under there (and head for comfort), with the corner of the pillow sticking out between the chest and arm. This makes the arm stick out to the side, and the fluid drains into the arm.My arm was damn painful for a few days, but I figure this is better than it being in the wound site, and eventually that went away too. If by accident I slept with my arm along my chest (normal position), the fluid & swelling backed up again in the mastectomy site, so I think this is really key.
Sorry for long post, but figure it might help some people. So far things are a lot better, although I carried something too heavy again today (with my good arm!) and the swelling has flared up again. I expect it will go back down over night.
Good luck to all,
Julia
Well I had to have the seroma aspirated on Friday…the nurse got out about 400ml of liquid…feel better now but there’s every chance I shall have to repeat the process. Is it because I had to have so many lymph nodes removed? (23).