Hi
Could anyone please help me - what is the recovery time from having a mastectomy. After 4 years of fighting cancer, and just finished my 2nd lot of intravenous chemo in Feb this year, my onc has agreed to have either the lump removed from my boob or a full mastectomy, as my latest ct scan has shown no visible cancer at present on my liver. Whether it is just too small to be picked up or I have sort of won the fight is anyones guess, but least now I can go back to the start and remove the original lump, which I can feel all the time and stresses me out.
So I was wondering what the recovery time is from the op for single or double mastectomy and what to expect really.
Thanks for your time
Dawn
x
my mx wasnt really the prob it was the node clearance that took time with nerve pain in side and armpit,i had a couple of weepy areas on mx but soon healed think it was good within a few weeks from wound point of view . after operation was in hospital 3 days but had really low blood pressure came home had drain out at gp surgery the day after was pretty straight forward.x
Hi Dawn,
I had my MX May last year.
I can honestly say that physically I was up and about within three or four days, I was only in the hospital for a few days. To be honest I didn’t find the operation painfull (I know it’s different for everyone). Was very tired for a while but it just takes time!
Emotionally, it has taken a lot longer to heal but I’m getting there a day at time,again that doesn’t mean it will be the same for you.
I really wish you well and hope you can let us know how everything goes for you.
Take care and be good to yourself.
Maureen x
Hi Dawn,
I had a single mx nearly 12 weeks ago now and have physically found it the easiest part of my journey so far, emotionally took a while to come to terms with (and I didn’t have a choice), but I only had 2 weeks from dx to removal of the squatter (and said boob), and I was glad it was removed, afterwards. I was diagnosed mid-March and can mirror what fairyqueen said about the node clearance, less invasive than the mx but more difficult to heal from, especially since I started chemo 4 weeks after the clearance.
For the mx I was only in overnight and came home with a drain, which district nurses checked on daily until removed 6 days post op. Doing daily exercises given by the physio meant that by the time I had the node clearance 4 weeks after mx, I was back to normal-ish, but without the heavy lifting/hoovering etc.
Good luck with the next part of your journey,
Bev x
Hi Dm,
I had bilateral in March (no node clearance by the way), now back at work and feeling fine. It’s not a walk in the park, but it is doable and you get through as long as you don’t try to do too much - there seems to be a particularly dangerous time around 5 days in when people feel good and go crazy then regret it! It took me a couple of weeks to be really up and about, and I was quite restricted in what I could do (things like not being able to reach mugs in the cupboard, or not being able to fill the kettle because it was too heavy when my arm was stretched out). There are some threads on here - ours was ‘Anyone about to have a mx’ in Mx and living breast free section, and there’s one on going about June mx I think.
Have a look through there, lots of useful info and different experiences.
I’m glad your tx has gone well, lots of luck with the mx.
xx